Geographia Polonica (2009) vol. 82, iss. 1

The Variability of Daily Precipitation Totals in Poland (1951–2000)

Joanna Wibig

Geographia Polonica (2009) vol. 82, iss. 1, pp. 21-33 | Full text

Abstract

The analysis concerned the variability of daily precipitation totals observed during thesecond half of the 20th century at fi ve stations in Poland. The elements examined were number of dayswith precipitation exceeding given thresholds, lengths of wet and dry spells and precipitation amountsin a single spell. There is an upward trend for the number of spells and days with precipitation, anda downward trend for mean precipitation during a given spell. Changes in peak precipitation are notuniform, there being negative trends at some stations and positive ones at others. However the lack ofa trend for precipitation totals combines with the climatic warming now to be observed to imply riskof a water defi cit.

Keywords: wet spell, dry spell, precipitation extremes, linear trend, Poland

Joanna Wibig, Department of Meteorology and Climatology, Faculty of Biology and Earth Science, University of Lodz Lipowa 81, 90-568 Łódź, Poland