With maximum values of 38.7 degrees in Seibersdorf (Lower Austria), the summer of 2022 was the fourth warmest summer in 255 years. “According to evaluations of all measuring stations, 2022 and 2015 could also come in third place. The summers of 2003 and 2019 are still at the top,” reported Alexander Orlik from the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG).
More than 1.5 degrees above the climate mean
This year’s summer was hot and dry and brought heavy rain and severe thunderstorms at times. The lowest air temperature was measured in Ehrwald (Tyrol) with 4.0 degrees. The wettest place in 2022 was Rudolfshütte (Salzburg) with a precipitation value of 699 millimeters and the driest place was Podersdorf (Burgenland) with precipitation measurements of 140 millimeters. There was 875 hours of sun most in Andau (Burgenland) and least in Sulzberg (Vorarlberg) with 802 hours.
This year’s summer in the lowlands of Austria was 1.6 degrees above the average of the climate mean from 1991 to 2020. It was 1.7 degrees warmer in the mountains. Compared to the climate period from 1961 to 1990, 2022 was 3.4 degrees above the average in both the lowlands and the mountains, according to the ZAMG data.
The measurement series since 1767 includes 256 summers and among the 15 warmest are almost only summers of the recent past: 2003, 2019, 2015, 2022, 2017, 2018, 1992, 1811, 1994, 2012, 2021, 2013, 1807, 2002, 1834, so the numbers according to HISTALP lowland data set.
drought and precipitation
The increased occurrence of alternately longer dry phases and larger amounts of rain within a short period of time coincided with the current findings of climate research. The summer of 2022 brought 15 percent less precipitation than the long-term average. In the series of the driest summers of the past 164 years, 2022 is ranked 35th.
A lot of rain was recorded for a short time. Between August 18 and 19, Bregenz set a new 24-hour rain record for Vorarlberg with 212 millimeters of precipitation. “It has been far too dry in Austria for a year now. This summer has exacerbated the existing problems,” said climatologist Orlik, “from September 2021 to August 2022 there was 19 percent less precipitation than the average. That is the lowest value in a September-August period since 1975/76”.
Plants suffer from the climate
This year’s development of the plants corresponded to the very warm summers of the past few years. The Austria-wide average date of fruit ripening of apricots was July 12 this year, and that of black elder was August 6th. These entry dates match the warm summers of the last 20 to 30 years and were significantly earlier than the 1961-1990 climate period.
The heat and drought also affected trees and shrubs, particularly chestnuts. Brown-colored leaves in July and August therefore had nothing to do with an early autumn, but with pests such as the chestnut leaf miner and drought stress. As a rule, the autumnal coloration of the leaves does not start until the beginning of October in the low-lying areas, and a few days earlier in the higher areas.
Source: Nachrichten
