1991–2020 climate normal in the European Alps: focus on high-elevation environments

Abstract

AbstractAlps are an important geographical area of the European continent and, in this area, temperature increase is most evident. However, the 1991–2020 climate normal in the Alps has still not been thoroughly investigated. Aiming to fill this gap with a focus on high-elevation environments, minimum and maximum daily air temperature acquired by 23 automatic weather station were used. The results show that the mean annual values of minimum and maximum temperature for the 1991–2020 climate normal in the Alps are −2.4°C and 4.4°C, respectively, with a warming rate of 0.5°C/10 years. The mean annual temperature comparison between 1961–1990 and 1971–2000, 1961–1990 and 1981–2010, 1961–1990 and 1991–2020 climate normal show an increase of 0.3°C, 0.5°C and 0.9°C, respectively. The results also confirm that seasonal and annual temperatures are rising through the whole Alpine arc, mainly in summer and autumn. This work highlights that annual minimum and maximum temperature do not seem to be affected by a positive elevation-dependent warming. Instead, a positive elevation-dependent warming in the maximum values of the annual minimum temperature was found. If anthropogenic emissions maintain the trend of the last decades, the expected mean annual temperature of the 2001–2030 climate normal is −0.2°C, with an increase of 0.5°C if compared to the 1991–2020 climate normal and with an increase of 1.5°C if compared to the 1961–1990 climate normal. This study highlights the warming rate that is now present in the European Alps, provides indications on the warming rate that will occur in the coming years and highlights the importance of carrying out investigations that consider not only the last 30-year climate normal, but also the most recent 30-year climate normal by comparing them with each other.