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Autumn 2023: Record-breakingly cloudy and wet days in Germany!
The German Weather Service reports on the wet October 2023 in Ludwigsburg and its consequences for the climate.
Autumn 2023: Record-breakingly cloudy and wet days in Germany!
When October comes with its unfavorable weather, many of us are looking for the hours of sunshine that are often few and far between in the melancholy autumn. The German Weather Service (DWD) has now taken stock of this month and it is mixed. Overall, October 2023 brought the lowest levels of sunshine in a long time. The sun only appeared for around 79 hours, which corresponds to a minus of 27 percent compared to the reference period 1961-1990. It was particularly cloudy in the west and center of Germany, where an average of only two hours of sunshine per day was achieved, as bietigheimerzeitung.de reported.
October was characterized by damp weather. Clouds kept moving over the country, which not only meant that there was little sunshine, but also a lot of precipitation. The north was particularly wet, as were some low mountain areas, which were treated with over 100 liters per square meter. In contrast, comparatively moderate amounts fell in the east and northeast, at around 40 liters per square meter. A special rain shower was recorded on October 4th, when 62.2 liters per square meter rained down in Schafstedt (Schleswig-Holstein) in one day.
Cloudy autumn months in a long-term comparison
October 2023 is one of the eight cloudiest months in measurement history. The DWD has noticed a trend towards increasingly inhospitable autumn months since the 1970s. The climate data shows that the climatic conditions in the country are changing noticeably. With the introduction of a new trend procedure in April 2025, the DWD would like to adapt the development of climate monitoring in order to be able to react better to such changes. Incidentally, the DWD's time series and trends are available under the Creative Commons license CC BY 4.0, which means that the data can be accessed at any time to get an idea of the ominous weather conditions, as dwd.de explains in detail.
The measuring network in Germany for temperature and precipitation has existed since the end of the 19th century and offers very precise information thanks to the extensive database. However, measurements for the duration of sunshine have only been available since the middle of the 20th century. This shows how important a dense measurement network is for collecting reliable data about weather and climate. If you are also interested in the exact data, you can take a look at dwd.de and download the high-resolution PDF files.
In summary, it can be said that October 2023 was not necessarily a friend of the sun seeker. With its cloudy weather and its rainfall record, it will probably not be forgotten - at least in the minds of the people of Cologne, who are already looking forward to the next rays of sunshine. Who knows, maybe November will bring a change?