Climate researchers at the German Weather Service (DWD) on Tuesday said the country had never before experienced a swing like the one that occurred at the weather station in the central German city of Goettingen.

A low of minus 23.8 degrees Celsius was recorded there on February 14. Seven days later, on February 21, the high was 18.1 degrees Celsius,

The previous record had been set in May 1880, in the early days of weather record-keeping. At that time, a temperature rise of 41 degrees had been measured within seven days, said a DWD spokesperson.

In northern Germany, two regional winter heat records had also been broken on Monday. In the town of Quickborn, the high was 18.9 degrees Celsius, passing the record of 17.8 degrees measured two years earlier.

In the Hamburg area, the Neuwiedenthal weather station hit 21.1 degrees on Monday. The previous record of 18.1 degrees at the same station just more than a year earlier was thus "pulverized," a DWD spokesperson said.

"For the first time since temperature records began, the temperature in Hamburg has thus risen above 20 degrees in winter," he said.

Australian Associated Press