Overview
- The DWD issued multiple official warnings for heavy thunderstorms on Wednesday that flagged locally extreme short-term rainfall up to about 80 liters per square metre, hail and gusts around 80–85 km/h.
- The storms have already caused flash flooding and overloaded sewers in Aschaffenburg, fallen trees and temporary rail and airport interruptions after lightning strikes disrupted signalling and ground handling.
- Meteorologists say a mid-country air‑mass boundary has left Germany split between warm, humid, thunder-prone conditions in the south and cooler, unsettled weather in the north, concentrating severe storms in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Saxony.
- Forecasts project the worst convective activity will ease regionally by Thursday and Friday but model uncertainty means a renewed spell of summer heat later in July remains possible.
- Officials urge people to avoid driving through flooded streets, protect basements and plan for local power or communications outages because overloaded drainage, lightning damage to equipment and debris pose ongoing risks to homes and transport.