🇦🇹 Vienna Climate Health Index
Friday, 14 August 2026 · updated 05:21 UTC · refreshes live through the day · LIVE
Modelled estimates · Medically reviewed guidance · Not an official warning service
est. = index derived by Mobi Doctor's model from the weather inputs. All values are modelled estimates from European weather and atmospheric forecast systems (Open-Meteo · CAMS/Copernicus) — not direct readings from a monitoring station in this city, and not official public-health warnings.
Cancer Immunology Researcher
The Climate Health Score for Vienna today is 7.8/10 — very high exposure on a 0–10 scale where 10 is extreme. It reflects the worst of ten live hazard readings for Vienna — heat, UV, air quality, pollen, hydration demand, allergy, mosquito activity, fire weather, flu season and cold — and is recalculated through the day by Mobi Doctor's European Climate Health Index.
How heat behaves in Vienna
Vienna sits at the Pannonian plain's western edge and takes its heat from the east: long dry spells with warm nights, absorbed by dense Gründerzeit blocks that store heat efficiently. Its heat island is among central Europe's strongest, and summers are lengthening measurably.
Vienna's Gründerzeit ring — the densest stock of nineteenth-century housing in the German-speaking world — was built for Pannonian winters and now stores Pannonian summers: massive masonry that loads heat over multi-day spells and releases it into courtyards all night. The city's east opens to the Hungarian plain's hot winds; its west climbs into the cooling Wienerwald. That gradient maps its risk: the dense eastern and southern districts run hottest, the villa belt coolest.
Heat and your health in Vienna today
Feels-like maximum 29°C (air temperature 31°C) · tonight's minimum 19°C · humidity 46% · heat pillar score 2.5/10
Where today sits in Vienna's year: the heat season here typically runs June to early September, Pannonian and lengthening, peaking mid-July to mid-August. Tropical nights in Vienna: increasingly common in the dense districts during heat spells.
Heat stresses the body long before heatstroke. As the air temperature and humidity climb, your heart works harder to push blood to the skin for cooling, you lose fluid and electrolytes through sweat, and blood pressure can dip when you stand. That is why hot days bring more dizziness, fainting, migraines, kidney strain and falls — and studies of heatwave hospital admissions also report more urinary tract infections, thought to be linked to dehydration — not just classic heat exhaustion.
Night temperature matters as much as the daytime peak. When a night stays above 20°C — a tropical night — the cardiovascular system gets far less of its overnight recovery window — one reason heatwave mortality tracks hot nights more closely than hot afternoons. Tonight in Vienna drops to around 19°C, which gives the body a proper recovery window.
Pollen count in Vienna today
Leading species: Mugwort at ~57 grains/m³ · pollen score 7.8/10
Vienna's pollen calendar: Alder February–March · birch April · grass May–July · ragweed August–September from the east. The live counts above show where today falls in that cycle.
Pollen allergy (hay fever) is triggered by different plants through the year: trees like birch and alder in spring, grasses in early summer, and weeds such as mugwort and ragweed from late July into autumn. Symptoms — sneezing, itchy eyes, a blocked nose, worsened asthma — flare when daily counts cross species-specific thresholds, and air pollution makes the same pollen load feel worse by priming the airways.
On high-count days: keep windows closed in the early morning and evening, shower and change after time outdoors, and start antihistamines before symptoms peak rather than after. If you use an asthma inhaler, keep it with you on high pollen days.
Allergy load in Vienna today: pollen × air quality
Combined pollen-and-air allergy load 6.6/10 — pollen 7.8 amplified by air quality (EAQI 18) · estimated from live data
Vienna's birch spring meets ragweed's late-summer push from the Pannonian east — the city sits on the edge of Europe's worst ragweed region, and easterly winds deliver it. Traffic priming along the Gürtel adds the amplifier; the Vienna Woods buffer the west.
Allergy risk is more than the pollen count. Exhaust particles damage the airway lining and prime the immune response, so the same grains provoke stronger symptoms on polluted days — and pollutant-stressed plants release more allergenic protein per grain. This combined score therefore reads pollen and air quality together: identical counts can feel very different on clean and dirty days, which is why it is tracked as its own pillar rather than folded into either input.
Today the combination is elevated: plan outdoor time for the cleaner, cooler hours, keep windows closed through the morning pollen release, and take antihistamines before symptoms build rather than after. Anyone with allergic asthma should keep their reliever inhaler within reach.
UV index in Vienna today
Maximum UV index 6.3 · high on the WHO scale
Vienna's strong-UV season: May to August — midday index 7.
UV radiation peaks between late morning and mid-afternoon and is invisible — it burns on cool, cloudy days too. At UV 8 and above, unprotected fair skin can burn in under 30 minutes. Repeated burns drive most skin-cancer risk, and some common medicines (certain antibiotics, diuretics, acne treatments) make skin dramatically more sun-sensitive.
