LJUBLJANA, Sept. 2 -- The summer of 2024 has been the hottest on record in Slovenia, the country's Environmental Agency said on Monday.

The average temperature in August was 3.3 degrees Celsius higher than the average temperature for that month in the years from 1991 to 2020, Slovenian national news agency STA reported, quoting the agency.

Since the first eight months of the year have been the warmest on record, it can also be assumed that the whole year of 2024 will be the warmest on record, it added.

September already looks set to be hot, with temperatures in Slovenia on Sept. 1 rising above 35 degrees Celsius for the first time in history, reaching 36.3 degrees in the village of Podnanos. This broke a former September record from 1973, when a temperature of 34.6 degrees was recorded in Dragonja.

Slovenia, which lies between Italy, Austria, Hungary, Croatia and the Adriatic Sea, has been badly hit by climate change. The country suffered record floods in August 2023, and unprecedented forest fires in July 2022.

On Monday at the Bled Strategic Forum, the country's largest annual political conference, Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar said tackling global climate change "requires bold, collective action that transcends borders and politics".

  - Xinhua