Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

WEATHER

Austria hit by storms as Graz records Europe’s warmest temperature

The Styrian capital of Graz was the warmest place in Europe on Thursday as stormy weather swept across Austria.

Published: 17 February 2022 17:35 CET
The Austrian city of Graz. Photo by Daniel J. Schwarz on Unsplash
The Austrian city of Graz. Photo by Daniel J. Schwarz on Unsplash

It might still be winter but it felt more like spring across much of Austria on Thursday as a storm system moved across the country bringing gale force winds and unseasonably warm temperatures.

Graz was Europe’s warmest location on Thursdaywhen the mercury hit 22.1 degrees on Thursday afternoon followed by wind gusts of over 100km per hour on the Styrian mountains.

The temperature also pushed past 20 degrees in Deutschlandsberg (21.8 degrees), Köflach (21.2 degrees) and Frohnleiten (20.6 degrees) – all in Styria.

The average temperature in Austria for February is roughly 3 degrees.

Overnight on Thursday, strong winds are set to continue in the Alps but are expected to settle down on Friday.

The mild weather in Styria will continue on Friday with a forecasted high of 16 degrees.

Elsewhere in Europe, Germany has been hit by wild stormy weather leading to disruptions to rail and air networks and a state of emergency has been declared for Berlin. the Czech Republic has also been impacted by the storm and 300,000 homes are without power.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.
For members

WEATHER

After mini tornado and floods should Austria expect a summer of extremes?

Extreme weather events have become more common and more dangerous worldwide. This week Austria experienced some of its own extreme weather with thunderstorms and even a 'small' tornado hitting the country.

Published: 22 May 2024 17:27 CEST
After mini tornado and floods should Austria expect a summer of extremes?

Heavy rainfall led to flooded cellars and muddy roads in Lower Austria on Tuesday afternoon.

In Styria, Graz residents recorded what seemed to be a tornado in the city (the head of the Styrian meteorological agency later confirmed a “small” tornado there), with large amounts of rainfall causing havoc.

Austria’s meteorological institute Geosphere Austria had already warned of thunderstorms, some of them heavy, moving north through the country—an alert that included the possibility of landslides and flooding. 

The warnings have been plentiful. Recently, experts alerted that global warming would make extreme weather events much more frequent and stronger, as The Local reported.

Summers, in particular, could see torrential downpours, hail storms as well as heat waves. 

Four heatwaves occurred in 2023, two of which lasted an unusually long time, lasting up to 18 days (July) and 16 days (August).

READ ALSO: How to protect yourself during storm season in Austria

So what about this summer?

There is nothing to indicate that people in Austria will have some relief this summer.

In fact, it has been a warmer than average year so far, with record temperatures throughout. According to Geosphere Austria, the recent winter was one of the two warmest on record.

February followed the trend, and it was the hottest in Austrian history. Parts of Austria also saw record heat in March, while there was “summer in April” in the Alpine country. GeoSphere Austria expects the country to be heading towards a hotter summer season also in 2024. 

Already in June, the probability of above-average temperatures is 60 percent.

In July, above-average temperatures will occur in about 60 percent of the cases. The probability of average temperatures is 20 percent, the same as the chance of below-average temperatures. 

The probability of above-average temperatures in August is just under 80 percent. Average temperatures occur in about a quarter of the cases, and the likelihood of below-average temperatures is less than 10 percent.

READ ALSO: What is Austria’s official emergency-warning phone app and do I need it?

The institute does point out that a seasonal forecast is not an exact forecast in the sense of a 3-day overview but a “rough estimate of the average temperatures conditions in the Eastern Alps”. 

It may seem counterintuitive to think that Austria could be heading for a summer of drought and heavy rains. Still, experts explain that the hotter temperatures make extreme events more likely.

And Austria is more affected by warming than the global average, mainly because it is located in the middle of the continent, and land masses warm up faster than oceans. 

Because of that, the Alpine Republic has already been 2C warmer on average over the last 30 years, almost twice as much as the global temperature increase compared to pre-industrial times.

SHOW COMMENTS