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Following the warmest September and the warmest October in Austrian measurement history, there are two record months in a single year to report.
“As of Tuesday, October 2023, in the Austrian lowlands, it is 3.0 degrees above the average of the climate period 1991–2020, and in the mountains, by 3.4 degrees,” said Hans Ressl, climatologist at Geosphere Austria, summarizing the preliminary evaluation.
October 2023 was 3.7 degrees above the mean in the lowlands.
Compared to the 1961–1990 climate period, October 2023 was 3.7 degrees above average in the lowlands and 3.6 degrees above average in the mountains. The month, dominated by mild high-pressure and southwesterly weather, also brought a record number of summer days (at least 25 degrees), with the weather stations Bad Radkersburg and Wagna-Leibnitz (both in Styria) recording nine of them in October 2023; the previous October record, set in 1942, was seven days in Windischgarsten in Upper Austria. This year, there were ten stations with seven summer days, five in Lower Austria. Eight summer days were recorded at the weather station Bruck/Mur.
Many Geosphere Austria weather stations also recorded temperature records for their respective measuring locations at the beginning of the month. On October 3, a new Austria-wide record for October was also set at 30.3 degrees in Langenlebarn (Lower Austria), thus narrowly surpassing the 30.2 degrees set on October 4, 1966, in Fussach in Vorarlberg. Likewise, the month brought 15 percent more hours of sunshine than the average (climate period 1991–2020) and was thus similarly sunny to the Octobers in the past two years.
Rainfall amounts on October 31
Due to the rainfall amounts on October 31 in parts of Austria, Geosphere prepared a rough evaluation for precipitation for the time being, which will be supplemented next week. Before that, it was too wet in places along and south of the main ridge of the Alps and too dry in places on the northern side of the mountains. For example, from northern Tyrol to Lower Austria, precipitation was, in some places, about 50 to 70 percent below average, while in the area from Carinthia through eastern Tyrol to the Brenner Pass, many regions received 50 to over 100 percent more rain than in an average October.
After the warmest September, climatologist Alexander Orlik predicted that 2023 could become one of the three warmest years in Austria’s 256-year measuring history if October, November and December proceed similarly to the average of the past ten years. In this context, he emphasized the importance of global warming in the context of the climate crisis.
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