October coldest since 1974

This month has been the coldest October in more than 35 years, meteorologists have revealed.Experts at Vienna’s Centre for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) announced today (Fri) the average temperature this month was just 7.8 degrees centigrade. They said this was the lowest figure since 1974.The meteorologists added Tannheim in the province of Tyrol recorded the lowest temperature this month on 22 October when the thermometers registered minus 11.6 degrees centigrade. They also pointed out that weather stations in Austria’s mountains recorded even lower temperatures.Several Austrian ski resorts already started the season earlier this month.More than 56 million overnight stays were registered between November 2009 and March of this year across Austria. Surveys have shown that most hotel managers expect to do comparably well this year.The Innsbruck Management Centre (MCI) analysis has recently shown that one in five jobs in Austria are directly or indirectly dependent on the country’s tourism.