Daily Heat Records Broken in Hungary

The Budapest and national daily heat record was broken on Friday, New Year's Eve, the National Meteorological Service has announced.

It said that unusually mild air flowed over most of the country on Friday, with highs between 10 and 18 degrees Celsius, except in the northeastern counties and the shores of Lake Balaton.

Until now, the national record on December 31was 16.5 degrees Celsius, set in Sopron in 1920. On Friday, however, 18 degrees Celsius were recorded in Fertőrákos, also in Győr-Moson-Sopron county, making it the new national daily record. Interestingly, they also noted that almost ten of their stations recorded higher temperatures than the old record.

The record for New Year's Eve in the capital was 14 degrees Celsius, set in 2002. It was also almost one and a half degrees higher on Friday. The new Budapest record was 15.4 degrees, set in Pestszentlőrinc.

The weather service said it would be similarly mild on the first day of the new year.