Austria: Weather review autumn 2021 – Sunny and relatively dry
Last heat, first snow
On September 15th this autumn brought the last “30s” of the year, with 30.4 degrees in Bad Radkersburg (ST), 30.3 degrees in Andau (B) and 30 degrees in Wagna near Leibnitz (ST). Now, the end November, there is snow in almost all of Austria.
“It was the coolest autumn since 2017. Viewed over the entire 255-year series of measurements in the lowlands of Austria, however, 80 percent of the autumns were cooler because the climate has become significantly warmer in recent decades,” says ZAMG climatologist Orlik.
Compared to an average autumn in the period 1991 to 2020, autumn 2021 is exactly in the range of the mean in the lowlands and 0.6 degrees above it in the mountains. Compared to the average between 1961 and 1990, this autumn was 0.7 degrees too warm on the lowlands and 1.0 degrees on the mountains.
Autumn 2021 in detail
Note: The textual description and the table values refer to the new normal climate period 1991-2020, unless a different normal climate period is expressly referred to.
temperature
The entire temperature curve in autumn 2021 showed little abnormality. September 2021 is one of the 25 warmest September months of the past 255 years with a deviation of +1.2 ° C, but October and November 2021 were relative with anomalies of -0.7 ° C and -0.6 ° C, respectively cold.
The entire meteorological autumn thus recorded a temperature deviation of 0.0 ° C (HISTALP lowland data set) from the 1991-2020 mean. This makes this autumn the coldest since 2017 (which was 0.3 ° C colder than the long-term average). In the summit regions of the country, autumn 2021 was 0.5 ° C warmer than the climatological mean. This was mainly due to the fact that September and November were around 0.7 ° C warmer here than in the lowlands.
Spread over Austria, the deviations in air temperature were widespread between -0.4 and +0.3 ° C. Only in the northern Weinviertel and in places in the Tiroler Unterland as well as in East Tyrol were the anomalies slightly higher at +0.3 to +0.5 ° C.
Precipitation
Over long stretches of autumn 2021 there was little precipitation in all of Austria, and especially the months of September (dev. -52%) and October (dev. -52%) were significantly drier than the climatological mean. But even in November there was little rainfall in the first two thirds of the month in the north and east of the country.
The last days of November brought a lot of precipitation, also in the form of snow, so that the entire deficit was somewhat mitigated. What remains is a meteorological autumn with very little precipitation overall, which, with a deviation from the mean of -34 percent, was the driest autumn since 2006 (-38%). Compared to the last 163 years (beginning of the HISTALP precipitation time series for Austria), this autumn was the twentieth in the history of measurements in Austria.
In most of the federal territory, the precipitation deficits were between -15 and -45 percent. In the Upper Austrian part of the Salzkammergut, in the Schneeberg and Rax areas, in the Bucklige Welt and in Central Burgenland, autumn 2021 was 45 to 60 percent drier than the climatological mean. Only in North Tyrol between the Ausserfern and the Kitzbühel Alps was the rainfall more or less even (deviation +15 to +5%).
Sun
The dry conditions throughout autumn mean the yield of direct sunshine. In summer there was 22 percent more sunshine in Austria in autumn 2021. With this deviation, autumn 2021, together with the years 1947 and 1986, is the sixth sunniest in measurement history (since 1925).
The last time it was less than this autumn was in 2018 (which was 25 percent above the average). September (+29 percent) and October (+21 percent) provide the bulk of this sunny autumn. In November the sun shone 8 percent longer, with an average November.
The spatial distribution of the deviations was very clear throughout Austria. From Vorarlberg to Burgenland, the sun shone 10 to 30 percent more often. Only in Carinthia, south of the Drau, were there even (+3 to +10%) sunshine conditions this autumn.
Autumn 2021: Overview of the federal states
Vorarlberg
Precipitation deviation -40%
Temperature deviation 0.0 ° C
Deviation in sunshine duration 15%
Maximum temperature in Bludenz (571 m) 28.0 ° C on September 14th.
Lowest temperature value (summit / high alpine) Lech (1,442 m) -11.6 ° C on November 7th.
Lowest temperature value below 1,000 m Schoppernau (839 m) -6.2 ° C on November 7th.
highest seasonal mean air temperature in Rohrspitz (395 m) 9.9 ° C, dev. n / a
maximum duration of sunshine Sulzberg (1,016 m) 473 h, dev. n / a
Tyrol
Precipitation deviation -24%
Temperature deviation +0.3 ° C
Deviation in sunshine duration 16%
Maximum temperature value Innsbruck-Uni. (578 m) 28.6 ° C on September 14th
Lowest temperature value (summit / high alpine) Brunnenkogel (3,437 m) -21.3 ° C on November 5th.
