2 May 2002 - KD-02/04E
Changes in extreme precipitation and temperature in the climate of
Europe According to the new European Climate Assessment report,
precipitation in Europe shows a tendency towards more wet extremes.
This is seen in particular at locations where the annual amount of
rainfall has increased. Also, systematic changes in temperature
extremes have been documented for the first time using observational
records from all over Europe.
These results are obtained in a comprehensive investigation of daily
series of observations at more than 200 meteorological stations in
Europe and the Middle East. The investigation, initiated by the Europe
Climate Support Network, was a co-operative activity of 34 countries
and co-ordinated by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.
Today, the report is presented to the directors of Meteorological
Services at the World Meteorological Organization in Genève,
Switzerland. It is the sequel to the first assessment report of
Europe's climate that was issued in 1995.
A decreasing number of frost days and to a lower extent an increasing
number of summer days accompanied the observed warming trend.
Throughout the year, the frequency of days that are much colder than
normal has decreased and the frequency of days that are much warmer
than normal has increased. Remarkably, these trends are not always in
balance: during the warm recent decades the number of 'cold extremes'
decreased at a lower rate than the increase in the number of 'warm
extremes'. Future research should deal with the causes for the observed
trends and with projections of future climate extremes.
In the present study, daily series have been analysed that started
around 1950. They cover a period of roughly half a century. This is
long enough to describe trends in extreme events that occur several
times a year. Events that are much more extreme, for instance events
leading to catastrophic flooding, are so rare that the observational
series are too short to detect changes.
The conclusions are in line with recent findings of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and satisfy the wish
of more knowledge on regional climate variations and extremes. They
will be discussed at the IPCC-meeting on changes in extreme weather and
climate events to be held in China from 11 to 13 June.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more information please contact
Harry Geurts or Monique Somers, press officers at KNMI, the
Netherlands, +31 30 2206 317
Last update: May 2nd 2002
Copyright © KNMI