Too hot

Vorarlberg climate status: 2023 was a year of extremes

There were also midsummer temperatures outside of midsummer.

(Bild: Stiplovsek Dietmar)

The climate status report clearly shows how rapidly climate change is progressing in our latitudes. Excessive heat and heavy rainfall are increasingly becoming constants.

After 2022 set the sad record in Vorarlberg as the warmest year in recorded history, last year was only just behind it, as the latest climate status report shows. The temperature deviation in 2023 was +2.5 degrees Celsius compared to the climate average from 1961 to 1990.

With a deviation of +4.1 degrees, September was even the warmest in recorded history. Bregenz also recorded 92 summer days instead of the usual 33. On the other hand, the number of frost days was around a third lower than the average. Austria-wide, but also worldwide, 2023 was the warmest year in recorded history.

With 31 days of heavy precipitation, 2023 also ranks third in at least 87 years of records. The longest dry episode of the year lasted 25 days and was therefore a quarter longer than the long-term average.

At the top of the priority list
Provincial Councillor Daniel Zadra (Greens) is therefore calling for a greater focus on renewable energy sources and for climate change to be placed at the top of the agenda - including at cross-border and municipal level.