Spring Begins with Drought: A March Marked by Extreme Dryness

As spring unfolds, vegetation typically experiences a revival. However, across Germany, the soil has remained excessively dry for weeks, raising concerns about the repercussions for nature throughout the year.

This March has been recorded as one of the driest since measurements began in 1881, according to the German Weather Service (DWD). In many northern regions, soil moisture levels in the upper layers have dropped as much as 20 percent below the long-term minimum values. Additionally, temperatures have been unusually mild, leading to an increased risk of forest fires at an early stage in the year. Forecasts from the DWD indicate that the predominantly dry high-pressure weather conditions will persist over the coming days.

The lack of precipitation and abundance of sunshine in March can be attributed to pronounced high-pressure systems, as per initial analyses by the DWD. The average temperature this March was recorded at 6.1 degrees Celsius, which is 2.6 degrees above the reference period average from 1961 to 1990.

Even February was significantly drier than normal throughout most of Germany, particularly in the northern half, according to DWD expert Andreas Brömser. This dry weather has caused the moisture levels in the upper soil layers to fall well below the typical values for this time of year.

The Drought Monitor from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) indicates that soil dryness has been increasing since early March, particularly affecting northern Germany, Niedersachsen, and large parts of North Rhine-Westphalia.

The implications of this situation are severe, especially as the awakening vegetation in spring has a high demand for water. With rising temperatures leading to increased evaporation through the leaves, the water requirement is even greater. The higher temperatures accelerate the greening of nature, causing plants to extract water from the soil earlier in the year, which, according to Brömser, increases the likelihood of drought stress for these plants.

The impact extends beyond nature to agriculture. Moisture in the upper soil layers is crucial for shallow-rooted or newly germinating plants, both in natural ecosystems and in agricultural settings, where crops like summer grains and sugar beets have recently been sown.

Animals are also adversely affected by early spring droughts. A lack of rainfall during this critical period can be particularly detrimental to insects, according to Markus Pfenninger from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. Many bird species that rely on these insects for feeding their young are also at risk.

A poor start to the growing season will have lasting effects, regardless of how the weather evolves later in the year. If fewer individuals survive in the early generations of the year, the overall population remains smaller throughout the year, limiting the potential for reproduction even if conditions improve later.

Interestingly, the field hare, originally a steppe inhabitant, may benefit from dry spring days. This season is crucial for their reproduction, and more young hares are likely to survive in warm and dry conditions. However, even hares face food shortages during drought periods, as noted by Pfenninger.

Droughts are becoming more common in Germany, not only during the summer months due to climate change but also in the spring. Brömser explains that with rising temperatures and increased evaporation, there is a trend toward more frequent spring droughts.

This year, the winter of 2024/25 was also significantly dry, with only about 86 percent of the average precipitation recorded for the reference period from 1961 to 1990, totaling around 155 liters per square meter. Meteorologists define winter as the period from December 1 to February 28.

In some years, however, spring can still be quite wet, as evidenced by the previous two years. The winter of 2023/24 was one of the wettest since 1881, and this trend continued into spring 2024, with around 235 liters of rainfall per square meter, compared to 186 liters in the reference period.

On a brighter note, March brought a significant amount of sunshine, delighting many owners of photovoltaic systems. The month recorded an average of 199 hours of sunshine, which is typically expected only during the summer months. The reference value for sunshine hours stands at 111 hours (from 1961 to 1990). There is a noticeable trend over the past two decades, indicating that March has become generally sunnier.