Only a few hundredths were missing.
To be more precise: If the year 2022 had been 0.3 degrees warmer on average, it would have gone down in history in Frankfurt as the warmest since records began at the measuring station at the airport.
As it is, only second place remains for the past year with 12.46 degrees.
The hot year 2018 remains the frontrunner with its 12.48 degrees.
But even without this record, 2022 will probably be remembered as an exceptional meteorological year - not least because of the 17.6 degrees that were measured at the airport on New Year's Eve, because it has never been so warm in December in Frankfurt since measurements began in 1936.
Peter Badenhop
Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.
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The remarkable warmth of the year also has other aspects: For example, the 37 hot days with temperatures of 30 and more degrees that were registered in summer.
The long-term average is just nine, and there were only 43 more in 2018. The situation is similar with the summer days, i.e. those with maximum values of 25 degrees and more: the meteorologists counted 95 this time, 42 are usual.
Meteorological exception
There were more again in 2018 with 108 and in 1996 with 96. However, this data is literally overshadowed by what the meteorologists have collected about the sun: last year it delivered something like a meteorological fabulous record.
With a total of 2242.8 hours of sunshine, 2022 was by far the sunniest year since measurements began in 1950. The previous - and long considered unbeatable - leader 2003 with its 2136.8 hours of sunshine was already surpassed on November 2, 60 days before the end of the year.
There has never been anything like it, and given that the long-term solar normal value for Frankfurt is just 1586 hours, even experienced meteorologists could hardly imagine such a shift in standards - and certainly not that it would ultimately be a plus of 106 hours compared to 2003.
That corresponds to a whole summer week - and actually makes the past year a meteorological exception.