© Christophe Hochard / RTL
In the last week of October, temperatures in the Grand Duchy reached over 20 degrees Celsius, which is unusual for this time of year, when temperatures around 13 degrees are considered average.
Our colleagues from RTL.lu wanted to know just how unusual this weather phenomenon really is, and what effects it had on plants and animals.
The reason for these autumnal spring temperatures is a climate phenomenon known as La Niña, which causes the current high temperatures in the northern hemisphere.
Temperatures reported during the latter week of October, however, were not quite record-breaking, as climatologist Andrew Ferrone explains.
According to Ferrone, the current October temperature record was set on 26 October 2006 when 27.9 degrees were measured in Ettelbruck.
So far, October 2022 is only the sixth warmest October on record. The warmest October ever recorded was in 1921. However, it is evident that high temperatures in October have begun to accumulate in recent years. And the reason for this is not La Niña, but climate change.
“All of Luxembourg’s months are getting warmer,” Ferrone says. Annual temperatures in Luxembourg have risen by 1.5 degrees Celsius on average since pre-industrial times. “There is an upward trend,” according to the climatologist, who adds that “we also see an increase in extreme warm weather events.”
Summer days with temperatures above 25 degrees have practically doubled over the last 60 years. For vegetable gardeners, warmer temperatures in October have pros and cons, as Claude Kirsch points out.
On the one hand, Kirsch explains, there were crops that gardeners couldn’t start growing yet because of the drought and heat in the summer, which now benefit from higher temperatures in October. On the other hand, weeds are also still growing and the additional seeds in the ground are likely to cause problems next year.
The high temperatures therefore have an impact on gardening. But animals will not remain unaffected either.
If there are no more winters, many things would also change for the animals, says Sandra Cellina of the Nature Administration.
Such drastic changes would either cause other plants and animals to migrate to our regions or force those native to our lands to adapt, according to Cellina. Animals that traditionally hibernate are doing so less now, putting them at risk of not being ready when winter does arrive.
The weather should return to more typical autumnal temperatures next week, with rain and temperatures of around 13 degrees, which corresponds to the average daily temperature of October.
© Christophe Hochard / RTL
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