Austria and Slovakia recorded the hottest heat in history

Austria and Slovakia set new national temperature records amid extreme heat sweeping across Central and Eastern Europe. In both countries, temperatures on August 5 exceeded 41 degrees.

In the Slovak village of Kamenica nad Hronom, the air heated up to 41.4 degrees. The Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute called this a preliminary absolute maximum in the entire history of systematic observations in the country.

The previous record lasted just over a month. On June 30, Kamenica nad Hronom recorded 41.3 degrees, and the day before in Turňa nad Bodvou – 41 degrees. Before the summer of 2026, the national maximum was considered to be 40.3 degrees, registered in Hurbanovo in 2007.

The night to Wednesday was also the warmest in the observation history of Slovakia. In the town of Skalica, the minimum temperature was 28.4 degrees, meaning that even at night the air did not cool below this level.

In Austria, a new absolute maximum reached 41.2 degrees. It was recorded in Bad Deutsch-Altenburg in the east of the country, near the border with Slovakia. The record was broken for the second day in a row: on August 4, the temperature in Austria rose to 41 degrees for the first time.

Previously, the official maximum of the country was considered to be 40.5 degrees, recorded in the same Bad Deutsch-Altenburg in August 2013. In the summer of 2026, Austria has already repeatedly updated regional and seasonal records: at the end of June, the temperature in central Vienna reached 40 degrees for the first time.

The heat is accompanied by a prolonged drought. According to GeoSphere Austria, spring 2026 was the driest in the country in the 169-year observation history, and the lack of precipitation continued throughout the summer.

Extremely high temperatures are also being recorded in other countries of the region. Earlier this summer, national maxima were updated by Czechia and Hungary. The heat increases the load on energy systems, transport and water resources, and raises the risk of wildfires.

Based on materials from: The Guardian, GeoSphere Austria