Central Europe Heatwave Triggers Record Temperatures as Austria and Slovakia Surpass 41 Degrees

Central Europe experienced historic thermal stress on Wednesday as both Austria and Slovakia recorded their highest temperatures in history, with mercury levels breaching 41 degrees Celsius during an intense regional heatwave.

The town of Kamenica nad Hronom in southern Slovakia reached 41.4 degrees Celsius (106.5 degrees Fahrenheit), according to data from the Slovak Meteorological Institute. The reading marked the third time this summer that Slovakia established a new national high, eclipsing the 41.3 C recorded in the same municipality on June 30 and the 41.0 C measured in Turna nad Bodvou on June 29. Prior to this summer, the country’s historic peak was 40.3 C, set in Hurbanovo in 2007.

Thermal conditions remained severe overnight. The Slovakian town of Skalica, located in the country’s southwest, logged an overnight low of 28.4 C (83 F) between Tuesday and Wednesday, setting the record for the hottest night ever recorded in the country.

Across the border in Austria, the national meteorological service GeoSphere reported a new all-time high of 41.2 C (106.1 F) in Bad Deutsch-Altenburg, a municipality situated near the Slovak frontier. The temperature surpassed the previous national record of 41.0 C set just 24 hours earlier.

The spikes in Austria and Slovakia follow historic highs established earlier this summer in the neighboring Czech Republic and Hungary.

According to data from the European Union‘s Copernicus Climate Change Service, Europe has been warming at twice the global average rate since the 1980s, making it the fastest-warming continent on Earth. The sustained arid conditions this summer have produced tinderbox environments, triggering widespread fires and forcing hundreds of thousands of residents and vacationers to evacuate across affected regions.