Variability of Air Temperature in Skierniewice, Poland, Over the Period 1923–2022

Abstract

The study aimed to determine the magnitude of changes in air temperature in Skierniewice, Poland, over the last 100 years, with particular emphasis on multi-year variability. The source material for the analyses were air temperature measurements from 1923 to 2022 obtained from the meteorological station in the Experimental Field of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences and the station in the Experimental Orchard of the National Institute of Horticultural Research. The study presents average annual, minimum, and maximum air temperatures along with an assessment of the trend of their multi-year variability. The features of changes in the average air temperature in Skierniewice presented in the study based on a 100-year series of meteorological measurements are characterized by high temporal variability with a clear upward trend. The average warming rate over 100 years was 0.17 °C per 10 years, but in the last 60 years it has already reached 0.38 °C per 10 years. In the case of the average annual air temperature since 1981, there has been a sequence of years warmer than average throughout the measurement period. The number of summer days (>25 °C) and hot days, when the maximum temperature exceeds 30 °C, is also increasing. In the analyzed period, the decade 2013–2022 was the warmest.