December 2025 in Austria Very Dry

According to Geosphere Austria, December 2025 saw many high-pressure systems and typical winter inversion weather. The mountain regions experienced mild, dry temperatures and almost cloudless skies, while the lowlands were relatively cool and often foggy. December 2025 was the second warmest in the 175-year measurement series in the mountains. In the lowlands, however, it ranked only 46th in the 259-year measurement history, explained climatologist Alexander Orlik. In December 2025, it was 0.9 degrees warmer in the Austrian lowlands than the average of the climate period 1991-2020, and 3.6 degrees warmer in the mountains. Compared to the climate period 1961-1990, the temperature in the lowlands was 2.0 degrees and in the mountains 4.5 degrees above average.

December 2025 partly very sunny, partly very dull

The number of sunshine hours was extremely varied: It was very sunny in the mountainous regions, especially in the western half of Austria. Here, 30 to 100 percent more sunshine hours than the monthly average were recorded. In many low-lying areas, however, there was frequent fog or high fog, resulting in 50 to 80 percent fewer sunshine hours than in an average December, for example in Vienna, Burgenland, the lowlands of Lower Austria and Upper Austria, the Klagenfurt Basin, and the Lavant Valley as well as the Rhine Valley.

In some cases, the number of sunshine hours is even in the range of negative records. For example, the fewest December sunshine hours in the history of the Klagenfurt Airport weather station: eleven in December of the years 1932 and 2020, and thirteen in December 1903. In December 2025, there were only eight sunshine hours in Klagenfurt up to December 29. A final assessment is only possible after the end of the month.

Record series in December 2025 with days without sun

In some regions, December 2025 brought new records for the longest period without sun: For example, the sky over the Linz Hörsching weather station was gray for 23 days, from November 29 to December 21. The previous record here was 16 days without sun in January 2020. The Klagenfurt Airport weather station has been in continuous gray since December 9 and currently (as of December 30) has already had 21 days without sun. The previous record here was 18 days in the winter of 1973/74. In Eisenstadt, December 2025 brought the third-longest series without sun, with 14 days (from December 12 to 25). It was only longer overcast here in 1995 with 26 days and in 1985 with 17 days.

December 2025: Extremely Dry and Relatively Little Snow

The many high-pressure weather conditions also resulted in an extremely dry December. In the nationwide evaluation for Austria, December 2025 saw 60 percent less precipitation than the long-term average. Similarly low precipitation in December was last seen in 2016 (minus 66 percent). It was significantly drier in a December last in 2015 (-76 percent).

Due to the dry and very mild weather in the mountainous regions, December 2025 brought relatively few snow cover days (days with a snow cover of at least one centimeter height at at least 50 percent of the observation site) at all altitudes: Below 500 meters above sea level, there were 75 percent fewer snow cover days in the nationwide average than in an average December. The range was quite large here, ranging from minus 100 percent in Eisenstadt to minus eight percent in Krems.

At altitudes of 500 to 1,000 meters above sea level, there were 68 percent fewer snow cover days in the nationwide average than in the long-term average. Above 1,000 meters above sea level, there were large regional differences, with a range from three percent fewer snow cover days (e.g., in St. Jakob/Defereggen in East Tyrol) to 80 percent fewer snow cover days (such as in Fischbach in Styria).

(APA/Red)

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