Endless summer

September has come up, scent of autumn is in the air, yet summer-like temperatures have not eased off.

Meteorogical summer of 2024 (i.e. June, July and August) in Poland definitely has been one of the warmest, but since extensive weather records disappered from Meteomodel page, my ability to put current readouts into historical context has waned.

Another measure of heat intensity is the number of days when temperature exceeded +30C (day-time high). So far in 2024 there have been 24 such days in Warsaw, compared to record-setting 24 days in 2015 and 22 days in 2006.

In the coming days the likelihood of temperatures exceeding +30C in the capital of Poland is extremely low. Historically the latest such incidence was on 14 September 1951 (second-latest on 13 September 2023). The September heat record of +34.5C, set on 1 September 2015 is unthreatened. It is far too early to judge, whether the entire September will be the warmest since records began, but last year's record of +18.5C will be difficult to beat.

In Poland's climate positive temperature deviations from long mean might cheer up in non-summer months only, but their frequency is worrisome. We had the second-warmest July in 2024, March temperature records beaten in late March 2024, February 2024 was the warmest since records began. In 2023 records were broken or nearly missed in January, September in October. The most recent month with mean temperature below long-term average was April 2023 and it was one of very few such months over recent years.

On one hand I would cherish clement weather and autumnal warmth (in contrast to summer heat) for possibly long, on the other I realise it is yet another signal of accelerating climate changes.

Next post in mid-October, after what is supposed to be the holidays of my lifetime (and involve substantial CO2 emissions, so maybe nothing to brag about).