BERLIN, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The summer of 2026 was Germany's second-warmest on record, with a preliminary nationwide average temperature of 19.6 degrees Celsius, according to an assessment released Monday by the German Weather Service (DWD).
According to preliminary calculations, only the summer of 2003 is likely to have been warmer, with an average temperature of 19.7 degrees Celsius, the DWD said.
A provisional national temperature record of 41.8 degrees Celsius was set in Moeckern-Drewitz in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt on June 27.
The summer was also unusually dry, with total precipitation of around 171 millimetres, or just under 72 percent of the normal level. Also, preliminary figures showed around 779 hours of sunshine, which would place the summer among the five sunniest since sunshine records began in 1951.
The extreme heat also had deadly consequences. An estimated 15,800 heat-related deaths occurred in Germany by mid-August this year, according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the country's leading public health authority. ■
