The record still belongs to Ploče with 42.8°C from 1981. An analysis of DHMZ's table reveals that 53 of 60 temperatures of 40 degrees or more were recorded in this century, strongly indicating a warming trend.
On Thursday, August 6, 2026, the highest temperature maximum of this summer in Croatia was recorded at the Osijek-airport measuring station. At 5 PM that day, 40 degrees Celsius was recorded there, but that figure is not high enough to even enter the top 50 highest temperatures ever measured in Croatia since systematic measurements began, according to data from the State Hydrometeorological Institute (DHMZ).
Interestingly, 40 degrees is not even a record for Osijek itself, nor for the same measuring station. At the Osijek-airport station, the highest recorded temperature is 40.6°C, set on July 24, 2007. At another measuring station in Osijek, a temperature of 40.3°C was recorded twice: on July 1, 1950, and August 24, 2012.
The absolute highest air temperature in Croatia remains 42.8°C, measured in Ploče on August 4, 1981. The second highest value is 42.7°C, recorded in Starigrad Paklenica on August 10, 2017. Although this summer seems to many to be the hottest so far, the title of hottest summer belongs to the summer of 2017, specifically August of that year, when the most maximum temperatures were recorded at measuring stations, according to the DHMZ website.
Of the ten highest temperatures ever recorded in Croatia, seven reached 42 degrees or more. As many as three date from August 2017: the aforementioned 42.7°C in Starigrad Paklenica, then 42.3°C in Knin on August 10, and 42.2°C in Split-Kaštela on August 2 of the same year. The oldest among the ten highest temperature records is 42.4°C measured in Karlovac on July 5, 1950.
A look at the top 20 temperatures in Croatia provides even more convincing evidence of global and local warming: as many as 17 were recorded in this century, and of those 17, seven in the last ten years. The most recent recorded high temperature among the top 20 is 41°C, measured on August 11, 2025, in Šestanovac near Split.
DHMZ last updated its table on August 3, 2026, three days before this summer's temperature record in Osijek. After the update, that data point will be the most recent among the 60 recorded temperatures of 40 degrees or more. Of those 60 temperatures, as many as 53 were recorded in this century, and 19 in the last ten years.
Furthermore, almost all absolute maximums at Croatian stations were recorded in July and August, except at the Split Marjan and Hvar stations, where they were recorded in June. At the Crikvenica station, which has one of the longest measurement series dating back to the 19th century, the absolute maximum of 39.0°C was recorded on July 17, 1928.
