Summer 2025 in Czechia: heatwave smashes the country's all-time record by almost two degrees

Summer 2025 is shaping up to be a historic season for Czechia in terms of temperature records: according to the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, more than three-quarters of weather stations with at least 30 years of observations have surpassed their previous maximum readings.

The country's absolute temperature record has also fallen. On 28 June, Doksany recorded 41.9°C — smashing the previous 2012 record by a full 1.5 degrees, a leap considered almost unheard of in meteorology.

What's more, the old record wasn't broken just once, or only during the June heatwave. In early August, during a fresh bout of extreme heat, thermometers in Plzeň hit 41.5°C. Moravia's regional record was also broken, with Strážnice reaching 41.0°C.

Until this year, temperatures above 40°C were rare

It's precisely the frequency with which the mercury crossed the 40°C mark that makes 2025 so exceptional. Such readings used to be extremely rare in Czechia: according to data going back to 1961, before this summer the 40°C threshold had only been breached on three days total — 27 July 1983, 20 August 2012, and 8 August 2015.

This year alone, the 40°C mark has already been exceeded on five separate days — 27 and 28 June, 30 July, and 4 and 5 August. These figures illustrate just how extreme this year's heatwaves have been, and 2025 will likely stand out sharply from previous years for a long time to come.

The number of so-called "super-tropical" days — days when at least one station records 35°C or higher — has also risen sharply. Such days used to be fairly rare in Czechia, but by 16 August this year the count had already reached 22, just one short of the record set in 2015.

And summer isn't over yet. While no new extreme heat is expected in the immediate forecast, meteorologists don't rule out a return of scorching temperatures before the season ends — meaning another shattering of the current all-time record can't be entirely ruled out either.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz