The temperature reached 42°C in Szécsény in the north of Hungary, near the Hungarian border, HungaroMet announced in a Facebook video. “Preliminary data show that both the national temperature record and the record in the capital have been broken,” meteorologist Anna Kuntar-Molnar said in the video, noting that temperatures could still rise.
The temperature in Budapest reached 41°C, breaking the record in the Hungarian capital of 40.7°C set in 2007, she said.
Like most of Europe, Hungary is experiencing an unprecedented heat wave, and the highest level of heat warning has been in effect since the weekend.
Prime Minister Peter Magyar called on citizens to work from home whenever possible and called for limiting water consumption only for essential activities.
More than 120 municipalities in Hungary introduced water restrictions during the heat wave.
Western, central and southern Europe were the target of a record heat wave last week that claimed hundreds of lives, and from this week the wave is spreading to eastern Europe as well, with records in Hungary and Serbia.