Danube hits historic low flow in July as climate-driven snowmelt accelerates

The Danube River recorded its lowest July flow on record in 2024, with measurements at the Bratislava‑Devín gauge of about 725 m³/s (Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute) and 678 m³/s reported by Austria’s Thebnerstraßl station. This is the first time such a low flow has been observed for the month since continuous records began in 1876. Scientists from the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV) link the anomaly to rising air temperatures that cause earlier snowmelt in the Alps, altering the river’s seasonal regime. While the long‑term average discharge of the Danube near Bratislava is around 2,050 m³/s, the lowest daily average on record was 580 m³/s in January 1909 and the highest 10,810 m³/s in September 1899. Over the past three decades, flow rates have shown a downward trend, a pattern also seen in earlier periods (1906‑1935). The river’s water level is being closely monitored by the Slovube Hydrometeorological Institute and SAV as part of the UNESCO‑coordinated International Project on Low Flows and Hydrological Drought in the Danube Basin.

Spokesperson Jozef Bednár and hydrologist Pavla Pekárová emphasized that annual average flows remain stable in the long term, but the recent shift underscores the growing impact of climate change on Central European water resources.