Last updated:
41 minutes ago
At Lake Velence, Hungary’s third-largest lake, the water level at Agárd fell to around 20 centimetres on 16 August. That is far below the roughly 150 centimetres considered optimal for August and well below the previous record low of 53 centimetres, recorded during the 2022 drought.
The shallow, warm water has forced swimming beaches to close and made boating increasingly difficult. Dead fish have appeared along the shore, while large sections of the lakebed are exposed, cracked and dry.
The smaller Lake Garancsi, north-west of Budapest, is also close to disappearing. Once popular for fishing, swimming and ice skating, and known as a filming location for the Hungarian comedy Üvegtigris (Glass Tiger), it now consists largely of shallow pools surrounded by exposed lakebed. Its water level has fallen by about a centimetre a day during the hottest periods.
