GeoSphere Austria says July 2023 recorded lowland temperatures around 1.4C above the average seen in the same month from 1991 to 2020. Climatologists also saw the same trend in the typically cooler, higher mountains – with readings in the Austrian Alps about 1.3C higher than the 1991 to 2020 average.
Bludenz in Vorarlberg saw last month’s highest Austrian temperature, with 37.7C recorded there on July 11th.
The country’s heatwaves last month weren’t just hot. They were long too.
Austrian meteorologists define a heatwave to be at least three consecutive days of average temperatures hitting 30C or over. The average heatwave in Austria lasts nine days in a typical July. But this year was far from typical. Vienna’s heatwave lasted for 18 days, with Linz experiencing a 17-day heatwave, St. Pölten getting a 13-day heatwave, and Bregenz going through twelve days of more than 30C temperatures.
READ ALSO: Is Austria set for a summer of heatwaves and storms?
Cooler August?
By comparison, this month is off to a much cooler start, which some people may even welcome as a reprieve from the heat.
So far, much have the country is forecasted to have cooler highs of between 20 and 25C for at least the next week and possibly longer.
The south in particular is slated to see rain or even thunderstorms for the next week. Innsbruck is predicted to have a particularly cool start to August, with rain and temperatures staying below 20C until Tuesday next week, when temperatures climb up to about 24C – a far cry from July’s record-breaking weather.
READ ALSO: 9 unmissable events in Austria this August
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