The hot month of September, with a temperature deviation of more than three degrees Celsius, contributed to the fact that 2023 could well become one of the warmest years in Austria’s measuring history. Two weeks ago, the experts from Geosphere Austria (formerly ZAMG) predicted a possible one, and the preliminary values just before the end of the month confirm this assumption. As a result, the number of summer days in some state capitals rose to unprecedented levels.
Regionally, the deviations were even greater; this time the largest deviations from the climate average were found in the west, north and east of the country. In Vorarlberg and North Tyrol, in the east of Upper Austria, in Lower Austria, Vienna and the north of Burgenland, September 2023 was 3.5 to 4.5 degrees too warm. Also in the mountains the deviations from the average climate were between plus 3.5 and 4.8 degrees.
In Bergen it is even more than 4.2 degrees above average
“We have experienced the warmest September in the 257-year history of measurements,” said Geosphere climatologist Alexander Orlik. “September 2023 was 3.2 degrees above average for the climate period 1991 to 2020 in the lowlands of Austria and 4.2 degrees in the mountains.” Compared to the climatic period 1961-1990, September 2023 was 3.6 degrees above average in the lowlands and 4.2 degrees above average in the mountains.
September 2016 was the warmest of the past ten years so far, but the deviation of about 2.45 degrees compared to the average over more than 250 years of measurement history was only sufficient for eighth place in the entire time series. With 3.1 degrees above average, the year 1810 was the undisputed leader for a long time, but it was not until 1932 that there was a deviation of more than 3 degrees, as shown by the Geosphere data.
2023 in the top three warmest years in Austria
“If October, November and December are comparable to the average of the past ten years, 2023 will be one of the three warmest years in Austria’s 256-year measurement history,” Orlik said mid-month – in this context he underlined the importance of global warming in the context of the climate crisis.
The records were also made possible by the absence of cold air outbreaks; cloudy days were also a rarity, and therefore the number of hours of sunshine was unusually high. “Across Austria, the sun shone 40 percent longer in September 2023 than in an average September,” says climatologist Orlik. “This made it the second sunniest September since sunshine measurements began in 1925. Only September 1997 was sunnier, with an increase of 55 percent.”
Records also for sunny days
In Bregenz, Linz, Eisenstadt and Vienna the previous number of summer days – days with at least 25 degrees – has already been exceeded, in Salzburg the record could still fall if it gets so warm here again – which the forecasts consider possible – the record is also set here . In Austria there are on average one to eight summer days up to about 1000 meters above sea level. However, in September the average values were exceeded here by two to eight times. For example, in Langenlebarn (Lower Austria) there were 24 summer days, which is 16 days more than average.
There was a negative bias in the Austrian assessment of rainfall in September 2023, which was 45 percent lower during an average rainfall than in an average September. This puts it in the range of the 20 driest Septembers in measurement history. The final ranking can only be announced after all measuring stations have been evaluated at the end of the month. September 2023 was a far cry from the extremely dry September months of 1865 (-82 percent), 1959 (-73 percent) and 1947 (-72 percent).
Source: Krone
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