Summer heat linked to 49 deaths in Tyrol

Heat is estimated to have caused 49 deaths in Tyrol between June and September, the highest figure in the region’s records, ORF reported, citing the Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES). The agency puts the estimate’s range at 19 to 113.

The estimate compares with 34 heat-related deaths last summer and 48 in 2024. Austria experienced its hottest summer on record this year.

Climate scientist Alexander Orlik of GeoSphere Austria said this summer offered a preview of average temperatures over the next 30 to 50 years under a medium-emissions scenario. About half of summers could be more extreme and half less extreme, he said, but conditions like this summer’s would broadly become the norm.

How hot a summer gets, and how long the heat lasts, depends on large-scale weather patterns, Orlik said. Innsbruck has seen a rise in hot days similar to those in Austrian state capitals in the east and north. But the city has not yet had a substantial increase in tropical nights, when temperatures stay above 20 degrees; capitals outside the Alps appear to be more affected.

AGES estimates that heat caused more than 1,000 deaths across Austria from June to September. Its estimates range from more than 200 deaths each in Vienna and Lower Austria to 35 in Burgenland. The agency stresses that these are statistical estimates, not individually confirmed heat deaths. Heat can strain the heart, circulation, kidneys and lungs, and worsen existing illnesses. AGES compares daily temperature and mortality data to estimate the number of deaths attributable to heat.

The WWF called for a binding plan to phase out coal, oil and gas, and urged Austria to push for one at the climate conference that opened in Antalya on Monday. It also called for a one-billion-euro heat protection fund for cities and municipalities, building renovation and a restoration plan. The group said the fund should pay for removing paved surfaces, planting shade trees and creating green spaces. It also called for the removal of environmentally harmful subsidies and for the restoration of rivers, floodplains, moors and healthy soils.