The reprieve from the stifling heat at the end of last week was enjoyable but summer is not over. The days will continue to get hotter and may even break more records.
Up until now, the summer has turned out to be extremely hot. Absolute temperature records have not been beaten in recent days but the duration of hot days is longer than usual.
“The current heatwave will be ranked among the longest in the history of meteorological measurements on our territory, although absolute heat records have not been beaten this time,” climatologist Pavel Matejovič says.
Temperatures have been recorded on Slovak territory since 1870.
Friday was the 18th day in a row in which temperatures rose above 30 degrees Celsius. This unusually long heatwave should be among the top three longest ever recorded after measurements are evaluated.
The weekend interrupted this wave, just as predicted in the forecasts of the Slovak Hydro-meteorological Institute. Temperatures decreased slightly and on Saturday, August 11, it rained in many places. However, at the beginning of this week, the influx of warm air from the southwest has been renewed. When this combines with the high pressure above central Europe, temperatures of 35° Celsius will return.
"August will probably end with high, above-average temperatures, and it may be even hotter than June and July, which were way above-average in temperature as well,” Matejovič continues. “In such a case, this summer will rank among the hottest in the whole history of meteorological observations and measurement on our territory,” he concludes.
Mainly women collapsed
The extra hot days have caused more frequent operations of rescuers, too, even compared with previous years. Recently, rescuers responded to 927 calls to collapsed people in the span of less than two weeks. Most often, they rescued people in the Prešov Region.
”Our data suggest that it was women who collapsed more; seniors were, paradoxically, outnumbered," rescuers’ spokesperson Alena Krčová said. Rescuers attribute this to regular media warnings and instruction of elders on prevention of heat-related illness.