Austria posts hottest summer in 260 years of record keeping
Sep 01, 2026
Vienna [Austria], September 1: Austria saw the hottest summer in its 260-year history of weather measurements, with average air temperature reaching 2.6 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average and 4.4 degrees above the 1961-1990 average, state weather service Geosphere Austria reported on Monday.
Records were posted at more than 100 weather stations. For the first time since measurements began, temperatures rose above 41 degrees Celsius. At the same time, around one-third less precipitation than the long-term average fell across the country between June 1 and August 31.
"It has become difficult to find the right adjectives" to describe the summer of 2026, climatologist Alexander Orlik of Geosphere Austria said.
"Extraordinary, extreme or unprecedented" were all appropriate descriptions for the maximums, the duration of the heatwaves, the number of hot days, extremely hot days and tropical nights, as well as the unusually low number of frost days in the high mountains, Orlik said.
Source: Qatar Tribune
