The applicability of the Hess–Brezowsky synoptic classification to the description of climate elements in Europe

Abstract

This study deals with the applicability of the Hess–Brezowsky synoptic classification to the description of surface climate elements, specifically minimum and maximum temperature and precipitation, in Europe. The suitability of the Hess–Brezowsky classification for this purpose in the European domain is analyzed using the two-sample Kolmogorov–Smirnov test. The test was performed on European Climate Assessment and Dataset data from 113 stations for the years 1961–2000. The suitability of the classification for describing climate elements at a given station was assessed according to the percentage of the circulation types, under which the probability distribution functions of these elements differed from the rest of the values. The classification is deemed the most suitable for describing climate elements in Germany and its neighboring countries and least suitable in the Mediterranean, southeastern and Eastern Europe. The classification is more applicable to describing minimum and maximum temperature than precipitation, and its overall synoptic-climatological applicability is better in winter than in summer.