Other divisions · Climate
Cold-winter Germany
At the same height, winters in the former East are colder. Lowland districts in the East average 0.9 °C in January (1991–2020), those in the West 2.3 °C. Only 3 of 75 eastern districts average 1.5 °C or more, against 160 of 325 in the West.
| Zone | Districts | People | Share | Area |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cold winters January mean below −0.5 °C | 39 | 4.5 m | 5.4% | 36,772 km² |
| Frosty −0.5 to 0.5 °C | 84 | 14.1 m | 16.9% | 72,126 km² |
| Mild 0.5 to 1.5 °C | 115 | 23.5 m | 28.2% | 137,264 km² |
| Mildest January mean 1.5 °C and above | 163 | 41.4 m | 49.6% | 111,428 km² |
January temperatures fall towards the east and with altitude. The mildest districts are Duisburg (3.6 °C), Köln (3.6 °C), Leverkusen (3.6 °C), Oberhausen (3.5 °C) and Düsseldorf (3.5 °C); the coldest is Garmisch-Partenkirchen at −2.5 °C. Across all districts, a statistical fit on mean elevation and longitude explains 95% of the variation: about 0.4 °C colder for every 100 m of height and 0.3 °C colder for every degree further east.
Height dominates the coldest band. All 39 districts averaging below −0.5 °C have a mean elevation of 300 m or more. 35 of them are in the former West, led by Garmisch-Partenkirchen (−2.5 °C), Oberallgäu (−2.2 °C), Freyung-Grafenau (−2.0 °C) and Berchtesgadener Land (−2.0 °C); the 4 in the East are Suhl (−1.4 °C), Sonneberg (−1.3 °C), Erzgebirgskreis (−1.1 °C) and Vogtlandkreis (−0.9 °C). Because the Alps and most uplands lie in the West, the two sides are close overall: the East averages 0.7 °C in January, the West 1.0 °C.
In the lowlands the old border shows. The 36 eastern districts with a mean elevation under 100 m average 0.9 °C, the 87 western ones 2.3 °C, at similar heights (55 m and 39 m). The mildest district in the former East, Rostock, reaches 1.6 °C; 160 western districts reach 1.5 °C or more.
Over a year, the East averages 82 frost days (minimum below 0 °C) and 20 ice days (maximum below 0 °C), the West 81 and 19.
Does the line still show?
Today's figures on each side, as population-weighted averages of the district values (our calculation from the live themes on this site).
| Indicator | Cold winters | Frosty | Mild | Mildest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AfD vote 2025 | 26.0% | 23.3% | 23.9% | 17.0% |
| Green vote 2025 | 7.4% | 11.0% | 10.6% | 13.3% |
| Unemployment 2025 | 4.1% | 4.6% | 6.7% | 7.0% |
| Gross monthly salary € 31.12.2025 | 3,847 | 4,236 | 4,036 | 4,259 |
| Young people 31.12.2025 | 11.8% | 12.8% | 12.7% | 13.7% |
| Childcare 1 March 2025 | 31.6% | 37.4% | 45.1% | 36.2% |
| Foreign population 31.12.2025 | 12.6% | 16.9% | 15.7% | 18.0% |
How we drew the line
Mean daily air temperature (2 m) in January, averaged over 1991–2020, from the DWD 1 km climate grid. District boundaries were projected to the grid's Gauss-Krüger zone 3 (DHDN, Bessel ellipsoid, EPSG:31467, with the standard Helmert datum shift) and every grid cell was assigned to the district containing its centre (356,358 cells; the smallest district has 32). The value is the plain mean of those cells; East and West figures are area-weighted means. Frost and ice days come from the matching DWD grids for 1991–2020. Zone breaks at −0.5, 0.5, 1.5 °C: the district means range from −2.5 to 3.6 °C with a median of 1.1 °C, and one-degree bands centred on 0 °C separate the uplands (below −0.5 °C; every district in this band has a mean elevation of 300 m or more), the transition zone around freezing (−0.5 to 0.5 °C), the eastern and central lowlands and hill country (0.5 to 1.5 °C) and the Rhine valley and north-western lowlands (1.5 °C and above). The 1.5 °C break lies between the average January temperatures of eastern (0.9 °C) and western (2.3 °C) lowland districts. Districts are banded on the value shown, rounded to 0.1 °C. Check: at 1079 DWD stations, the grid cell under the station differs from the station's own 1991–2020 January normal by 0.01 °C on average (root mean square 0.17 °C).
- The grid is interpolated from station data using elevation; DWD notes that it does not reproduce urban heat islands or cold-air pools in valleys, so cities are somewhat warmer and valley floors colder than shown.
- A district mean hides relief inside the district: in Alpine and upland districts, valley towns are much milder than the summits.
- 1991–2020 is the current climate normal period. Winters have warmed since the 1960s; the pattern (east and uplands colder) is stable, the absolute values are not.
- Placing the grid half a cell differently (the best sub-cell fit in the station check) changes district means by at most 0.08 °C and moves 0 districts to a neighbouring zone.