The average annual rainfall in Germany by year and region, as well as rainfall by month and season: winter, summer, spring, and autumn

§ Annual rainfall in Germany

According to the German Meteorological Service, aka the German Weather Service (DWD), in 2023, the annual rainfall in Germany amounted to 958 l/m² (liters per square meter or millimeters), which means that, on average, per year throughout the country 958 liters of liquid precipitation or water fell per square meter.

Annual rainfall in Germany in 2023: 958 l/m²

§ How is rainfall measured and estimated?

In Germany, the amount of rainfall is indicated in liters per square meter (l/m²), which exactly corresponds to millimeters of precipitation (mm). This value means the amount of precipitation in the liquid state over a certain period of time, for example, year, season, month, etc. The annual precipitation includes: rain, snow, rain and snow mixed, as well as hail, dew and fog; before the measurement, precipitation is reduced to the liquid state and then measured, so, the precipitation indicator is essentially the number of liters of water per square meter.

To estimate the amount of precipitation, whether it is large or small, whether it means a drought or a flood, it is required to compare this indicator with the average value by year, month or region. Table 1 below shows the averaged precipitation values characteristic of different regions or latitudes of the Earth:

Table 1. Precipitation by region of the Earth.

Learn more about the climate belts, climatic zones and their types in Germany and on the Planet.

§ Precipitation in Germany by month

This Table 2 features the amount of precipitation accumulated in the space of one month in Germany, by month as of 2023.

Table 2. Monthly rainfall in Germany, by month as of 2023.

As can be seen from Table 2, the largest amount of rainfall in Germany was observed in the month of november, it made 124.1 mm. The smallest amount of rainfall was observed in the month of september, when the characteristic value totalled 33.3 mm or liters per square meter.

Chart 1. Monthly rainfall in Germany

§ Change in precipitation in Germany by year and season

Table 3 presented below features the annual rainfall in Germany over the past 10 years.

Table 3. Precipitation in Germany by year.

As can be seen from Table 3, over the past 10 years, the largest amount of rainfall in Germany was observed in 2023, it made 958.0 mm. The smallest amount of rainfall was observed in 2018, it totalled 586.3 mm.

Chart 2. Change in annual precipitation in Germany by year

§ Precipitation in Germany by federated state

In 2023, the largest amount of rainfall in Germany was observed in the federated state of North Rhine-Westphalia, it made 1197.9mm or l/m². The smallest amount of rainfall in the country was observed in the federated state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, it totalled 713.8mm or l/m².

Table 4. Amount of precipitation in Germany by federated state as of 2023.

The amount of precipitation in Germany by federated state as of 2023.

Rainfall in Germany by season and annual average by year, month and land, federated state