2024 is likely to be the hottest year ever in Austria

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According to the temperatures measured so far, 2024 could be the hottest year in Austria’s history. This is according to the latest data from Geosphere Austria.

Regarding the measured air temperature, the Austrian annual average for 2024—including the forecasts for August—is already 3.8 degrees above the 1961–1990 average. According to Geosphere Austria, only two above-average or four average cold autumn and winter months can change this value, so 2023 to 2018 (around 2.5 degrees above the 1961–1990 average) are not exceeded.

Even a cold December, which was relatively warm in 2023 at 0.8 degrees above the all-time average, could not depress the annual average too much in 2024. Third place in measurement history is, therefore, no longer up for grabs in 2024—whether it will even be second or first place will become clear over the course of the year. In any case, the five warmest years in measurement history only include years in the recent past: 2023, 2018, 2014, 2022, and 2019.

As far as the previous records for tropical nights per year are concerned, these had already been set or surpassed in the provincial capitals of St. Pölten, Eisenstadt, and Graz by mid-August. In meteorology, the air temperature does not fall below 20 degrees on a tropical night. In Eisenstadt alone, the number of tropical nights this year is 23 (cut-off date: August 16), already four nights above the previous record set in 2015.

In St. Pölten, eleven tropical nights have been counted this year, four more than in 2015. In Graz, the previous record of nine tropical nights from 2013 was at least equaled this year with nine for the time being but is likely to be surpassed. Geosphere Austria expects the heat to continue in eastern Austria until next Monday, after which it should cool down.

Vienna recorded the most tropical nights this year among the provincial capitals: as of August 16, the Innere Stadt weather station registered 37. The highest value here was set in 2018 and 2019, with 41 each; whether this record will be broken this year is questionable. However, as Geosphere Austria climatologist Alexander Orlik explained in an interview with APA, another hot weekend is still possible this summer. The most tropical nights in a row were also recorded at the Innere Stadt station in 1994; at that time, the thermometer never dropped below 20 degrees for 17 consecutive nights.