Weather anomaly: Luxembourg’s January sees double the average rainfall

This January in Luxembourg was the third-wettest registered since measurements began at the airport in Findel in 1947 – and the wettest in three decades – with warmer and foggier weather than usual, weather institute Meteolux said in a monthly update.

The first and last ten days of the month saw particularly heavy rainfall, resulting in a monthly average that was more than double that of the average recorded between 1991 and 2020.

Over the three decades, it rained 72 litres/m2, whereas rainfall accumulated to 148.1 litres/m2 last month.

This makes January 2025 the third-wettest January since the beginning of measurements in 1947. In 1988, the monthly accumulation was calculated at 195.5 litres/m2 and in 1995 at 197.1 litres/m2.

“This exceptional rainfall is explained by strong negative atmospheric pressure anomalies over the North Atlantic and Western Europe, favouring low-pressure conditions in our regions marked by frequent passages of active, abundantly rainy disturbances,” Meteolux explained in their report published on Monday.

At the start of January, heavy rainfall caused flooding in several areas of the country, which was placed under orange alert.

This January was warmer, foggier and featured more rainy and snowy days than usual, though snow tended not to stick, the report said.

The average temperature for the month stood at 1.8°C – against a 1.4°C average over the 1991-2020 period – with a maximum temperature of 11.8°C – 8 degrees higher than the average – and a low of minus 7.5°C, much colder than the average of minus 1°C seen over the past three decades.

It rained on 18 days out of 31 – slightly more than the average 17.3 – and it snowed on 9 days, but snow only stayed on the ground for 3 days. Over the past three decades, it would stay on average for 7.6 days.

The agency recorded 104 hours of fog over the month, against 82.5 hours on average between 1990 and 2020. In return, it was also less sunny, with 12 days where cloud cover prevented the sun from being seen at all and just 42.5 hours of sunshine for all of the month, compared to 52 hours for the 1991 to 2020 average.

This wetter, foggier and warmer month comes on the back of a year that was marked by higher than usual temperatures and rainfalls, as agricultural weather service AgriMeteo explained a report earlier this year.

An excess in rainfall can impact the agricultural sector by damaging crops and delaying work on the fields, which in turn can lead to produce rotting instead of being harvested.