Austria Records Wettest September in History

Austria Records Wettest September in History

APA/HELMUT FOHRINGER

 

September 2024 has officially become the wettest on record in Austria, with more than twice the usual amount of rainfall.

According to Geosphere Austria, rainfall was up by 118%, the highest value since records began in 1858. The previous record holder, September 1899, saw a 111% increase over the average.

The heavy downpours led to widespread floods and mudslides in the middle of the month, when over 80 weather stations reported new records for monthly rainfall. In St. Pölten and Langenlebarn, a village near Tulln, 447mm of rain was recorded, surpassing the old records of 202mm in St. Pölten (set in 1937) and 175mm in Langenlebarn (set in 2014).

Rainfall in the north and east was three to four times higher than an average September. Vorarlberg recorded a 58% increase in rainfall, Tyrol 69%, and Carinthia 74%. However, the figures were even more dramatic in Upper Austria (up 204%), Lower Austria (up 254%), and Vienna (up 290%).

The unseasonable weather also brought snow to some lower-lying areas. In Hall bei Admont, Styria, snow fell at just 637 metres above sea level, with five centimetres recorded on 13 September. Geosphere Austria’s climatologist, Alexander Orlik, explained that snow at this altitude is rare, occurring only once every five years in September.

Meanwhile, the mountains saw unprecedented snowfall. On 17 September, Rudolfshütte in Salzburg, located at 2,320 metres, recorded 145cm of snow – the highest September snow depth since records began there in 1980.

Despite the extremes, the month averaged out as “slightly above normal” in temperature. Lowland areas were 0.7C warmer than the 1991-2020 climate average, placing September 2024 43rd in Austria’s 258-year record. In the mountains, it was marginally cooler by 0.1C, marking the first cooler-than-average month since November 2023. Compared to the older 1961-1990 period, lowland temperatures were 1.1C above the norm, while the mountains remained 0.1C below average.

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