The Czech Republic experienced its first tropical day of 2024 yesterday, with temperatures reaching 30 degrees Celsius at least. The highest temperatures were 30.9°C, recorded in Ceske Budejovice-Roznov, the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (CHMU) announced on Facebook.
Until yesterday, the earliest tropical day of the year ever recorded was on 17 April, which happened in 1934, when 30°C was recorded in Vlasim, Kutna Hora and Cesky Brod, all east or southeast of Prague. Last year, the first tropical day was 18 June.
In the afternoon yesterday, meteorologists reported that more than half of the stations had recorded a summer day with a maximum temperature of 25°C or higher. “However, it got much warmer at many stations; at the Prague-Komorany station they measured 30.6 degrees Celsius,” the CHMU said after 3pm.
The Prague-Komorany station was eventually overtaken by the one in Ceske Budejovice, South Bohemia, where the temperature hit 30.9°C at around 3:30pm in the area of Roznov. The previous record for 7 April at this station was six degrees lower, recorded in 1961. A tropical day was also registered today in Caslav, east of Prague, with 30.1°C.
Temperature records were beaten yesterday at almost all stations that have been measuring for 30 years or more, 159 out of 167 of them, the CHMU said.
Records had already fallen at most stations on Saturday, with the warmest temperature measured in Doksany, north Bohemia, (27.8°C).
The unusually hot weather for April will last in the Czech Republic until Tuesday. A cold front will move across the country from the west from Tuesday to Wednesday. Temperatures will fall by more than ten degrees to below 15°C, according to the CHMU forecast.
