The publication by Dr. Arkadiusz M. Tomczyk and Professor Ewa Bednorz contains maps of basic statistics of atmospheric pressure, wind speed, insolation, air humidity, snow cover and atmospheric phenomena in the years 1991-2020.

The study presents the air temperature with its derived characteristics, which - in the age of global warming - are changing the fastest also in Poland.

The scientists said: “A comparison of the maps in the atlas with previous publications shows that the air temperature and its derived characteristics (e.g. the duration of the thermal seasons, the length of the growing season) are changing and the progressive warming concerns all seasons of the year. Both average and extreme (maximum and minimum) temperature values are increasing, but the previous absolute temperature records in Poland have not yet been broken.”

Discussing the most important conclusions from the study, the authors emphasise that an important feature of the Polish climate is the high year-to-year and season-to-season variability of climate statistics, presented in the atlas for thermal and pluvial features (related to precipitation). They said: “Due to large fluctuations, the synthesis of climatic conditions cannot be reduced to calculating average values that do not fully reflect the characteristics of the atmospheric environment. It is necessary to use extreme and percentile values.”

The 30-year period is considered to be the shortest sufficient period for climate analysis, recommended by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The Atlas is addressed to a wide audience. In the opinion of the authors, it will be mainly useful in climate science and geography didactics (which was the main reason for preparing the publication), as well as environmental analyses - not only scientific ones.

The 'Atlas of Poland's climate (1991-2020)' is available here.

PAP - Science in Poland, Agnieszka Kliks-Pudlik

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tr. RL