- Title: GERMANY: Winners and losers in dismal summer
- Date: 17th July 2012
- Summary: VARIOUS OF PEOPLE IN POOL
- Embargoed: 1st August 2012 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Germany
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Weather
- Reuters ID: LVA87ITJ5ZXGW52FBP8VDVVSH16K
- Story Text: A well-known German song goes 'When will we ever have a real summer?' and that is what many people in Germany ask themselves every day. While the south of Europe suffers a heat-wave, in Germany temperatures around 18 degrees, rain and wind have led more to a cool autumn feeling than hot summer flashes.
Most people in the streets moan about the rain but there are some who really suffer from the lack of summer. Take the retail industry: tiny bikinis remain on the cloth racks, warm cardigans are the hot sellers.
"People are already buying the autumn line, the summer line remains mostly on the racks," said the manager of the traditional fashion house C&A, Peter Kilian. But he is confident that the summer wear still finds its way into the shopper's bags. "For us the prize is the most important argument, not the need, because even summer ware gets sold when the prize is right."
But the retailers are optimistic. The summer might still be coming and the biggest turnover is made during the second part of the year anyway, according to the manager of the German textile retail association. The winter clothes are more expensive, a bigger jacket just cost more, the retailers argue.
And the weather doesn't just bother the shoppers. What is just a nuisance to them is a question of existence for the farmers. The cold winter was followed by an extreme dry spell, followed by cold and rain: with such an unpredictable weather, this year's harvest has been particularly meagre.
"What we experience at the moment are absolutes extremes in the weather," the head of the Farmer's Associations of South Brandenburg, Thomas Goebel told Reuters. "I say it is almost a hard-core April, one extreme chases the next. First it is extremely dry, followed by extreme rainy weather, first it was very warm, then it is very cold. What we see now has never happened before and confronts us with great challenges."
But according to the German Weather Service (DWD) the meteorological summer that started on June 1, is even slightly on the warmer side. Temperatures were above average by 0.1 percent in the reference period of the years 1961 until 1990, as DWD meteorologist Christina Speicher explained.
And it will continue for a while the way it is now, Speicher adds, with changing weather. The south of Germany will enjoy a bit more of the sunshine and the warmth. But we all might be in for a hot summer, she says. "Well, we can still have a real summer, there is no question about. But as how certain that is and when, we cannot predict that at the moment. Next week we will have a high pressure system with sunshine and warm temperatures for Germany."
So no need to pack away the bikini just yet. And if the summer fails there is always the indoor pools where bikinis can be worn and paraded.
'Tropical island' is one of the winners of the bad weather outside. Located near Berlin, the indoor pool area is crowded with people these days.
"The bad weather works in our favour," says 'Tropical island' marketing manager Kim Schaefer. "But we must not fool ourselves and take into consideration that we are in the middle of the summer holidays - only Bavaria is still missing - and we generally have a high amount of visitors then. But with this weather, with the catastrophe of this summer, that is a great advantage for us."
And while people enjoy the summer temperatures and warm water inside, they can almost forget the grey skies outside. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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