SHMU: 2016 Unusually Warm and Wet in Slovakia

Bratislava, January 27 (TASR) – Last year was unusually warm and wet in Slovakia, with a positive temperature deviation of 1.4 degrees Celsius making 2016 the seventh warmest year since 1931, climatologists of the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute (SHMU) said at a press conference on Friday.

Meanwhile, 2016 was the warmest of the past 137 years worldwide.

As for Slovakia, all seasons last year were warmer than usual, with last winter being most outstandingly warm – up by 3 degrees Celsius. February was as much as 4.8 degrees Celsius warmer than normal. The daytime high of 20.3 degrees Celsius measured in Bratislava in the second half of February was the highest February temperature recorded in Slovakia since 1551.

The warm winter last year was followed by a warm spring and an extraordinarily warm summer with a positive deviation of 2 degrees Celsius.

“It felt as if the summer was relatively colder, because there were fewer tropical days [30+ degrees Celsius – ed. note], but there were seven more summer days [25+ degrees Celsius] than in 2015,” climatologist Jozef Pecho pointed out.

Nonetheless, there were only two relatively more pronounced heat waves last year – one in the latter half of June and one in early September.

Apart from February, June (+2.5 degrees Celsius), July (+2.1 degrees Celsius) and September (+2.4 degrees Celsius) were the warmest months compared to their respective long-term averages.

Conversely, October was 0.6 degrees Celsius colder than the average.

The highest temperature in Slovakia in 2016 was seen in Holic (Trnava region) on June 24 – 36.2 degrees Celsius. On the other hand, the lowest temperature of the year was recorded in Oravska Lesna (Zilina region) on January 23 – minus 24.2 degrees Celsius.

“When it comes to precipitation, 2016 was even more in the foreground than with temperatures,” said climatologist Pavel Fasko. He added that 2016 in Slovakia was among the ten rainiest years at least since 1881, with 895 millimetres of water per square meter – representing 122 percent of the average measured between 1961 and 1990. February was again the most conspicuous month with its precipitation reaching as much as 320 percent of the normal value. Conversely, December with 57 percent of the average was the driest month vis-a-vis the usual records.

The most intense rain was seen in Dolna Poruba (Trencin region) on July 27 – 110 millimetres on one square metre per hour, while at one point it was as much as 91 millimetres per 30 minutes.

“It was a truly unusual precipitation intensity for Slovakia,” said Fasko, adding that only favourable geological conditions saved the area from an extensive flood.