Based on weather data analysed up to and including 26 December, 2022 has been the warmest year on record since 1838, tied with 2020, according to the Administration of Technical Agricultural Services (ASTA) and its meteorological service AgriMeteo.
These warm temperatures, combined with “unprecedented drought,” are evidence of “a long-standing climate change that AgriMeteo has been observing in the Grand Duchy since 1838.”
With a record average of 10.9°C, the annual temperature is 1.0°C above the 1991-2020 reference average. The summer of 2022 was the second warmest summer ever measured.
In terms of soil drought, the summer of 2022 was the driest since 1921, with a rainfall deficit of -92% in July and -65% in August.
The summer’s high heat and lack of rainfall had a significant impact on Luxembourg’s agricultural sector.
According to ASTA and AgriMeteo, winter wheat, summer cereals, potatoes, maize, as well as meadows and pastures suffered the most.
While the apple and pear harvests were rather disappointing in 2022, results were better for plums, mirabelle plums, and cherries.
The lack of rain and the warm temperatures also led to a historically early grape harvest, which started on 22 August, a month earlier than usual. While the 2022 vintage is of exceptional quality, ASTA notes that there will be less wine than usual.
In its statement released on Tuesday, ASTA makes it clear that “the acceleration of heat records and droughts is caused by the intensification of global warming, which the AgriMeteo weather service has been observing since 1838.”
According to measurements collected by ASTA over an observation period of 180 years, human-induced climate change increased temperatures by 1.5°C between 1861-1890 and 1991-2020.
The ten warmest years all occurred between 2002 and 2021, and each of the last three decades has been warmer than the ones before, and this since 1840.
Over the years, drought has been increasingly common between April and November. Between 1991 and 2020, ten months (excluding December and January) have a regular risk of drought, whereas this risk was only higher in June and July before (1961-1990).
Referring to the analysis of the World Weather Attribution experts for Central and Western Europe, Andrew Ferrone, head of the meteorological service and head of the Luxembourgish delegation to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes “Without the effect of climate change, soil drought would have been about 3-4 times less likely, and summer heat waves less intense. “
