„Our main task is more about hydrometeorology advice“, explains Dr. Gabriele Malitz, head of the DWD office at Lindenberger Weg 24. Weather research started in Buch in 1951 with the establishment of meteorological technical facilities at the Hufeland Hospital site. Until 1993 the Research Institute for Bioclimatology was on Lindenberger Weg, before the hydrometeorologists moved from the city centre to Buch into what had been an institute building.
Bioclimatologists are also responsible for the measuring site in the garden. Now, once daily, measurements are taken of the temperature, rainfall, pollen count and ozone levels, for example. However, the hydrometeorology staff look after this in addition to their other work.
„Without the right weather stations our data would not be able to reach the Internet“, explains Dr. Malitz. „We leave that to the private weather bureau of Jörg Kachelmann, who also operates a weather station in Buch and offers a private weather forecasting service. We use the data collected for our own hydrometeorological work.“
 This is certainly also quite good for the people of Buch if they have such an official station in their region. Dr. Malitz: „Since Helios needed a weather expert when building its hospital, they were able to take advantage of our data.“
But what do the 16 staff working for Dr. Gabriele Malitz do in Buch, if they are not involved in weather forecasting? The main task is giving advice on water supplies for the 16 federal states. The water distribution is not centrally controlled in the Federal Republic, so that each state has its own regulations. For example, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern has very different water supply problems compared with Baden-Württemberg.“
And it is not just the federal states that are given advice, but also the Federal Institute for Water Hydrography and the Federal Traffic Ministry. „So, our key customers are political committees who use our services to make political decisions.“
But local authorities are also customers of the hydrometeorologists. Using long-term observations they know how much rainfall a particular authority can expect. Accordingly, local authorities can then calculate the diameters they need for their sewerage systems, what sort of drainage, for example, needs to be installed under landscaped roofs, as well as how to construct dykes, dams and shipping canals.
„In the 1990s we still had lots of architects among our customers, because the DWD had to generate income for political reasons”, so says Dr. Malitz. „Then our weather bureau concentrated on its core competencies and delegated such areas of business to private weather bureaux. This is now the political line, because the state needs to be slim and efficient and private companies have to handle such areas of business, generate income and pay taxes.“
Even if the Buch hydrometeorologists concentrate on political advice involving water supply, there is still a need for „forecasters“ especially in spring and winter. „We developed a model to forecast the thawing of snow. The results of our forecasts are transmitted directly to the high water forecasting centre“, reports Dr. Malitz.
There, using the model calculations from Berlin, one can estimate the amount of river flooding that can be expected after snow melts and after heavy rainfall. Cities and local authorities can then take the appropriate precautions.
As far as Berlin Buch is concerned, its weather is about average for Germany. However, even here there can be days of extreme rain, like August 8, 1978, when 1.09 meters of rain fell per square meter. The coldest day in Buch was February 9, 1956, with minus 24.5 degrees and the warmest day was August 9, 1992, with 38.1 degrees.
Further information about the Hydrometeorological Department of the DWD can be obtained from the homepage www.dwd.de and t94009425.
Photo 1: Dr. Gabriele Malitz heads the Buch office of the Hydrometeorological Department of the DWD.
Photo 2: The site in the garden of the Buch DWD office where data are collected on rainfall and wind speed.
www.dwd.de
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