No, the prolonged dry spell of recent weeks cannot in itself be taken as further evidence of climate change, says Marcus Wadsak. "This March has been exceptionally dry. Taken on its own, that's just unusual weather. The leap from weather to climate only works if you look at at least the last 30 Marches." It's precisely for this reason that the head of the ORF weather desk is worried about the climate. Tomorrow, his "Climate Manifesto" will be published.

Because a look at the records makes one thing clear: "We're experiencing things that have never happened before. We've all lived through the eight warmest years on record. In 2013, we measured 40.5 degrees in Austria. Since then, we've had more heatwave days than ever before. We've had more heat-related deaths than ever before. That's hard for many people to accept." How to draw the connection to the climate crisis in the daily weather forecast is a challenge that the ORF weather desk, which he has headed since 2012, continually rises to, Wadsak assures in conversation with APA. "I see public broadcasting as having a real responsibility here. The weather report after the main evening news reaches around 1.5 million people every day. If we can't manage to communicate the problem to people, then who can?"

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