Climate change has Austria firmly in its grip. That is the conclusion of Herbert Formayer, lead author of the current climate status report. Last year, Austria's average temperature was 2.3 degrees Celsius above the long-term mean for the period 1961 to 1990. This was compounded by record-breaking rainfall in the south and south-west, as well as prolonged heatwaves in the north-east.

Given the ongoing global warming, these prolonged and extreme weather periods are a phenomenon that is likely to increase, the climate researcher explained at a press briefing on Tuesday. "These developments need to be seen in the context of climate change." In any case, 2019 was not only a year of extreme weather, but also the third warmest in Austria's more than 250-year measurement history. Nine of the ten warmest years have been recorded in the 21st century.

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