Earlier and earlier!

Up to 30 degrees possible in Salzburg on Sunday

Many sailors winterized their boats on Lake Mattsee on Saturday (symbolic image).

(Bild: ANDREAS TROESTER)

At 30 degrees, this could be the earliest hot day since measurements began. Salzburg has already broken two records.

The weekend started with lots of sunshine and summery temperatures - in some places it was already around 25 degrees from early Saturday afternoon. This is considered the meteorological-climatological limit for a "summer day". The highest temperature in the Geosphere Austria measuring network was measured at 29.5 degrees at the University of Innsbruck.

Salzburg fourth warmest provincial capital
At 26.8 degrees, the Salzburg-Freisaal weather station was in fourth place on the Austria-wide "hit list" of provincial capitals on Saturday. On Sunday it will remain summery with afternoon temperatures between 24 and 29 degrees. Occasionally even 30 degrees are possible in Salzburg.

Salzburg saw the earliest 30s
This would be the earliest hot day (at least 30 degrees) in Austria's recorded history and would be ten days earlier than the previous record. The earliest 30 degrees ever recorded was on April 17, 1934 in the city of Salzburg. The second earliest date for a hot day in Austria was on April 20, 2018, also in the city of Salzburg.

In any case, the daily peaks this weekend were around ten to 15 degrees above the typical values for early April. The highest temperatures measured in April were around 30 degrees in all federal states and almost all of them were recorded at the end of the month.

Due to global warming, very warm weather conditions are occurring earlier and earlier. Even in average years, the 30-degree mark is now being reached much earlier than a few decades ago. "In the recent past, in the 1991-2020 climate period, the first 30 degrees was reached in Austria on average on May 19, with a typical range from the beginning of May to the beginning of June," said Alexander Orlik, climatologist at GeoSphere Austria, "in the 1961-1990 climate period, the 30 degree mark was reached on average on May 30, with a typical range from mid-May to mid-June."