Meteorologists say Germany experiencing warmest winter on record

Germany has experienced its warmest winter since records began in 1901, with temperatures averaging 0.7 degrees Celsius (1.3 Fahrenheit) higher than in previous record years, the German Weather Service said Tuesday.

Photo: Meteorologists say Germany experiencing warmest winter on record

The average temperature in the December-February period was 4.3 degrees Celsius (39.7 Fahrenheit), the weather service said.

That was 4.1 degrees Celsius (7.4 Fahrenheit) higher than the 0.2 degree Celsius (32.4 Fahrenheit) long-term average for Germany's normally cold, dank winters, it added.

Steady winds from the south and west helped push up temperatures, the weather service's president said.

"Cold air masses had no chance this time to win the upper hand in central Europe," the official, Wolfgang Kusch, said in a statement. "There were no sustained periods of frost."

The previous record winters were those of 1974-75 and 1989-90, when temperatures averaged 0.7 degrees Celsius (1.3 Fahrenheit) below this year's, reports AP.

The weather service said December was the warmest in 32 years, January set a record for the month, and February is set to be among the top 10 on record.