Mercury climbs to a record 40.3C in Bavaria

A HEATWAVE has pushed the mercury to its highest level in Germany since measurements began in 1881. The national weather service said an automated measurement station recorded a temperature of 40.3C (104.54F) in Kitzingen, northern Bavaria, yesterday afternoon. Weather service spokesman Uwe Kirsche said today that the record won’t be official until technicians have manually checked the station. “We assume that our equipment worked properly,” he added. The previous record of 40.2C was recorded at Karlsruhe in 2003.