Worldwide, the weather has been in the record books month after month for more than a year – and that doesn’t stop with spring in our own country. After the much too warm autumn and winter, this is already the third extremely warm season in a row in this country.
Climate change is not sparing the Alpine Republic, as the preliminary results from Geosphere Austria impressively make clear: according to this study, this year’s meteorological spring was the warmest in the history of measurements.
Spring too warm and very rainy
In the lowlands, temperatures were 1.9 degrees above average for the climate period 1991 to 2020. Precipitation also fell 20 percent above average and sunshine hours were nine percent below average, it was said on Friday. In the summit areas, temperatures were 1.6 degrees Celsius above average, ranking third in the 174-year series of mountain measurements.
The three months of March, April and May have never been so warm on average, both in the lowlands and their 258-year history of measurements and in the entire area of Austria. Yet there was a phase that was significantly too cold: in the second half of April.
Extreme outliers become normal
The ten warmest sources in the lowland measurement series (HISTALP dataset) that has existed since 1767 were almost all in the recent past: 2024, 2007, 2018, 1811, 1794, 2011, 2000, 2017, 2009, 2014. “Since the 1990s “We are almost exclusively dealing with sources that are significantly too warm and barely too cool,” says Geosphere climatologist Alexander Orlik.
“In 1794 and 1811 there were also very warm springs, but these were extreme outliers. At the time, there were many years with springs that were significantly too cool and the overall temperature level in one spring was about two degrees cooler than today.
Fruit growers in particular complain
The winter weather phase in April slowed down plant growth and caused frost damage to grape and apricot crops, for example. In the previous two months, plant development accelerated to such an extent that some had their earliest flowering date since the start of the observation period in 1946. Apricot blossoms were about three weeks ahead of the 1991 to 2020 average, as were apple, lilac and black elderberry blossoms reached their earliest start date since 1946 this year.
The three meteorological months of spring also brought above-average precipitation. In total, this was approximately 20 percent above the long-term average at the Austrian assessment in 2024. Spring 2024 was the fifth wetter than average season in a row (since spring 2023).
Not too humid everywhere
The regional precipitation assessment for spring 2024 shows clear differences. In the area from the Tyrolean lowlands via Salzburg and Upper Austria to the Weinviertel, conditions were average to slightly dry (plus 15 to minus 25 percent). However, in most of western and southern Austria (plus 15 to plus 75 percent) it was significantly too humid, especially in Upper Carinthia (in some cases plus 90 percent).
Tornado also caused a stir
Storms were also recorded. As a result of heavy thunderstorms, there was a tornado in both Graz-Eggenberg and Schattendorf (Burgenland) on May 21. In both cases, wind peaks of 120 km/h caused some damage, such as uprooted trees and partially covered roofs.
According to Geosphere, tornadoes in Austria are not as rare as commonly believed. Largely complete records have existed since 1998, when systematic analyzes of storm damage, presumably tornadoes, began. Since then, there have been an average of four tornadoes per year in Austria. The annual fluctuations are large and range from no known cases (2008) to seven (2004 and 2023).
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
