They said February, March, and July of 2024 were the warmest since 1901, but the winter, spring, and summer of 2023/2024 and the annual average temperature also broke records. August was the second warmest, June was the fifth, while April also made it into the top ten in eighth place. 

Precipitation data did not break records, but 2024 was a drier-than-average year, with July the seventh driest, August the ninth driest, and September the tenth wettest.

In its analysis, HungaroMet compared the temperature extremes of months and seasons, as well as the precipitation extremes, and the combined extremes of temperature and precipitation, and the higher this index, the more extreme the month or season was.

They reported that the biggest surprise of last year was the extremely high temperature in February, as it was 7 degrees Celsius warmer than the 1991-2020 average, but 9 degrees Celsius warmer than the 1871-1900 average. Its precipitation total was 48 percent below the 1991-2020 average.

According to the analysis, although February 1929 was the coldest, 1966 the warmest, 2016 the wettest, and 1998 the driest, last year's February was the most extreme when combined with temperature and precipitation.

The very dry and hot February of 1998 came in second, while the very cool and rainy February of 1956 was third, and the coldest February of 1929 was the fourth most unusual with precipitation around average.

They noted that an unusually warm February would have been the second warmest March on record. March was also the warmest since 1871, but it was also very dry. Based on combined precipitation and temperature, last year's March was only the 20th most unusual March in the past 154 years, the most unusual being March 2012, which was extremely dry and hot.

April 2024 was the eighth warmest April since 1901, and the driest in terms of precipitation by 30 percent. However, overall, it was only the 24th most unusual April, the first being the very dry and warm April of 2007.

June was the fifth warmest on record with a mean temperature of 21.55 degrees Celsius and was wetter than average, with 84.68 millimeters of rain. Taking temperature and precipitation data together, June 2024 ranks 12th on the list of most unusual Junes, first being the very dry hot June of 2021, followed by Junes of 1917, 2000, and 2003.

July 2024 was the most unusual July in the past 154 years, being the warmest and seventh driest. The second most unusual was July 1984, which was very cold and very dry. The coldest July (1913) was third, the driest July (1952) fourth, and the wettest July (1878) seventh.

August 2024 was the second warmest August on record, and it was also a month with poor rainfall, with 57 percent less precipitation than the 1991-2020 average, making it the 9th driest August on record. The warmest and also very dry (second driest since 1871) August 1992 was the most unusual on the list.

The winter of 2023/2024 was described as the warmest and wettest on record, and based on the combined analysis of the two data, the winter of 2023/2024 was the most unusual. The second was the winter of 2006/2007, which was dry and warmer than average. 

Examining winter extremes, it turned out that unusually warm winters of recent periods are at the top of the list, while the coldest and driest winter of 1879/1980 only fits into seventh place on the two-dimensional list.

The spring of 2024 is the second most unusual among the springs, and this is due to the fact that it was the warmest and also the driest.

They added that the list of the ten most unusual springs includes many years after 2000, which have in common the above-average temperatures.

The summer of 2024 was very dry and the warmest summer on record, followed by the summers of 2022, 2019, 2003 and 2018 on the list of most unusual summers. 

The common characteristic of these is that they were very hot and low in precipitation, meaning that the past ten years are clearly an extreme period in terms of temperature and precipitation extremes.

The 1984 summer ranks sixth on the list for cool, dry summers, while the wet and hot summer of 2023 ranks eighth. For a cool, wet summer, the list goes back to 22nd place, although the summer of 1978 had slightly above-average precipitation, with low temperatures dominating.

The year 2024 was the 26th driest year on record based on annual precipitation totals in 154 years. 

It was also the warmest year, with no year before 2000 making the top ten warmest years of the past 154 years, and the record is broken almost every year.
 

Source: 
MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.

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