Geography and urban development of Dresden temperatures are almost the same as those in cities in southwest Germany; on average 10.2°C per year. In hot summers, Dresden is between the hot Lusatia and the milder Ore Mountains. Both regions are characterised by strong winters: temperatures of −20°C are not impossible in Dresden. The driest months are February and March, with precipitation of 40 mm. Spring months have often been arid in the last couple of years (with less than 10 mm of precipitation). The most precipitation falls in July and August, at 60 mm per month. Due to its location on the banks of the Elbe
The Destruction of Dresden "Wie Deutschlands Städte starben" ("How Germany's Cities Died") which Irving wrote for the German journal "Neue Illustrierte". In the first edition, Irving estimated that the two RAF raids and the first USAAF raid combined were "estimated authoritatively to have killed more than 135,000 of the population [of Dresden]..." and the "documentation suggests very strongly that the figure was certainly between a minimum of 100,000 and a maximum of 250,000". In 1965, General Ira C. Eaker identified the number as 135,000. Irving's first edition figures became widely accepted and were used in many standard reference works. In later editions of the