"The climate catastrophe isn't a matter of melting polar ice caps somewhere up with the polar bears. It's happening here and now," wrote Gerold Riedmann just a few days after Vorarlberg experienced its highest rainfall totals in a short period of time and only "escaped a catastrophe by incredibly good luck". All the more remarkable, then, that on the following day, during the regional government's and those responsible's first review of the event, the climate crisis – at least in the media – wasn't even mentioned.

"We're right in the middle of the #Klimakrise. Alongside alleviating the symptoms through adaptation, tackling the root causes through climate protection is therefore essential." Vorarlberg meteorologist Simon Tschannett has been working on the topic of urban climatology for many years and explains the current state of the climate crisis in his first column.