The last two summers in Germany (2018 and 2019) were unusually dry and warm, and already alarmists began to screaming that this was just a preview of what’s in store for Europe’s crispy burnt future.

The following 2 charts show the ground moisture for Germany last September. The left image depicts the ground moisture at the depth of 25 cm, and the image on the right for a depth of 1.8 meters:

German indeed was unusually dry last September. Source: The drought monitor; Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ)

February 2020 second wettest since records began

But the precipitation pendulum has swung to the other side. The German DWD national weather service now reports that February 2020 was the second wettest since records began. Only 1946 was wetter. Last month some parts of Germany saw rainfall that was double of what is normal.

In some regions it was even the wettest February, e.g. in Lower Saxony, Hamburg and Schleswig Holstein. The reason was a series of lows from the Atlantic moving directly over Germany.

Ground in many areas now over-saturated

Now the ground is well soaked down to the middle and deeper layers. In some parts of  Lower Bavaria and parts of eastern Germany, however, there is still dryness in some places at a depth of just under 2 metres. Yet, the situation is expected to ease there as well.