Today: SPF 30–50 on exposed skin, sunglasses, and shade between 11:00 and 16:00. Reapply sunscreen every two hours outdoors.
Air quality in Vienna today
European AQI 18 · good (EAQI scale: 0 good → 100+ worst) · PM2.5 7 µg/m³ · ozone 44 µg/m³ · score 1.4/10
Vienna's air is good for a city its size until the Pannonian stagnation sets in: summer heat builds ozone on the plain's air, and winter easterlies can import particles — the ragweed season in late summer stacks on top of the ozone one.
Fine particles (PM2.5) reach deep into the lungs and bloodstream; ozone forms in sunny, hot weather and irritates the airways — which is why heatwaves and smog often arrive together. People with asthma, COPD, heart disease, pregnant women and children feel the effects first: more wheeze, more inhaler use, more chest tightness.
Levels are acceptable for outdoor activity today for most people, including sensitive groups.
Fire weather around Vienna today
Fire-weather score 4.2/10 — 31°C, 46% humidity, wind to 9 km/h · estimated (weather conduciveness, not active fires)
The Vienna Woods burn rarely; the fire signal here reads the dry Pannonian east — steppe grass and field margins that cure by July. The score stays moderate at most, spiking only in drought years with hot easterly flow.
This pillar scores how conducive the weather is to wildfire — heat, dry air and wind, the published Angström approach — not actual fires. Its health meaning is smoke: wildfire smoke is concentrated fine particulate that can travel hundreds of kilometres, and a smoke episode hits the same people hardest as any pollution spike — asthma, COPD, heart disease, pregnancy, young children and older adults.
Conditions are not notably fire-conducive today. If you see or smell smoke regardless, treat it like a pollution episode: head indoors, close the windows, and postpone outdoor exertion.
Hydration in Vienna today
Hydration demand score 1.9/10 · estimated from live weather
Vienna's Pannonian spells run dry-hot with warm nights in the dense districts: losses accumulate across multi-day runs, and the café ritual's glass of water with every coffee is the local hydration system — accept it every time.
Fluid needs are not fixed — they scale with heat, humidity, dry air, UV and activity. Thirst lags behind need, especially in older adults, whose thirst signal weakens with age. Dark urine, headache, and light-headedness on standing are earlier and more reliable signals.
Today's guidance: Normal — drink to thirst; keep water with you on long outings.
Mosquito activity in Vienna tonight
Mosquito activity score 4.2/10 — tonight around 19°C at 46% humidity · estimated from live weather (activity, not disease risk)
Mosquito season in Vienna: June to September, Danube backwaters at dusk. The score above places tonight inside that season using live temperature and humidity.
Mosquitoes fly when nights are warm and humid enough — activity climbs steeply once evenings hold above about 15°C and peaks on still, muggy nights. Southern Europe adds the tiger mosquito, a day-biter now established across much of the Mediterranean, whose continued spread north ECDC tracks. In parts of southern and central Europe, late summer also brings limited local transmission of mosquito-borne infections such as West Nile virus — an activity score is not a disease-risk score, but high-activity weeks are when precautions earn their keep.
Practical: use a repellent containing DEET or icaridin at dusk, cover ankles and wrists outdoors in the evening, screen or close windows at night, and empty standing water on balconies weekly. Speak to a doctor about any fever that develops in the week after heavy bite exposure in an affected region.
Flu season in Vienna: where today sits
Flu-season level 0.5/10 · seasonal climatology (ECDC winter pattern), not live case counts
Viennese flu season runs December to February, peaking in January, ball season included. Summer sits at the floor. The autumn campaign from October is standard advice for over-60s and chronic patients; the city's winter is long, social and indoor.
Influenza in Europe is sharply seasonal: transmission runs low through summer, builds from late autumn as life moves indoors and cool, dry air favours the virus, then peaks between December and February in ECDC's surveillance pattern. This pillar follows that climatology — it tells you where the calendar sits, not this week's case counts, and we label it that way rather than dress a seasonal curve up as live surveillance.
What to do with it: the score rising through autumn is the cue that vaccination time has arrived — October to November gives antibodies time to build before the peak, and matters most for over-65s, pregnant women, young children and anyone with heart, lung, kidney or immune conditions. At today's low seasonal level, a summer fever is far more likely to be something other than flu — and worth a doctor's opinion if it lasts.
Cold stress in Vienna: the other end of the index
Cold-stress score 0.0/10 — tonight's minimum around 19°C
Vienna winter turns on wind direction: icy Pannonian easterlies can hold the city below zero for weeks, while Atlantic spells sit grey around 2°C. Snow is regular, heating universal and district-scale. The east-wind spells are the pillar's January peak.
