Data analysis
Thanks to warm late summer: Water temperature of the Rhine breaks a record in 2024
After a cold and wet early summer, the Rhine offered water lovers an above-average number of swimming days and bathtub feeling in 2024. The maximum temperatures in September even set a record.
Jumping into the stream offers a cooling effect. This summer in particular, the Rhine was often as hot as a bathtub.
Anyone who wanted to swim in the Rhine had to be patient in early summer: not only was the flooding an obstacle, but the temperatures also remained low for a long time. A look at the figures shows, however, that the season was not all that bad – late summer in particular offered an above-average number of opportunities to swim in pleasant temperatures.
In fact, the year 2024 broke a record: on September 2nd, at 6 p.m., the Rhine was practically bath-water-temperature at 24.2 degrees, never before had it been this warm in September. This has already overturned the record from 2023: at that time, the Rhine water was still 23.9 degrees warm on September 12th. The detailed raw data from the Rhine measuring station on data.bs.ch are only available from 2002 onwards.
It has never been so warm in September
The latest date of the year with more than 23 degrees was narrowly missed: In 2023, as mentioned, it was September 12, this year September 7. If we take the last 22 years as a benchmark, such high temperatures usually end in the penultimate week of August.
Humans consider 22 degrees to be an acceptable water temperature. For many years, the record for the earliest time this mark was reached was held by the hot summer of 2003: At that time, 22 degrees were reached on June 11th at 9 p.m. Last year, however, this record was broken by a few hours: In 2023, 22 degrees were already reached on June 11th at 11 a.m.
On the other hand, 2024, with July 22nd, remains far behind when comparing the years in which this mark was first reached.
2024 was exceptionally warm
When it comes to continuous swimming pleasure, however, 2024 was way ahead: From July 26 to August 27, the water temperature of the Rhine never fell below 22 degrees; these 32 days catapult the current year to fourth place. Since the turn of the millennium, only the years 2022 (46 days), 2018 (48 days) and 2003 with 51 days have had more continuous swimming days.
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