"Very nice": FDP leader Dürr's weather commentary flies in his face

Opinions differ as to whether 35 degrees Celsius and above is very pleasant weather. FDP leader Christian Dürr is pleased about the high temperatures and takes aim at the Greens. However, this has drawn more than just their wrath.

FDP leader Christian Dürr, elected a few weeks ago, triggered a shitstorm on Tuesday with a comment about the weather on Platform X. "Dear Greens, it's annoying! Please stop posting your entire climate narrative in the heat of the summer (and in the rain). We're having, as they used to say, very nice weather right now," the federal chairman wrote. Climate change exists, and countermeasures must be taken, but "populism won't get us to our goal," Dürr said.

Within a day, the post was viewed one million times, and nearly 2,000 users commented on it. Many were bothered by the phrase "very nice weather." They pointed to heat-related deaths, man-made climate change, drought, and fires, as well as factors such as cracked asphalt and problems with Deutsche Bahn .

On Tuesday, it was extremely warm for the first day of July, especially in western and southwestern Germany, with highs exceeding 35 degrees Celsius. Many places also complained of persistent drought.

"The things we are experiencing are new"

Meteorologist Jörg Kachelmann responded to Dürr's article, saying it was "cheap populism to claim that this used to be called 'very nice weather' – the things we're experiencing are new." Two days earlier, Kachelmann had already shared high temperatures from 45 years ago, which were around 13 to 16 degrees Celsius in most parts of Germany, and explained that such values ​​are practically no longer possible in the modern climate.

Former Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wrote that the FDP leader's contribution showed everyone "why the FDP is not missing from the Bundestag. Older people are dying from the heat, and climate change is becoming more visible. For the FDP, physics and medicine are 'stories'."

Numerous politicians from the ranks of the Green Party, whom Dürr had addressed in his article, also spoke out. "Reality and scientific findings, simply incredibly annoying," wrote former federal chairwoman Ricarda Lang, receiving much support. The FDP leader, in turn, responded that this was populism—and thus triggered the next wave of criticism. Numerous people expressed their incomprehension as to how one could describe the reference to scientific findings as populism.

Heat records in sight

Even hotter weather is expected in Germany on Wednesday, with temperatures approaching 40 degrees Celsius in some places. "The highest temperature ever recorded in Germany was in July 2019 and was 41.2 degrees Celsius," explained ntv weather expert Björn Alexander. "This record was set in the last third of July 2019 in Tönisvorst and Duisburg-Baerl (both in North Rhine-Westphalia). The record for the first third of July, meanwhile, is 40.3 degrees Celsius and was recorded in July 2015 in Kitzingen (Bavaria)."

The risk of forest fires remains high after the driest spring on record. Even the smallest sparks can be enough to trigger devastating fires. Several hectares of forest burned in southern Brandenburg on Tuesday.

"On Thursday, a cold front will approach from the west, bringing with it some heavy thunderstorms and the potential for severe weather," said Björn Alexander, looking ahead to the outlook for the coming days. "After the thunderstorms, temperatures will be much more relaxed, with temperatures between 20 and 27 degrees Celsius."