Across Europe, cold claims more lives each year than heat — mostly quietly, through winter's extra heart attacks, strokes and respiratory infections rather than hypothermia. Cold air raises blood pressure and thickens blood within minutes, narrows airways, and stresses hearts hardest in the first snaps of the season, before bodies and habits adjust. Indoor cold in poorly heated homes does as much damage as the weather outside.
Cold is not a factor today — the score sits low, and this pillar will matter again when the season turns. It stays on the page year-round because an honest index needs both ends of the thermometer.
The Vienna climate-health year
Vienna's year has turned measurably more Mediterranean: winters shortened, summers extended into September, and the count of 30°C-plus days has multiplied within living memory. The pollen calendar runs alder-birch spring, grass to July, then the eastern speciality — ragweed drifting up the Danube and Morava corridors in August and September. Heat spells arrive from the plain with warm nights attached; the Danube and its island are where the city discharges them.
| Season | Typical pattern in Vienna |
|---|---|
| Heat season | June to early September, Pannonian and lengthening |
| Peak heat | mid-July to mid-August |
| Tropical nights | Increasingly common in the dense districts during heat spells |
| Pollen calendar | Alder February–March · birch April · grass May–July · ragweed August–September from the east |
| Mosquito season | June to September, Danube backwaters at dusk |
| Strong-UV months | May to August — midday index 7 |
Typical seasonal patterns from established climatology — the live scores above always reflect today's actual conditions.
Visiting Vienna? What travellers should know
Vienna's imperial circuit is more exposed than its elegance suggests: the Ring's monumental stretches offer intermittent shade, Schönbrunn's gardens are gravel parterres in full sun — go at opening, then take the palace interiors at noon — and the first-district lanes hold afternoon heat. The museum density is the counter-programme; so is the Danube Island, where Vienna actually swims. Café culture doubles as heat culture: the marble, the ceiling fans and the no-hurry rule work as well at 34°C as they did in 1910.
If you do get ill away from home, you don't have to navigate a foreign health system for something a consultation can solve: speak to a Mobi Doctor physician online from your hotel or apartment.
Medicines that need extra care in Vienna at 31°C
Most medicines are licensed for storage below 25°C; several everyday ones degrade fast beyond that — and a parked car at 31°C outside reaches roughly 47°C inside within half an hour. Today crosses those thresholds, so the following deserve attention.
Insulin all types & pens
Storage: Unopened: fridge 2–8 °C, never frozen. In-use pens: up to 28 days below 30 °C, away from sun.
In this heat: Heat above the labelled range can damage insulin, and warm weather can speed absorption from the injection site in some people, raising hypo risk — check glucose more often and follow the storage instructions for your specific product.
Hot car: A parked car can exceed 50 °C — insulin left inside should be replaced. Appearance is not a reliable damage test (some insulins are normally clear, some normally cloudy): if in doubt, ask a pharmacist.
GLP-1 injections Ozempic · Wegovy · Mounjaro
Storage: Unopened: fridge 2–8 °C. In-use: below 30 °C for a limited window — typically 3–6 weeks, check your leaflet.
In this heat: Above 30 °C the peptide degrades; do not use if the solution has particles or colour.
Hot car: Left in a hot car once — assume compromised and call a pharmacist before injecting again.
Adrenaline auto-injectors EpiPen · Jext · Emerade
Storage: Room temperature 15–25 °C. Never refrigerate — cold can jam the mechanism.
In this heat: Heat degrades adrenaline; a weakened pen may fail during anaphylaxis — check the viewing window stays clear.
Hot car: Glovebox reaches 60 °C+. A pen exposed even once should be replaced promptly.
Testosterone gels · injections · patches
Storage: Below 25–30 °C depending on product; gels are alcohol-based and flammable.
In this heat: Heat degrades gels; skin patches release MORE hormone when hot — absorption shifts on hot days.
Hot car: Do not store in vehicles; vials and gels lose potency within days of heat cycling.
Refrigerated antibiotics & biologics reconstituted suspensions · adalimumab…
Storage: Strict 2–8 °C cold chain. Reconstituted antibiotic syrups usually last only 7–14 days even refrigerated.
In this heat: Warm exposure silently cuts potency — the course may fail without looking any different.
Hot car: Never. A pharmacy-to-fridge trip in a hot car already needs a cool bag.
Thyroid & hormone tablets levothyroxine · HRT
Storage: Below 25 °C, dry, in the original blister.
In this heat: Repeated heat cycling (bathroom, car, windowsill) degrades levothyroxine measurably.
Hot car: Days of car storage can leave tablets under-dosed.
