A week of temperature records

Following the record-breaking heatwave in late June/early July, countless temperature records were broken in Austria between 3 and 6 August during a further heatwave. The persistently high temperatures and the lack of rainfall – particularly in the east – are also continuing to exacerbate the drought.

To illustrate the ongoing heatwave, here are a few peak figures from last week:

• Temperatures of 40° Celsius or higher were recorded at 11 weather stations last week.
• A new station record (maximum temperature) was set at 63 weather stations.
• The warmest night since records began was recorded at numerous weather stations.
• No rainfall at all was recorded last week at 22 monitoring stations in Burgenland, Lower Austria and Vienna.
• Temperatures of 40° Celsius were recorded on three consecutive days last week.
• Since 1767, there have been 7 days in Austria with temperatures of 40° Celsius or higher: one in 2013 and six this year.

Temperatures of 40 degrees or more were recorded last week at the following 11 measuring stations in Vienna and Lower Austria:

The following 10 monitoring stations in the federal states of Burgenland, Lower Austria, Styria and Vienna recorded the warmest night-time temperatures last week (the temperature did not fall below the figure given on that night), led by the warmest night on record at Hornstein: