The calculation of the monthly mean temperature from the minimum, maximum, 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. temperatures shows how the meteorological summer developed in terms of temperature and which trends are recognizable. The resulting values for the individual months now provide a detailed insight into this development. July with 22.87 °C and August with 23.22 °C showed remarkably high average values and thus set new records. At 20.26 °C, June only ranks as the seventh warmest in the history books, but the overall average temperature for the summer of 2024 was 22.13 °C - a value that is only just behind the "summer of the century" in 2003 with 22.19 °C.
Climatological days as indicators of change
It is not only the average temperatures that give us information about this year's summer. Climatological days on which certain threshold values are reached, exceeded or undercut also provide crucial information. A look at the tropical nights on which temperatures did not fall below 20 °C shows this: There were 14 such nights at the University of Graz campus this year. This significantly exceeded the previous record of 11 tropical nights from 2013 and 2019.
But it wasn't just the nights that were unusually warm. The number of tropical or hot days on which the thermometer climbed to 30 °C or above is also remarkable: in 2024, there were already 38 such days up to and including 3 September, with the first tropical day occurring as early as April and thus earlier than ever before (see news item "Tropical early start"). Although this summer is just behind the record year 2003 with 41 tropical days, it clearly shows the changed climatic conditions. The number of summer days on which the temperature reaches 25 °C or more is also impressive at 128 days, although 2003 still holds the top spot with 149 summer days. If the heatwave continues, further records cannot be ruled out this year.
Visualized climate data: Insight and review
Have we piqued your interest? Then we cordially invite you to visit our newly designed "Data visualization" page. Here you will not only find the above-mentioned days for the current year, but you can also use our historical data to get an overview of the last few years and decades and form your own impression.