Lowest temperature value below 1,000 m Kössen (588 m) -6.5 ° C on November 25th.
highest seasonal mean air temperature at Innsbruck-Uni. (578 m) 10.1 ° C, dev. +0.3 ° C
highest sunshine duration Brunnenkogel (3,437 m) 605 h, dev. n / a
Salzburg
Precipitation deviation-25%
Temperature deviation +0.1 ° C
Deviation in sunshine duration 19%
Maximum temperature value Salzburg / Freis. (419 m) 27.6 ° C on 8.9.
Lowest temperature value (summit / high alpine) Sonnblick (3,109 m) -16.4 ° C on November 6th.
Lowest temperature below 1,000 m Radstadt (835 m) -9.1 ° C on November 24th.
highest seasonal mean air temperature Golling (490 m) 9.6 ° C, dev. n / a
maximum duration of sunshine Schmittenhöhe (1,956 m) 519 h, dev. + 13%
Upper Austria
Precipitation deviation -42%
Temperature deviation 0.0 ° C
Deviation in sunshine duration 22%
Maximum temperature Weyer (426 m) 28.6 ° C on 9.9.
Lowest temperature value (summit / high alpine) Dachstein glacier (2,520 m) -14.9 ° C on November 6th.
Lowest temperature below 1,000 m Windischgarsten (600 m) -7.9 ° C on November 25th.
highest seasonal mean air temperature Linz (262 m) 10.1 ° C, dev. 0.0 ° C
maximum duration of sunshine Windischgarsten (600 m) 490 h, dev. + 22%
Lower Austria
Precipitation deviation -38%
Temperature deviation +0.1 ° C
Deviation of the sunshine duration 25%
Maximum temperature value B. Deutsch-Altenb. (169 m) 29.5 ° C 15.9.
Lowest temperature value (summit / high alpine) Rax / cable car (1,547 m) -8.3 ° C on 23.11.
Lowest temperature below 1,000 m Puchberg (583 m) -8.5 ° C on November 24th.
highest seasonal mean air temperature B. Deutsch-Altenb. (169 m) 11.0 ° C, dev. n / a
maximum duration of sunshine Hohe Wand (937 m) 526 h, dev. + 24%
Vienna
Precipitation deviation -42%
Temperature deviation +0.3 ° C
Deviation in sunshine duration 26%
Maximum temperature of the Donaufeld (160 m) 28.7 ° C on September 16.
Lowest temperature value (summit) Vienna anniversary sw. (450 m) -1.9 ° C November 25th.
Lowest temperature value Vienna-Mariabrunn (225 m) -4.7 ° C on November 24th.
highest seasonal mean air temperature Vienna-Inner City (177 m) 12.4 ° C, dev. +0.4 ° C
highest sunshine duration Vienna-Stammersd. (191 m) 504 a.m., dev. n / a
Burgenland
Precipitation deviation -42%
Temperature deviation 0.0 ° C
Deviation in sunshine duration 24%
Maximum temperature of Andau (117 m) 30.3 ° C on September 15.
Lowest temperature value B. Tatzmannsdorf (347 m) -5.7 ° C on November 25th.
highest seasonal mean air temperature Podersdorf (116 m) 11.1 ° C, dev. n / a
highest sunshine duration Andau (117 m) 537 h, dev. + 30%
Styria
Precipitation deviation -32%
Temperature deviation -0.1 ° C
Deviation in sunshine duration 19%
Maximum temperature B. Radkersburg (207 m) 30.4 ° C on September 15.
Lowest temperature value (summit / high alpine) Schöckl (1,443 m) -7.4 ° C 23.11.
Lowest temperature below 1,000 m Zeltweg (678 m) -9.3 ° C on November 25th.
highest seasonal mean air temperature B. Radkersburg (207 m) 10.1 ° C, dev. -0.3 ° C
highest sunshine duration Stolzalpe (1,291 m) 521 h, dev. + 23%
Carinthia
Precipitation deviation -35%
Temperature deviation +0.2 ° C
Deviation in sunshine duration 10%
Maximum temperature in Villach (493 m) 29.8 ° C on September 15.
Lowest temperature value (summit / high alpine) Villacher Alpe (2,117 m) -8.8 ° C 23.11.
Lowest temperature value below 1,000 m wide field (704 m) -8.0 ° C on November 25th.
highest seasonal mean air temperature Klagenfurt-HTL (441 m) 9.9 ° C, dev. n / a
maximum duration of sunshine at Kanzelhöhe (1,520 m) 502 h, dev. + 13%
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