Monthly Values 2001 - 2017

This statistical review of climate at the Zugspitze Environmental Research Station (UFS) is based on unfiltered minute-data for temperature, pressure, relative humidity, wind speed and wind direction as provided by the German Weather Service (DWD). Suspiciously outstanding measurements were eliminated by comparing them with a running mean over a 30 minute and a 12 hour time window. Measurements with differences of three standard deviations and more were treated as missing values. Data has then been aggregated to monthly mean, minima and maxima.

An average year which is calculated based on these monthly values can be found here. A comparison with the years 2015 and 2016 is also available.

 

Temperature

Monthly average temperature is plotted with monthly minimum (blue) and maximum (red) temperature to show range of measurements. Grey shaded area indicates the range of plus/minus one standard deviation from the mean temperature.

A clear yearly cycle is visible. Temperatures range between a maximum of 20 °C in summer and am minimum of -20°C in winter. The years 2002, 2005, and 2012 stand out as especially cold, while 2007 and 2008 had rather warmer winters.

Monthly average temperatures range from -10°C to 8°C, whereas the amplitude in 2007 and 2014 was lower than in other years

 

Pressure

Mean values of air pressure at UFS Zugspitze ( = 2650 m above sea-level) with the shaded area indicating the range of plus/minus one standard deviation.

Monthly average air pressure shows a irregular yearly cycle. The lowest values with an average around 720hPa were reached in winter 2009/2010 highest values were recorded in summer 2006.

 

Relative Humidity

Continuous measurements started in August 2001, making this time series 18 month shorter than the others. Mean values of relative humidity at UFS Zugspitze are plotted in blue, with the shaded area indicating the range of plus/minus one standard deviation. 

Humidity follows an irregular yearly cycle with rather high values in summer and lower values in winter. It ranges from 90% to 60% with a few extraordinary dry months in autumns 2011 and 2015 and an outstanding dry December 2016.

 

Wind

Wind speed averaged minute values are down sampled to monthly means, visualized in dark cyan with the shaded area indicating the range of plus/minus one standard deviation. 

Average wind speed at the Schneefernerhaus ranges, between ca. 3.5-4 m/s in Winter and 2.0-2.5 m/s in summer.

 

Maximum wind speed refers to the maximum one-minute-average of each month, here plotted in bright cyan and compared to average wind speed as above.

Wind peaks area around four times stronger than average wind speed. There are common peaks in wind speed of around 15 m/s (≈ Beaufort 7). Occasionally wind speed reaches up to 25 m/s  (≈ Beaufort 10). Major peaks occur mostly during winter months.

 

Wind Direction

100% equals all measurements in the respective month. Colour coded in yellow (west), orange (south), blue (east) and turquoise (north) is the percentage of measurements indicating wind from the very direction: West: 225°-315°, South:135°-225°, East: 45°-135°, North: 0°-45° and 315°-360°

 

Most month show the expected dominance of westerlies (yellow), followed by many measurements indicating wind from the east.

For the entire time span an averaged windrose appears as follows:

If you want to find out more on the seasonal wind pattern at UFS Zugspitze click here.

 

Average Year

This statistical review of climate at the Zugspitze Environmental Research Station (UFS) is based on unfiltered minute-data for temperature, pressure, relative humidity, wind speed and wind direction as provided by the German Weather Service (DWD). Suspiciously outstanding measurements were eliminated by comparing them with a running mean over a 30 minute and a 12 hour time window. Measurements with differences of three standard deviations and more were treated as missing values. Monthly aggregated data is combined to form this average year:

 

 

 

Temperature

The average of monthly mean temperatures since the year 2001 is visualized in grey with the shaded ribbon indicating plus/minus one standard deviation of monthly means. The red line shows the highest measured value in each respective month and blue is giving the lowest one.

Temperature at UFS Schneefernerhaus follows a clear yearly cycle, typical for this latitude in the northern hemisphere. Lowest temperatures are measured in February and highest temperatures in July.

 

Pressure

Mean values of air pressure at UFS Zugspitze ( = 2650 m above sea-level) are plotted in dark blue with the shaded area indicating the range of plus/minus one standard deviation.

The average air pressure follows the same yearly cycle as the temperature: High average values of above 740hPa in summer compared to relatively low values below 730 hPa in winter.

 

Relative Humidity

Average relative humidity is plotted in blue with the light blue ribbon indicating the range of one standard deviation of the underlying monthly means. This relative humidity timeseries only started mid 2001.

Relative Humidity ranges from very humid months in summer with averages above 80% to dryer months in winter with around 70%. Average humidity seems to drop quite sudden in October and to rise back slowly during spring.

 

Wind

The average wind speed is calculated from the monthly means you find here. The shaded area is giving the range of plus/minus one standard deviation of monthly means of the respective month.

Average wind speed at the Schneefernerhaus ranges, between ca. 3.6 m/s in Winter and 2.5 m/s in summer.

 

Wind Direction

To calculate the average wind direction, minute values with a given wind direction in degrees are sorted into eight bins. The length of bars indicates the percentage of (minute-)measurements in which the respective wind direction occurred. Colours add information regarding the wind speed coming from those very directions, differentiating between 0-3 m/s (dark blue), 3-6 m/s (blue), 6-9 m/s (cyan), 9-12 m/s (greenish-yellow) and 12-15 m/s (orange).

Easterly and westerly winds are most common, with stronger winds coming rather from west than from east.

The following figure gives wind directions and speed for the months January to December: Wind speed in winter is generally higher than in summer months. Westerlies dominate throughout the year; however, a high occurrence of easterly wind is measured in spring months.