Austria has entered another climate record, this time with the highest temperature ever recorded in the country. According to the meteorological service GeoSphere Austria, the thermometer reached 41.2 degrees Celsius in Bad Deutsch-Altenburg, in the east of the country, at the height of a summer marked by unusually intense heat and a lack of rainfall.
The new record was broken within 24 hours
The figure of 41.2°C surpasses the record set just one day earlier, when 41 degrees Celsius was recorded at the Vienna-Stammersdorf station.
The rise in temperature over such a short interval makes the worsening heat episode affecting the country even more evident.
A dry summer and rising pressure from extreme weather
Austria is facing an exceptionally hot and dry summer, while drought and a lack of rainfall have spread across most of the territory.
This combination of extreme heat and a rainfall deficit is pushing the country toward a season marked not only by temperatures, but also by the consequences brought by prolonged extreme weather.
The most severe June ever recorded
This summer had shown signs early on. Austria also experienced the strongest heatwave ever recorded for the month of June.
According to the reported data, average temperatures were 1.4 degrees Celsius higher than previous records for this period.
Scientists link the trend to climate change
According to scientists, climate change caused by human activity and greenhouse gas emissions is increasing the frequency and intensity of extreme weather phenomena around the world.
Austria’s case is being seen as another indicator of the rising pressure that heatwaves are exerting on countries that until a few years ago did not record such high temperatures so often.
The new record of 41.2°C places Austria at the center of the European alarm over extreme weather, in a summer that is highlighting the accelerated pace of climate change.
Beyond the record figure, the picture that emerges is that of a country hit at the same time by intense heat and prolonged drought.