Austrian Climate Development 1961–2020 based on climate normal periods
Tilg, Anna-Maria; Chimani, Barbara
Meteorologische Zeitschrift Vol. 34 No. 3 (2025), p. 151 - 180
published: Dec 18, 2025
published online: Sep 4, 2025
manuscript accepted: Jun 30, 2025
final revised version received: Apr 29, 2025
manuscript revision requested: Dec 11, 2024
manuscript received: Aug 6, 2024
DOI: 10.1127/metz/1250
Open Access (paper may be downloaded free of charge)
Abstract
Climate normal periods are frequently used to describe the average atmospheric conditions at a specific location and allow the investigation of climate change by comparing different 30-year periods. To investigate the climatic conditions in Austria, climate indices based on different parameters were calculated for the two consecutive 30-year periods 1961–1990 and 1991–2020. The data used for the temperature- and precipitation-based climate indices was homogenised with the ACMANT method considering data of both 30-year periods. Comparisons between homogenised and non-homogenised data showed more consistent temporal trends for homogenised data. The evaluation of the two climate normal periods showed that the mean air temperature increased between 1.1 and 1.8 °C. This increase also caused, on average, an increase in warm conditions (e.g. hot days) and a decrease in cold conditions (e.g. frost days). The precipitation sum increased at 48 out of 50 analysed stations. While days with a daily precipitation sum ≥ 1 mm decreased, days with a daily precipitation sum ≥ 10 mm increased. This behaviour indicates an increase in more intense precipitation events. The spatial analysis of the climate indices for the period 1991–2020 confirmed the altitude dependence of several climate indices. This result was supported by the comparison with data from neighbouring countries. Overall, for the climate indices clear changes with time and robust spatial patterns were found. The available dataset and its analysis provide reliable information for the climate monitoring in Austria.
Keywords
climate index • station observation • homogenisation • climate monitoring • climate change