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21. 12. 09. - 16:00

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21. 12. 09. - 16:00

Fourteen towns report lows of at least minus 20 degrees

By Lisa Chapman

Fourteen Austrian towns reported temperatures below minus 20 degrees Celsius this morning, according to the Central Agency for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) in Vienna.

The agency said the coldest town was Sankt Jakob in Defereggen, East Tyrol, where temperatures plummeted to minus 24.4 degrees overnight. It added it had not been so cold in Carinthia since the 1960s and in Styria since 1981.

ZAMG climatologist Gerhard Hohenwarter said: "The combination of snow cover and clear, still nights makes strong frosts possible."

The low in Vienna this morning was minus 12.4 degrees, with most other provincial capitals reporting even lower readings.

Klagenfurt’s low was minus 18.2 degrees, Graz’s minus 16.7, Linz’s minus 15.2, Eisenstadt’s minus 14.8, Innsbruck’s minus 14.6, St. Pölten’s minus 14.1, Salzburg’s minus 13.2 and Bregenz’s minus 12.2 degrees.

The intense cold may give way to freezing rain as early as tomorrow in much of Austria as warmer air moves in from the southwest, weathermen have forecast.

Meanwhile the combination of snow and cold over the weekend resulted in many cancellations and delays of passenger trains in the greater Vienna area and twice as many calls for help as usual to car club ÖAMTC. Most were to report dead car batteries.

Scores of traffic accidents were also reported, but no one was seriously injured in them.

But police reported that three men froze to death at night over the weekend in separate incidents as they walked home late at night.

Austrian Times

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