Weather experts make up their mind: the summer will be catastrophic

Berlin – Several temperature records, the urgent call to save water: an unprecedented heat wave hit Germany in June. The last extreme weather event this year for now? Absolutely not. Jörg Kachelmann predicts a “shitty summer” – and other experts agree with him.

On the “X” platform, Kachelmann posted: “It’s going to be a shitty summer for large parts of Central Europe.” He’s not talking about the slightly cooler days in Germany, but rather he added the hashtags heat and drought. New monthly forecasts from ECMWF, center for medium-term Weather forecasts in Europe, would give little hope. The forecast also looks “pretty catastrophic” for August, the meteorologist continued.

Situation is catastrophic

Karsten Brandt agrees: “The situation is a catastrophe, we have a historic dry situation. Fish are dying, birds can hardly find water, the fire department is fighting forest fires and the like Shipping with restrictions. Parts of the south and west are drying out. Seen this way, we will have a really shitty summer in 2026. You could also call it deadly,” he tells BILD.

However, the climatologist is happy about the current weather in Germany: “It’s always a question of perspective. For some it is too cold and too wet, for others it is too warm and too dry.” Even at the end of June it was still not hot enough for some people. Brandt: “The weather is wonderful. In the Belgian quarter of Cologne yesterday you could sit outside in short clothes until late into the evening.”

No rain for two weeks?

The prospects for the next few days are downright “fantastic”: Berlin and Hamburg around 27 degrees, Munich 29 degrees, a little over 30 degrees in Cologne and Stuttgart.

Things become critical when we look at the next two weeks. According to Karsten Brandt, many corners of the country could not receive a drop of rain. At the same time, 10 or more liters of water per day per square meter evaporate: “Then we talk about the situation completely differently.”

The next heat wave is only a matter of time

The next one is also for qualified meteorologist Dominik Jung (48). Heat wave just a matter of time. A value like 41.8 degrees in Möckern-Drewitz (Saxony-Anhalt) is particularly possible between the end of July and mid-August. “If a blocking high pressure situation establishes itself during this time and the soil dries out further, a new record cannot be ruled out,” says Jung. However, such an event would be rather unlikely.

Weather expert Johannes Habermehl from Meteored Germany told BILD: “The slight cooling off after the June heat is just a short respite. By the middle of the month, temperatures will climb back to 27 to 33 degrees in many places – in the south and west it sometimes stays over 20 degrees at night. For the second half of July, it looks as if the heat could settle in and increase from day to day.” According to Habermehl, Möckern’s latest record “could definitely shake again”.