In Upper Austria

40 days of “summer heat” in a row are a new record

This year will be one of the hottest in recorded history and the summer has already broken several records in Upper Austria

(Bild: Wenzel Markus)

A cold front will bring cooling and long-awaited rain today and tomorrow. But the break in the sun is too short to topple this summer's and the whole year's record. In Upper Austria, a few "glow records" have already fallen, but one has not.

The thermometer in Linz should read 19 degrees this morning, ending an unprecedented sequence of tropical nights. It had remained warmer than 20 degrees for 15 nights in a row. This broke the record from 2015, when it barely cooled down at night for 14 days. Incidentally, there was not a single tropical night in Linz from 1961 to 1990 and an average of three from 1991 to 2020. "The figures speak for themselves," says Steffen Dietz from the Ubimet weather service - we are feeling the effects of global warming first hand. "The previous record of 33 summer days in a row from 2018 was also far exceeded," says Dietz: Saturday saw the 40th summer day (at least 25 degrees) in a row in the state capital, and today is likely to be the 41st, albeit close. "There will be a brief interruption to the series on Monday", says Dietz - from Tuesday it's back to 30 degrees.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/stock.adobe.com)

Last "too cold month" was a long time ago
In any case, 2024 will occupy a precarious place on the podium, because only massive cold in the fall could knock it off third place among the warmest years in recorded history - it is even more likely to move towards first place. Our graph clearly shows that we were not mistaken: "It's hotter than normal." The average temperature was 1.5 to two degrees higher than in the period from 1991 to 2020. "Incidentally, the last month in which it was too cold on average was May in 2023," the meteorologist reads from the data.

Heavenly floodgates remained closed after June
When it comes to precipitation, the situation varies from region to region. June was still too wet, then Peter stopped the heavenly showers. By yesterday, Saturday, only six liters of rain per square meter had fallen in Ried im Innkreis in August, compared to 130 liters in Bad Goisern. It is still unclear to what extent the rainfall forecast for today and tomorrow throughout the country will mitigate the drought damage in agriculture.

Incidentally, the hottest day of the year was August 13th, when 34.6 degrees Celsius was recorded in Linz, 34.4 degrees in Wels and 34.1 degrees in Schärding and Freistadt. However, the heat record from 2013 (39.2 degrees, measured in Bad Goisern) still stands.