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Violent Storms Multiplying in Germany Lift Costs for Insurers

Rising temperatures make summer thunderstorms more powerful and damaging.

A cyclist rides next to a car while rain pours down in Regensburg on May 11, 2019.

A cyclist rides next to a car while rain pours down in Regensburg on May 11, 2019.

Photographer: Lino Mirgeler/picture-alliance/AP Photo

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Swimmers at the Lusshardtsee lake about 60 miles south of Frankfurt in Germany thought they’d found respite from the blazing sun one Sunday afternoon last summer.

Unknown to them, however, sweltering ground temperatures were forcing a column of moist air upwards to feed a weather phenomena scientists call a convective storm. Just before 4 p.m. on July 15, thunder, lighting bolts and torrential rain hit and sent startled bathers dashing for shore.