Temperature extremes and circulation types in the Czech Republic, 1961–2020

• Published in: International journal of climatology Vol. 42; no. 9; pp. 4808 - 4829
• Main Authors: Zahradníček, Pavel, Brázdil, Rudolf, Řehoř, Jan, Lhotka, Ondřej, Dobrovolný, Petr, Štěpánek, Petr, Trnka, Miroslav
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.07.2022; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Advection; Air flow; Circulation; circulation type; Circulation types; Cold; Cold waves; cold‐wave; day‐to‐day change; Extreme cold; fluctuation; frost day; Heat waves; heat‐wave; ice day; maximum temperature; minimum temperature; Statistical analysis; Summer; summer day; Temperature extremes; the Czech Republic; trend; Trends; Tropical climate; tropical day; warm and cold anomalies; Czech Republic
• ISSN: 0899-8418; 1097-0088
• DOI: 10.1002/joc.7505

This paper presents the characteristics of extreme temperatures in the Czech Republic, as calculated from homogenized series of daily maximum (TMAX) and daily minimum (TMIN) temperatures recorded by 133 climatological stations throughout the territory in the 1961–2020 period. In general, statistically significant increasing linear trends were recognized in series of absolute TMAX, absolute TMIN, numbers of summer days, tropical days, days with tropical nights, heat‐wave, and warm‐anomaly days. Significant decreasing linear trends appeared in series of numbers of frost days, ice days, cold‐wave, and cold‐anomaly days. Objective classification of circulation types demonstrated the importance of anticyclonic types (especially those with warm airflow from the southern quadrant) and an unclassified type in the development of summer hot extremes, while winter cold extremes were linked to cold (north‐)easterly advection. Significant changes in the frequency of certain circulation types emerged, as well as an increasing number of anticyclonic types conducive to hot extremes, a trend that contributed to their more frequent occurrence in recent decades. Existing trends in temperatures were complemented by spatiotemporal analysis of extreme temperatures, the characteristics of extremes and the circulation types in the two “normal” periods of 1961–1990 and 1991–2020. These exhibited significant differences in means and variances. The results obtained are also discussed in a broader context. Fluctuations in mean annual numbers of summer (a) and tropical (b) days and in their mean earliest/latest occurrences (c) in the Czech Republic during the 1961–2020 period. Smoothed by 10‐year Gaussian filter and supplemented by linear trends.