Austria’s Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) has forecast thunderstorms for Vienna and much of the country as warm and unstable weather continues to sweep the country. 

The warm weather means that in between thunderstorms, the sun is expected to shine bright across much of the country. 

There will be temperatures of between 13 and 20 during the mornings, with daily highs of 26 to 33 degrees across much of the country. 

The ZAMG on Friday hit Vienna with a “Yellow Weather Warning”, which indicates caution is advised as thunderstorms and heavy rain will hit the city. 

The poor weather will continue into the weekend.

From Saturday, the weather is set to be unstable in mountainous regions, while from Sunday sun showers can be expected across the country along with “violent thunderstorms” in the east of the country. 

2021 sets record for lightning

The summer of 2021 has already set an all-time record for lighting across Austria. 

There has been more than one million lightning bolts recorded across Austria by the end of July, which is above the average for each year – meaning Austria is on course for the most bolts ever in a single summer. 

Upper Austria has received the highest number of bolts, with 406,000 in that state alone. 

In addition to the record lightning, there has also been record-breaking heat, drought, floods, mudslides and the risk of forest fires. 

Manfred Spatzierer, chief forecaster at the , says that this may be the “new normal” for weather in Austria and across much of Central Europe. 

“This may well be a taste of the new normal in the weather in Central Europe”, said Spatzierer.  

“Nothing is easy with the weather, and even so you cannot blame this accumulation of various types of storms directly on climate change”.