Great heat, many tropical nights, strong thunderstorms and storms have shaped the weather in recent days. The fire brigades had to move out to storm operations in many parts of Austria until Friday. In Arriach in Carinthia, the clean-up work after the mudslides and flooding will take weeks, the civil defense warning will remain in effect until Tuesday. The community can still only be reached or left via an emergency route.
Just north of Arriach in Maitratten, the hydrographic service’s weather station measured 150 liters of rain per square meter, 98 liters of which within just one hour. No soil can absorb these masses of water. In the course of the climate crisis, an increase in such extreme heavy rain events is to be expected in the Alpine region.
36.7 degrees and a record for tropical nights in Graz
The heat was present day and night. Bad Deutsch-Altenburg (Lower Austria) caused the highest temperature of the year in Austria on Wednesday with 36.7 degrees. For the first time in its history, Graz experienced four tropical nights in a row, including the warmest night ever with a low of 22.5 degrees. The nights in Vienna were even warmer, so it didn’t drop below 24.6 degrees in the city center on Friday night.
Sleeping should also be easier again in the new week in the metropolitan areas, and the overheated apartments can cool down because the weather is changing. The weather is becoming more normal, temperatures are leveling off around the long-term mean values for early July. One can speak of a summer as it used to be.
Still hot in east and south on Monday
The subtropical high, which has been pumping masses of hot air from Africa to Central Europe since May, will be pushed aside in the coming days. Instead, a westerly to northwesterly current establishes itself, which brings cooler Atlantic air to Austria in this first week of vacation.
But on Monday it will be hot again, over 30 degrees can be expected from Lower Carinthia to Burgenland and in eastern Lower Austria. It’s already cooler in western Austria. During the day there will be showers and thunderstorms that can be violent. There is a risk of severe weather in Carinthia and Styria, among other places.
Larger amounts of rain will fall in many parts of the country by Tuesday, which can cause problems in some places. On Tuesday afternoon, however, calm will slowly return and then the sun will come out at times. The heat is over everywhere on Tuesday, the highest temperatures are around 24 degrees.
Pleasant bathing weather on Wednesday
Wednesday promises temporarily calm summer weather with lots of sunshine, fog fields will clear up in the morning. The likelihood of getting briefly wet from a rain shower is low, even when hiking in the mountains.
The temperatures reach up to 28 or 29 degrees in the afternoon, so invite you to swim. The lakes have saved the heat of the last few days, the Wörthersee in Carinthia and the Alte Donau in Vienna are 26 degrees warm, the Mondsee in Upper Austria has a water temperature of 24 degrees.
Changeable Thursday and Friday
Thursday won’t bring as much sunshine, because the next low is approaching. There will be a few rain showers in the afternoon, but thunderstorms are not to be feared. The north-west wind picks up, the temperatures drop a bit. Nevertheless, it is enough for a summer day in Klagenfurt and Eisenstadt, for example, and the 25-degree mark is exceeded.
The rain showers will decrease again on Friday, when the west and south of Austria start the school holidays, and the sun will shine everywhere in Austria at times. It will remain windy and moderately warm.
The weekend will continue with a mixture of sun and clouds, a few rain showers are still to be expected. Temperatures are expected to remain below 30 degrees.
Temperatures are rising again
In the past two months, the days in Austria have almost always been far too warm. A small correction, a slightly cooler weather phase, is therefore long overdue. It looks like the midsummer break won’t be too long. In a week, the weather models are showing rising temperatures again, and the Azores high may then expand to Austria. The next heat wave is bound to come.