The year 2014 could be the warmest year for Austria since temperature recordings first began, the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) said in a press release Thursday.
The ZAMG said its first assessment of this year's temperatures shows a 90 percent probability that it would be a record year for temperatures.
"If December is not extremely cold, 2014 will be the warmest year since the beginning of temperature measurements in 1768," said ZAMG climatologist Alexander Orlik.
The only way a record year would be prevented is if December were as cold as the 1960s, but that would not be likely according to current temperatures.
The ZAMG said May and August of this year have so far been the only months with below average temperatures compared to the period between 1981 and 2010. November has also been unusually mild, the main reason being mild air coming from the south and southwestern Mediterranean regions.
Orlik said the past 100 years have shown a persistent increase in average temperatures, and despite sometimes large fluctuations from year to year, the overall temperature level has consistently risen, particularly since the 1980s, and especially in the spring and summer months.
The previous warmest year to date was 1994 with temperatures two degrees above the average of 1901 to 2000. So far, 2014 has been 2.1 to 2.5 degrees warmer compared to the same period.