Medicines that change how your body handles heat
- Diuretics — amplify fluid and electrolyte loss — dizziness and falls risk climbs in heat
- Blood-pressure medicines (ACE-i, ARBs, beta-blockers) — can affect fluid balance, blood pressure and heat responses in some people — never stop or change them in hot weather without medical advice
- Lithium — dehydration concentrates blood levels toward toxicity — hydration is critical
- Antipsychotics, anticholinergics, some antidepressants — impair sweating and temperature regulation
- Insulin & sulfonylureas — faster absorption and reduced appetite in heat raise hypo risk
- NSAIDs (ibuprofen, naproxen) — strain the kidneys when dehydrated
- Stimulants (ADHD medicines) — raise core temperature during exertion
Never stop a prescribed medicine because of hot weather — a doctor can adjust timing or dose. Mobi Doctor's physicians can advise online, usually within minutes.
Should I speak to a doctor about heat symptoms?
Heat illness escalates in stages, and the right response depends on which stage you're seeing. Use these three tiers:
ACall 112 now — emergency signs
- Confusion, slurred speech, or disorientation; a seizure; or fainting that doesn't resolve within a minute or two
- Skin that has turned hot and dry after earlier heavy sweating, or a body temperature of 40 °C or more — signs of heatstroke
- Chest pain, severe shortness of breath, or a racing pulse that doesn't settle with rest in the cool
- Heat-exhaustion symptoms — dizziness, headache, nausea, cramps, pale clammy skin — that are no better after 30 minutes of rest, cooling and fluids: this can be heatstroke developing
- A baby, elderly person, or someone with heart disease who becomes limp, unresponsive, or "not themselves" in the heat
While waiting: move them to the coolest place available, remove excess clothing, cool the skin with water and moving air, and do not give fluids to anyone who is drowsy or confused.
BSpeak to a doctor today
- Heat symptoms that improve with cooling but keep returning on hot days, or leave you washed out for more than a day
- Repeated vomiting, or very dark urine / almost no urination through the day
- You take diuretics, blood-pressure, heart, or diabetes medication and feel unwell in the heat — some of these medicines change how your body handles fluid and temperature
- You are pregnant, or you have a heart or kidney condition that feels worse than usual in this weather
CSelf-care and recheck in 30 minutes
- Mild headache, tiredness, or thirst: move somewhere cool, remove unnecessary clothing, drink plenty of water or an isotonic sports drink, and cool the skin — spray or sponge with cool water and fan
- Recheck at 30 minutes. Improving means continue resting out of the heat for the rest of the day. Not improving is an emergency — call 112 (tier A), not a wait-and-see
Local numbers in Austria: 112 — EU-wide emergencies · 1450 — Gesundheitsberatung · for non-urgent concerns, a Mobi Doctor physician is online in minutes.
General guidance, not a personal assessment — when in doubt, call. In an emergency always call 112.
Sources for the medical guidance
The clinical guidance on this page follows public authority sources:
Medication storage limits follow each product's manufacturer information (SmPC / patient leaflet) — always defer to the leaflet for your specific product, and to your prescriber for personal advice.
Frequently asked questions
Is it safe to exercise outdoors in Vienna today?
Yes — heat is not a limiting factor today (heat score 2.5/10). Usual sun protection applies.
Do I need to worry about storing insulin or Ozempic in Vienna this week?
Yes. Daytime highs around 31°C exceed the below-30°C limit for in-use pens if they are left in sun, bags or vehicles. Keep unopened stock in the fridge (2–8°C), carry in-use pens in an insulated pouch, and never leave them in a parked car.
Who is most at risk from today's conditions in Vienna?
Today's Climate Health Score is 7.8/10 (Very High). Elderly: low · Children: low · Outdoor workers: low · Athletes: low. Driven by mugwort pollen at high levels.
Will tonight be a tropical night in Vienna?
No — tonight drops to around 19°C, below the 20°C tropical-night threshold, giving the body a proper recovery window.
What pollen is high in Vienna right now?
Mugwort is the leading species at roughly 57 grains/m³ (pollen score 7.8/10). If you are sensitised, start antihistamines proactively and keep windows closed in the early morning and evening.
When is the heat season in Vienna?
Typically June to early September, Pannonian and lengthening, peaking mid-July to mid-August. Increasingly common in the dense districts during heat spells. Today's score at the top of this page reflects live conditions, not the seasonal average.
When is pollen season in Vienna?
Alder February–March · birch April · grass May–July · ragweed August–September from the east. This page tracks live counts for six species (alder, birch, grass, mugwort, olive and ragweed) and updates them through the day.
When is mosquito season in Vienna?
June to September, Danube backwaters at dusk. The live mosquito-activity score on this page places tonight inside that season using temperature and humidity — it measures activity conditions, not disease risk.
Highest-risk cities in Europe today
All cities:
Vienna score history — last 30 days
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Cite this page: “Mobi Doctor — European Climate Health Index, Vienna Climate Health Index”, https://www.mobidoctor.eu/health-index/vienna/ — updated daily, data CC-BY 4.0 with attribution.