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Maximum temperatures across Hungary generally ranged between 36 and 40 degrees Celsius, while daily averages stood between 27 C and 30 C, weather service HungaroMet said.
Temperatures exceeded 30 C across much of Europe. A cold front passing north of Hungary two days earlier temporarily eased the heat in Germany, Poland and Northern Europe.
Hungary broke both minimum and maximum daily temperature records on August 3.
The temperature in southern Budapest fell to only 26.8 C at dawn, surpassing the previous national record of 25.1 C registered in 2017.
Later in the day, northern Budapest recorded a high of 39.6 C, breaking the previous record of 38.7 C, also set in 2017.
Prime Minister Péter Magyar said early Tuesday that the last of the eight turbines at the Paks nuclear power plant continued to operate safely.
Officials had been “a couple of millimeters” away from a complete shutdown at around 1:30 a.m., but “then water levels stopped falling and rose 1.5 cm by morning,” Magyar said on Facebook.
Output at the plant has been gradually reduced over the past week as record-low Danube levels limited the water available for cooling.
In a later update, Magyar said the weeks-long decline in Danube water levels at Paks had reversed and levels in the plant’s cooling-water channel had begun to rise slowly.
“Pump performance has recovered and the situation has stabilised. Water levels at Paks rose 2 cm by morning and the last turbine was operating stably,” he said.
Magyar said the turnaround gave “reason for hope,” but warned that “the most difficult days still lie ahead.”
Temperatures are expected to exceed 40 C in the coming days before cooler weather arrives from Friday, he said.
Magyar also acknowledged conservation measures by businesses and households, which reduced electricity consumption by between 600 MW and 700 MW on Sunday and Monday.
A working group established to manage the situation was due to meet Tuesday afternoon to decide whether further measures were necessary.
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