What DWD 10-Minute Data Reveals About Fast Weather Changes
Daily weather summaries answer questions about a day’s maximum, minimum, or total. They usually cannot show when a change occurred within that day. Ten-minute station observations preserve much more of that sequence.
This article uses a fixed DWD source-data extract for Großenkneten (station 00044) in Lower Saxony. It explains what the added time resolution reveals—and what it still cannot establish.
Daily values preserve magnitude but lose sequence
A daily product can retain the highest and lowest temperature or total precipitation while discarding the order of shorter changes. Two days can therefore have similar daily summaries but very different within-day patterns.
| Question | Daily summary can answer | 10-minute series adds |
|---|---|---|
| How warm or cold was the day? | Daily maximum and minimum, where available | The times and sequence of shorter temperature changes |
| How much precipitation was reported? | Daily total, where available | The reported interval and size of shorter accumulations |
| Did conditions change rapidly? | Only indirectly from daily values | The order and approximate timing of observations within the day |
At its nominal interval, a complete 10-minute series contains six observations per hour. Actual coverage depends on the station, product, and missing intervals. DWD’s 10-minute products can include temperature, precipitation, wind, humidity, pressure, sunshine, or radiation, but no single station is guaranteed to report every variable.
What the Großenkneten example shows
The reviewed extract covers 30 January through 28 February 2026. Within that fixed window:
- the minimum 10-minute air temperature was −8.8°C at 02:30 UTC on 15 February;
- the maximum was 18.6°C at 14:40 UTC on 27 February;
- the largest 10-minute precipitation total was 1.3 mm at 17:20 UTC on 23 February; and
- the temperature product contained 4,320 valid observations after invalid placeholders below −50°C were excluded.
The 27.4°C difference between the extracted minimum and maximum describes variation across the month-long window, not one continuous warming episode. The 10-minute timestamps make the timing auditable, while a monthly range alone would not.
What the observations do not prove
The series describes measurements at one station. It does not by itself show that the same sequence occurred across northwest Germany, identify a meteorological cause, or establish impacts such as icing or flooding. Those claims would require additional stations, synoptic evidence, and impact records.
Recent DWD files can also have incomplete routine quality control. Station metadata, instrument history, timestamps, units, and provider quality fields should remain attached to any formal analysis. DWD remains the authoritative source when values or revisions matter.
Reproduce the view or inspect the source
Use the German Weather Station Explorer for broad station discovery. To recreate a comparable view, follow the DWD station-data guide: choose 10 Minutes, find Großenkneten (00044), select an available date range, and open Dashboard → Plots. The live recent-data window may no longer include this fixed February example.
The Dashboard’s Export Excel control downloads the current processed selection as an .xlsx workbook. For provider files, metadata, and quality fields, retrieve the original DWD ZIP products linked in the Data Annex.
Conclusion
The Großenkneten extract shows the specific benefit of 10-minute data: it preserves observation timing that a daily or monthly summary cannot reconstruct. That added detail supports closer inspection, but claims about a wider region, causes, or impacts still require evidence beyond one station series.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a DWD 10-minute observation?
It is a station observation reported on a 10-minute time grid in a DWD product. A complete series has six intervals per hour, but available variables and missing intervals differ by station and product.
Why use 10-minute data instead of daily summaries?
Ten-minute observations preserve the timing and order of changes within a day. Daily summaries can retain a maximum, minimum, or total while hiding when those values occurred.
Does this example describe all of Lower Saxony?
No. It describes Großenkneten station 00044 for a fixed period. Regional conclusions would require additional representative stations and supporting evidence.
Are recent DWD observations fully quality controlled?
Not necessarily. DWD distinguishes recent products whose routine quality control is not complete from versioned historical products with completed routine quality control.
How can I download the observations?
Use Export Excel in the Climate Explorer Dashboard for the current processed selection. Use the official DWD ZIP archives when you need source files, provider metadata, and quality fields.
Data Annex
Data current as of 18 July 2026. The worked example uses the DWD 10-minute air-temperature and precipitation products for Großenkneten from 30 January through 28 February 2026. Values were recalculated from the official recent-product ZIP files; invalid temperature placeholders below −50°C were excluded.
Station and dataset metadata
| Station | Provider station ID | Latitude | Longitude | Elevation | Resolution | Analysis period |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Großenkneten | 00044 |
52.9336° N | 8.2370° E | 44 m | 10 minutes | 30 Jan–28 Feb 2026 |
Worked-example observation summary
| Metric | Value | Observation time (UTC) |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum 10-minute air temperature | −8.8°C | 15 Feb 2026, 02:30 |
| Maximum 10-minute air temperature | 18.6°C | 27 Feb 2026, 14:40 |
| Maximum 10-minute precipitation total | 1.3 mm | 23 Feb 2026, 17:20 |
| Valid air-temperature observations | 4,320 | Full analysis period |
The provider station ID is the reproducible key used by DWD. No verified WIGOS mapping was needed for this worked example.
Data Sources
- DWD 10-minute air-temperature archive: Official Großenkneten temperature files.
- DWD 10-minute precipitation archive: Official Großenkneten precipitation files.
- DWD 10-minute air-temperature product description: Coverage, update groups, metadata, and quality status.
- DWD OpenData terms of use: Licence and attribution terms.