Central Europe experienced extreme temperatures on Wednesday as Slovakia and Austria each set new national heat records. In Slovakia, the town of Kamenica nad Hronom in the southern region recorded 41.4 degrees Celsius (106.5 degrees Fahrenheit), surpassing the previous high of 41.3 degrees Celsius set earlier this summer. This marked the third record-breaking temperature event in Slovakia during the current summer season, following peaks on two consecutive days in late June that reached 41.0 and 41.3 degrees Celsius respectively. The prior all-time record for Slovakia had stood since 2007 at 40.3 degrees Celsius.
Austria also reached an unprecedented high on the same day, with measurements of 41.2 degrees Celsius (106.1 degrees Fahrenheit) recorded in Bad Deutsch-Altenburg near the Slovak border. This surpassed Austria’s previous record of 41.0 degrees Celsius, which had been set just the day before. Additionally, the overnight period from Tuesday into Wednesday proved to be the hottest night on record in Slovakia, with temperatures reaching 28.4 degrees Celsius in the town of Skalica.
The broader Central European region has been affected by the extreme conditions throughout the summer season. The Czech Republic and Hungary had previously established their own all-time temperature records earlier this year. The exceptional heat has coincided with significantly increased wildfire activity across the continent, resulting in widespread evacuations of residential areas and tourist destinations affecting hundreds of thousands of people.
Europe continues to experience warming at an accelerated pace compared to global trends. According to data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, temperatures on the continent have been rising at twice the rate of the global average since the 1980s, making it the world’s fastest-warming region.
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