ATMOSPHERIC DROUGHT IN THE POLISH TATRAS AND THEIRFORELAND IN THE YEARS 1951–2017

Aim of the study. The aim of this study is to assess the variability of the lowest monthly totals of precipitation, and to evaluate the impact of atmospheric circulation on the occurrence of months with a deficit of precipitation. Material and methods. Material: The monthly totals of atmospheric precipitation for the years 1951–2017 from 19 meteorological stations located in the Polish Tatra Mountains and in their foreland. and the calendar of atmospheric circulation types for southern Poland, which was developed by Niedźwiedź (1981; 2018). Methods: Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), the Mann-Kendall test Results and conclusions. No statistically significant trend at a significance level of 0.05 was noted in the course of the lowest monthly precipitation totals at any of the meteorological stations. In the 67-year period, all the measuring stations saw a total of 499 (3.3%) dry months with varying drought severity. The largest number of extremely dry months occurred in August and April, respectively. In the case of months when the lowest totals of precipitation occurred in the same month at all or almost all of the meteorological stations, three types of anticyclonic circulation dominated, i.e. eastern, south-eastern, southern, and the anticyclonic wedge.