Recent trends in daily temperature extremes over the central Adriatic region of Italy in a Mediterranean climatic context

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study provides an assessment of recent changes in near‐surface air temperature over the central Adriatic region of Italy, focusing on extreme events at annual and seasonal scales. It investigates trends in selected indices calculated from quality controlled and homogenized daily temperature data recorded from 1980 to 2012 at 34 meteorological stations distributed over the territory. The results reveal overall warming tendencies, particularly pronounced in spring and summer, with significant increases in the duration of warm spells (WSDI) and in the frequency of warm days (TX90p) and warm nights (TN90p), summer days (SU) and tropical nights (TR). Moreover, cold‐related extremes (cold spell duration (CSDI), cool days (TX10p) and cool nights (TN10p), frost days (FD) and icing days (ID)) show significant reductions, although of lower magnitudes, thus confirming the recent warming over the study domain. Prevalent increasing tendencies are also observed for absolute extreme temperature indices (highest and lowest daily values of maximum and minimum temperatures), but with more mixed and less uniform spatial patterns. Finally, the influence of large‐scale circulation modes on temperature extremes is examined. The results highlight the presence of significant correlations between most of the selected extreme temperature indices and the East‐Atlantic pattern, in particular for the warm season.