It is expected to cool off a little before the coming heat wave: According to the DWD, a cold front will ensure milder temperatures towards the weekend. For Thursday, highs between 23 and 27 °C are expected. On Friday, there will be a mix of sun and clouds and somewhat cooler temperatures between 21 and 24 degrees. On Saturday, it will be partly sunny in the southwest of NRW. The highest temperatures will be between 22 and 25 °C.

As of Sunday, it will heat up again. “On Monday and Tuesday of next week, we could reach temperatures around 40 °C (104 °F). It remains to be seen whether or not the temperature will climb even higher than that. But the 45 degree mark will come faster than we would like. If not this year, then next," Brandt told GA on Tuesday. He notes that new heat records are set nearly every year - including this year. June has already been extremely warm and July is shaping up to be the same, the meteorologist said. "Over the past 30 years, the average temperature has gone up two to three degrees.”

The heat is coming to us from the Mediterranean. This week, the air is still warming up, but then it will become very hot much faster, according to Brandt. He calls it a “silent storm”, the weather expert's term for the extreme dryness in Bonn and the region, as well as throughout Germany. "The ground has never been as dry as it is now," he warns. He has been measuring the weight of the soil in Bonn and the region to determine its water content since the 1980’s. These days, Brandt notes, there is no water at all left for the plants.

This in turn means that no more ground water can evaporate from the sun's rays, so the air is no longer cooled and the heat becomes even more extreme, he explains. "The heat and the drought are building off each other." The drought has not only been building up due to a winter and spring with too little rain, but also because of the dry years of 2018 and 2019, he says. He adds that the heavy rain that is increasingly frequent over Bonn and the region is not helping to irrigate the soil. This is because the huge mass of water all at once can only be absorbed with difficulty and simply runs off.

"We are in a catastrophic situation for agriculture and our forests. The current drought leaves me speechless. Especially because hardly any rain is expected in the next few weeks either," says Brandt.

He says there are even meteorological models showing that rain will be non-existent until August. Even if the air can cool down a bit after the upcoming heat wave, a next wave will soon follow, Brandt predicts. "We will feel the heat wave particularly strongly in Bonn," the meteorologist says. It is one of the warmest regions in Germany - and also one of the most humid.

The German Weather Service (DWD) also expects extreme temperatures. According to their forecasts from Wednesday, the 40 °C mark is not expected to be reached, however. Between Sunday and Wednesday, the DWD predicts 30 to 35 °C, says a meteorologist. “No question that it will be hot," he explained. "But it probably won't go above 40 degrees, at least not with the current forecast." Toward the weekend, the DWD will be able to issue a more accurate forecast.

(Orig. text: Sofia Grillo with dpa / Translation: ck)