Both of this year’s extreme heatwaves in Budapest were more intense than ever before, according to an analysis published on the specialist portal Másfélfok (One and a Half Degree) – Climate Change Explained.
Péter Szabó, a climate researcher and PhD student at the meteorology faculty at ELTE, said that Budapest had never before experienced heatwaves like the two that occurred this year.
The first began on 20 June and lasted for 12 days; the second began on 30 July and lasted for 9 days. Although the July heatwave was shorter, it was more intense. On both occasions, it was hotter in the capital than in 2007, when the previous all-time heat record was set.
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The 1994 heatwave also lasted 12 days, but it was nowhere near as intense as the two this year, Szabó said. Although the heatwave in July 2024 was the longest, lasting 13 days, it was less intense than the one at the start of August this year.
He added that for several decades in the 20th century, moderately intense heatwaves occurred every few years, followed by a longer period during which no heatwaves developed. However, after 1990, the effects of climate change became apparent, and it was really only after 2010 that heatwaves became prolonged and intense. During the hottest summer, in 2024, a total of around 1,300 more people died over the course of three weeks of heatwaves, meaning that excess mortality stood at nearly 20 percent nationwide.
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