Lake Balaton water reaches nearly 33 °C during Hungarian heatwave

Researchers recorded unusually high surface water temperatures in Lake Balaton on Monday, with the upper five centimeters reaching 32.9 °C at Keszthely and similar readings at other monitoring sites. The average temperature between 12:00 and 18:00 was around 32.3 °C at Keszthely, 32.1 °C at Szigliget, 31.8 °C at Balatonszemes and 31.7 °C at Siófok. The Balaton Limnological Institute warned that such extreme heat could affect water quality and ecological processes later in the summer, although no significant algal bloom was observed at the time. The measurements come amid a country‑wide heat alert caused by a “heat dome” that traps hot air from the Sahara, a phenomenon scientists link to climate change and increased fossil‑fuel emissions. A cooler front is expected later in the week, but similar high temperatures are forecast for the next one to one and a half months.