Is the “record heat” just made up and there were temperatures over 40 degrees Celsius over 40 years ago?

That's exactly what a screenshot suggested in 2019, which shows a headline from BILD from August 8, 1975. This headline reads: 40 degrees heat. Now the weather is becoming life-threatening.

Boom, off. Can we now close the air conditioning box and sit back in the rattling diesel in idle mode with the air conditioning running? Is the “record heat” (which is a scary term, since records are actually associated with something positive) a pure media phenomenon and has it always been there?

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That's exactly what the following screenshot would like to convey, but the perceived situation regarding the weather ignores the facts at this point:

Screenshot: Facebook
Screenshot: Facebook

Fact check content

What doesn't really appear at this point is the content of the accompanying text. It is not new that tabloid media in particular like to exaggerate a little with headlines and that the text accompanying the weather headline is a little milder. The same applies here, because the text reads:

On Sunday it could be 40 degrees in the shade

Could. So it is a prediction. And there is no mention of nationwide temperatures.

Fact check weather

But what were the temperatures really like on August 10, 1975? The Wolfram Alpha search engine provides information about this, which contains weather data for places, regions and countries.

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The result: The random samples from various locations ( Munich , Stuttgart , Hamburg , Hanover , Cologne ) show that the heat pole was more likely to be found in the northern half of Germany. Stuttgart and Munich couldn't manage 30 degrees, Cologne was 32 degrees Celsius, Hanover and Hamburg were 34 degrees Celsius.

The historical weather map on www.kachelmannwetter.com shows a very similar result ( compare , quality-tested climate data from the DWD CDC with corrected, incorrect 38 value in Bad Hersfeld). The 40 degrees Celsius mark was not reached, so there was no widespread heat at this altitude.

This corresponds to the statement of the article in which a Scandinavian high was written.

Climate ≠ weather

Somehow the word hasn't gotten around everywhere yet: climate and weather are two different things. Weather is a short-term behavior of the atmosphere, which can last for minutes or even months.

Climate refers to the average behavior of the atmosphere over decades. Find out more in our article “ What is the difference between climate and weather?”

Conclusion

Yes, it was certainly warm on August 10, 1975. The peak temperatures reached 36 degrees Celsius, but that was far from widespread. The tabloid headline is therefore not a good way to contradict climate change.


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )