Articles | Volume 22, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-541-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-541-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| Highlight paper
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06 Mar 2026
Research article | Highlight paper |
| 06 Mar 2026
| 06 Mar 2026
Wine must yields as indicators of May to July climate in Central Europe, 1416–1988
Christian Pfister
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Hochschulstr. 4, 3023 Bern, Switzerland
Stefan Brönnimann
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Bern, Hochschulstr. 4, 3023 Bern, Switzerland
Institute of Geography, University of Bern, Hallerstr. 12, 3023 Bern, Switzerland
Laurent Litzenburger
Le Centre de Recherche Universitaire Lorrain d'Histoire (CRULH), Université de Lorraine, CRULH, 54000 Nancy, France
Peter Thejll
Danish Meteorological Institute, Sankt Kjelds Plads 11, 2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark
Andres Altwegg
Independent Researcher, Schilplinstrasse 15, 5200 Brugg, Switzerland
Rudolf Brázdil
Institute of Geography, Masaryk University, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic
Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, 603 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Andrea Kiss
Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, Vienna University of Technology, Taubstummengasse 11, 1040 Vienna, Austria
Erich Landsteiner
Department of Economic and Social History, University of Vienna, Universitätsring 1, 1001 Vienna, Austria
Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist
Department of History, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, 106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Thomas Pliemon
Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences, Hebrew University, Sderot Magnes, Jerusalem, Israel
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This bottle of Riesling from the traditional Bassermann Jordan winery in Deidesheim (Germany) is a relic of the premium wine harvested in 1811. It was named “Comet Wine” after the bright comet that year. The study shows that wine quality can be used to infer summer weather conditions over the past 600 years. After rainy summers with cold winds, wines turned sour, while long periods of high pressure led to excellent qualities. Since 1990, only good wines have been produced due to rapid warming.
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We study the climate signal in long harvest series from across Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. The climate–harvest yield relationship is found to be relatively weak but regionally consistent and similar in strength and sign to modern climate–harvest yield relationships. The strongest climate–harvest yield patterns are a significant summer soil moisture signal in Sweden, a winter temperature and precipitation signal in Switzerland, and spring temperature signals in Spain.
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Peter W. Thorne, John M. Nicklas, John J. Kennedy, Bruce Calvert, Baylor Fox-Kemper, Mark T. Richardson, Adrian Simmons, Ed Hawkins, Robert Rhode, Kathryn Cowtan, Nerilie J. Abram, Axel Andersson, Simon Noone, Phillipe Marbaix, Nathan Lenssen, Dirk Olonscheck, Tristram Walsh, Stephen Outten, Ingo Bethke, Bjorn H. Samset, Chris Smith, Anna Pirani, Jan Fuglestvedt, Lavanya Rajamani, Richard A. Betts, Elizabeth C. Kent, Blair Trewin, Colin Morice, Tim Osborn, Samantha N. Burgess, Oliver Geden, Andrew Parnell, Piers M. Forster, Chris Hewitt, Zeke Hausfather, Valerie Masson-Delmotte, Jochem Marotzke, Nathan Gillett, Sonia I. Seneviratne, Gavin A. Schmidt, Duo Chan, Stefan Brönnimann, Andy Reisinger, Matthew Menne, Maisa Rojas Corradi, Christopher Kadow, Peter Huybers, David B. Stephenson, Emily Wallis, Joeri Rogelj, Andrew Schurer, Karen McKinnon, Panmao Zhai, Fatima Driouech, Wilfran Moufouma Okia, Saeed Vazifehkhah, Sophie Szopa, Christopher J. Merchant, Shoji Hirahara, Masayoshi Ishii, Francois A. Engelbrecht, Qingxiang Li, June-Yi Lee, Alex J. Cannon, Christophe Cassou, Karina von Schuckmann, Amir H. Delju, and Ellie Murtagh
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Noemi Imfeld and Stefan Brönnimann
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-249, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-249, 2025
Preprint under review for ESSD
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We extend Swiss daily climate reconstructions from 1763 to 2020 to six additional variables at 1×1 km resolution using analogue resampling and data assimilation. Wind and temperature reconstructions show reasonable skill, while humidity and sunshine duration perform less well. Application to historical wild fire events demonstrates the data set’s potential for impact studies. This is the first Swiss data set providing several variables at a high-resolution of 1x1 km and going back to 1763.
Lucas Pfister, Lena Wilhelm, Yuri Brugnara, Noemi Imfeld, and Stefan Brönnimann
Weather Clim. Dynam., 6, 571–594, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-571-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-571-2025, 2025
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Rudolf Brázdil, Jan Lhoták, Kateřina Chromá, Dominik Collet, Petr Dobrovolný, and Heli Huhtamaa
Clim. Past, 21, 547–570, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-547-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-547-2025, 2025
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Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist, Bo Christiansen, Lea Schneider, and Peter Thejll
Clim. Past, 21, 327–342, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-327-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-327-2025, 2025
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We study the climatic signal, with a focus on volcanic-induced shocks, in two long annual records of wine production quantity (spanning 1444–1786) from present-day Luxembourg, close to the northern limit of viticulture in Europe. Highly significant wine production declines are found during years following major volcanic events. Furthermore, warmer and drier climate conditions favoured wine production, with spring and summer conditions being the most important ones.
Tzu Tung Chen, Rodney Edvinsson, Karin Modig, Hans W. Linderholm, and Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist
Clim. Past, 21, 185–210, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-185-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-185-2025, 2025
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We study the climate effects on mortality, using annual mortality records and meteorological data, in Sweden between 1749 and 1859. It is found that colder winter and spring temperatures increased mortality, while no statistically significant associations were observed between summer or autumn temperatures and mortality, and only weak associations existed with hydroclimate. Further research is needed about which specific diseases caused the mortality increase following cold winters and springs.
Richard Warren, Niklaus Emanuel Bartlome, Noémie Wellinger, Jörg Franke, Ralf Hand, Stefan Brönnimann, and Heli Huhtamaa
Clim. Past, 20, 2645–2662, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-2645-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-2645-2024, 2024
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This paper introduces the ClimeApp web application. The app provides quick access to the ModE-RA global climate reanalysis. Users can calculate and plot anomalies, composites, correlations, regressions and annual cycles across three different datasets and four climate variables. By re-examining the 1815 Tambora eruption, we demonstrate how combining results from different datasets and sources can help us investigate the historical palaeoclimate and integrate it into human history.
Rudolf Brázdil, Dominika Faturová, Monika Šulc Michalková, Jan Řehoř, Martin Caletka, and Pavel Zahradníček
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 3663–3682, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-3663-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-3663-2024, 2024
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Flash floods belong to natural hazards that can be enhanced in frequency, intensity, and impact during recent climate change. This paper presents a complex analysis of spatiotemporal variability and human impacts (including material damage and fatalities) of flash floods in the Czech Republic for the 2001–2023 period. The analysis generally shows no statistically significant trends in the characteristics analyzed.
Peter Stucki, Lucas Pfister, Yuri Brugnara, Renate Varga, Chantal Hari, and Stefan Brönnimann
Clim. Past, 20, 2327–2348, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-2327-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-2327-2024, 2024
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In our work, we reconstruct the weather of the extremely cold and wet summer in 1816 using a weather forecasting model to obtain high-resolution, three-dimensional weather simulations. We refine our simulations with surface pressure and temperature observations, representing a novel approach for this period. Our results show that this approach yields detailed and accurate weather reconstructions, opening the door to analyzing past weather events and their impacts in detail.
Stefan Brönnimann, Janusz Filipiak, Siyu Chen, and Lucas Pfister
Clim. Past, 20, 2219–2235, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-2219-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-2219-2024, 2024
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The year 1740 was the coldest in central Europe since at least 1421. New monthly global climate reconstructions, together with daily weather reconstructions, allow a detailed view of this climatic event. Following several severe cold spells in January and February, a persistent circulation pattern with blocking over the British Isles caused northerly flow towards western Europe during a large part of the year. It was one of the strongest, arguably unforced excursions in European temperature.
Christian Pfister, Stefan Brönnimann, Andres Altwegg, Rudolf Brázdil, Laurent Litzenburger, Daniele Lorusso, and Thomas Pliemon
Clim. Past, 20, 1387–1399, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1387-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1387-2024, 2024
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This bottle of Riesling from the traditional Bassermann Jordan winery in Deidesheim (Germany) is a relic of the premium wine harvested in 1811. It was named “Comet Wine” after the bright comet that year. The study shows that wine quality can be used to infer summer weather conditions over the past 600 years. After rainy summers with cold winds, wines turned sour, while long periods of high pressure led to excellent qualities. Since 1990, only good wines have been produced due to rapid warming.
Rudolf Brázdil, Jan Lhoták, Kateřina Chromá, and Petr Dobrovolný
Clim. Past, 20, 1017–1037, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1017-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1017-2024, 2024
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The newly developed series of wheat, rye, barley, and oats prices from Sušice (southwestern Bohemia) for the period 1725–1824 CE is used to demonstrate effects of weather, climate, socio-economic, and societal factors on their fluctuations, with particular attention paid to years with extremely high prices. Cold spring temperatures and wet conditions from winter to summer were reflected in very high grain prices.
Rudolf Brázdil, Kateřina Chromá, and Pavel Zahradníček
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 1437–1457, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-1437-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-1437-2024, 2024
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The official mortality data in the Czech Republic in 1919–2022 are used to show long-term fluctuations in the number of fatalities caused by excessive natural cold and heat, lightning, natural disasters, and falls on ice/snow, as well as the sex and age of the deceased, based on certain meteorological, historical, and socioeconomic factors that strongly influence changes in the number and structure of such fatalities. Knowledge obtained is usable in risk management for the preservation of lives.
Stefan Brönnimann, Yuri Brugnara, and Clive Wilkinson
Clim. Past, 20, 757–767, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-757-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-757-2024, 2024
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The early 20th century warming – the first phase of global warming in the 20th century – started from a peculiar cold state around 1910. We digitised additional ship logbooks for these years to study this specific climate state and found that it is real and likely an overlap of several climatic anomalies, including oceanic variability (La Niña) and volcanic eruptions.
Noemi Imfeld, Koen Hufkens, and Stefan Brönnimann
Clim. Past, 20, 659–682, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-659-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-659-2024, 2024
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Climate and weather in spring are important because they can have far-reaching impacts, e.g. on plant growth, due to cold spells. Here, we study changes in climate and phenological indices for the period from 1763 to 2020 based on newly published reconstructed fields of daily temperature and precipitation for Switzerland. We look at three cases of extreme spring conditions, namely a warm spring in 1862, two frost events in 1873 and 1957, and three cold springs in 1785, 1837, and 1852.
Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist, Bo Christiansen, Jan Esper, Heli Huhtamaa, Lotta Leijonhufvud, Christian Pfister, Andrea Seim, Martin Karl Skoglund, and Peter Thejll
Clim. Past, 19, 2463–2491, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2463-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2463-2023, 2023
Short summary
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We study the climate signal in long harvest series from across Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. The climate–harvest yield relationship is found to be relatively weak but regionally consistent and similar in strength and sign to modern climate–harvest yield relationships. The strongest climate–harvest yield patterns are a significant summer soil moisture signal in Sweden, a winter temperature and precipitation signal in Switzerland, and spring temperature signals in Spain.
Thomas Pliemon, Ulrich Foelsche, Christian Rohr, and Christian Pfister
Clim. Past, 19, 2237–2256, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2237-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2237-2023, 2023
Short summary
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Louis Morin consistently recorded precipitation intensity and duration between 1665 and 1713. We use these records to reconstruct precipitation totals. This reconstruction is validated by several methods and then presented using precipitation indexes. What is exceptional about this dataset is the availability of a sub-daily resolution and the low number of missing data points over the entire observation period.
Rudolf Brázdil, Petr Dobrovolný, Christian Pfister, Katrin Kleemann, Kateřina Chromá, Péter Szabó, and Piotr Olinski
Clim. Past, 19, 1863–1890, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1863-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1863-2023, 2023
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The Thirty Years' War (from 1618 to 1648 CE), an armed military conflict in Europe, brought extensive devastation to Europe. The paper analyses annual and seasonal temperature, precipitation, and drought patterns, as well as severe weather extremes, based particularly on documentary data, during this event in central Europe to demonstrate their broad impacts on human society and human responses in coincidence with weather and climate during this period of hardship.
Eric Samakinwa, Christoph C. Raible, Ralf Hand, Andrew R. Friedman, and Stefan Brönnimann
Clim. Past Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2023-67, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2023-67, 2023
Publication in CP not foreseen
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In this study, we nudged a stand-alone ocean model MPI-OM to proxy-reconstructed SST. Based on these model simulations, we introduce new estimates of the AMOC variations during the period 1450–1780 through a 10-member ensemble simulation with a novel nudging technique. Our approach reaffirms the known mechanisms of AMOC variability and also improves existing knowledge of the interplay between the AMOC and the NAO during the AMOC's weak and strong phases.
Ralf Hand, Eric Samakinwa, Laura Lipfert, and Stefan Brönnimann
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 4853–4866, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4853-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-4853-2023, 2023
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ModE-Sim is an ensemble of simulations with an atmosphere model. It uses observed sea surface temperatures, sea ice conditions, and volcanic aerosols for 1420 to 2009 as model input while accounting for uncertainties in these conditions. This generates several representations of the possible climate given these preconditions. Such a setup can be useful to understand the mechanisms that contribute to climate variability. This paper describes the setup of ModE-Sim and evaluates its performance.
Stefan Brönnimann and Yuri Brugnara
Clim. Past, 19, 1435–1445, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1435-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1435-2023, 2023
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We present the weather diaries of the Kirch family from 1677–1774 containing weather observations made in Leipzig and Guben and, from 1701 onward, instrumental observations made in Berlin. We publish the imaged diaries (10 445 images) and the digitized measurements (from 1720 onward). This is one of the oldest and longest meteorological records from Germany. The digitized pressure data show good agreement with neighbouring stations, highlighting their potential for weather reconstruction.
Stefan Brönnimann
Clim. Past, 19, 1345–1357, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1345-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1345-2023, 2023
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Weather reconstructions could help us to better understand the mechanisms leading to, and the impacts caused by, climatic changes. This requires daily weather information such as diaries. Here I present the weather diary by Georg Christoph Eimmart from Nuremberg covering the period 1695–1704. This was a particularly cold period in Europe, and the diary helps to better characterize this climatic anomaly.
Noemi Imfeld, Lucas Pfister, Yuri Brugnara, and Stefan Brönnimann
Clim. Past, 19, 703–729, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-703-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-703-2023, 2023
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Climate reconstructions give insights into monthly and seasonal climate variability of the past few hundred years. However, to understand past extreme weather events and to relate them to impacts, for example to periods of extreme floods, reconstructions on a daily timescale are needed. Here, we present a reconstruction of 258 years of high-resolution daily temperature and precipitation fields for Switzerland covering the period 1763 to 2020, which is based on instrumental measurements.
Moritz Buchmann, Gernot Resch, Michael Begert, Stefan Brönnimann, Barbara Chimani, Wolfgang Schöner, and Christoph Marty
The Cryosphere, 17, 653–671, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-653-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-653-2023, 2023
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Our current knowledge of spatial and temporal snow depth trends is based almost exclusively on time series of non-homogenised observational data. However, like other long-term series from observations, they are susceptible to inhomogeneities that can affect the trends and even change the sign. To assess the relevance of homogenisation for daily snow depths, we investigated its impact on trends and changes in extreme values of snow indices between 1961 and 2021 in the Swiss observation network.
Jianquan Dong, Stefan Brönnimann, Tao Hu, Yanxu Liu, and Jian Peng
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 5651–5664, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5651-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-5651-2022, 2022
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We produced a new dataset of global station-based daily maximum wet-bulb temperature (GSDM-WBT) through the calculation of wet-bulb temperature, data quality control, infilling missing values, and homogenization. The GSDM-WBT covers the complete daily series of 1834 stations from 1981 to 2020. The GSDM-WBT dataset handles stations with many missing values and possible inhomogeneities, which could better support the studies on global and regional humid heat events.
Duncan Pappert, Mariano Barriendos, Yuri Brugnara, Noemi Imfeld, Sylvie Jourdain, Rajmund Przybylak, Christian Rohr, and Stefan Brönnimann
Clim. Past, 18, 2545–2565, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2545-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2545-2022, 2022
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We present daily temperature and sea level pressure fields for Europe for the severe winter 1788/1789 based on historical meteorological measurements and an analogue reconstruction approach. The resulting reconstruction skilfully reproduces temperature and pressure variations over central and western Europe. We find intense blocking systems over northern Europe and several abrupt, strong cold air outbreaks, demonstrating that quantitative weather reconstruction of past extremes is possible.
Chantal Camenisch, Fernando Jaume-Santero, Sam White, Qing Pei, Ralf Hand, Christian Rohr, and Stefan Brönnimann
Clim. Past, 18, 2449–2462, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2449-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2449-2022, 2022
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We present a novel approach to assimilate climate information contained in chronicles and annals from the 15th century to generate climate reconstructions of the Burgundian Low Countries, taking into account uncertainties associated with the descriptions of narrative sources. Our study aims to be a first step towards a more quantitative use of available information contained in historical texts, showing how Bayesian inference can help the climate community with this endeavor.
Yuri Brugnara, Chantal Hari, Lucas Pfister, Veronika Valler, and Stefan Brönnimann
Clim. Past, 18, 2357–2379, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2357-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2357-2022, 2022
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We digitized dozens of weather journals containing temperature measurements from in and around Bern and Zurich. They cover over a century before the creation of a national weather service in Switzerland. With these data we could create daily temperature series for the two cities that span the last 265 years. We found that the pre-industrial climate on the Swiss Plateau was colder than suggested by previously available instrumental data sets and about 2.5 °C colder than the present-day climate.
Rudolf Brázdil, Petr Zahradník, Péter Szabó, Kateřina Chromá, Petr Dobrovolný, Lukáš Dolák, Miroslav Trnka, Jan Řehoř, and Silvie Suchánková
Clim. Past, 18, 2155–2180, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2155-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-2155-2022, 2022
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Bark beetle outbreaks are important disturbances to Norway spruce forests. Their meteorological and climatological triggers are analysed for the main oubreaks over the territory of the Czech Republic based on newly created series of such outbreaks, covering the 1781–2021 CE period. The paper demonstrates the shift from windstorms as the main meteorological triggers of past outbreaks to effects of high temperatures and droughts together with windstorms in past decades.
Thomas Pliemon, Ulrich Foelsche, Christian Rohr, and Christian Pfister
Clim. Past, 18, 1685–1707, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1685-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-1685-2022, 2022
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We have digitized and analyzed meteorological variables (temperature, direction of the movement of the clouds, and cloud cover), which were noted by Louis Morin in the period 1665–1713 in Paris. This time period is characterized by cold winters and autumns and moderate springs and summers. A low frequency of westerlies in the winter months leads to a cooling. Morin's measurements seem to be trustworthy. Only cloud cover in quantitative terms should be taken with caution.
Gilles Delaygue, Stefan Brönnimann, and Philip D. Jones
Weather Clim. Dynam. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2022-33, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2022-33, 2022
Revised manuscript not accepted
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We test whether any association between solar activity and meteorological conditions in the north Atlantic – European sector could be detected. We find associations consistent with those found by previous studies, with a slightly better statistical significance, and with less methodological biases which have impaired previous studies. Our study should help strengthen the recognition of meteorological impacts of solar activity.
Moritz Buchmann, John Coll, Johannes Aschauer, Michael Begert, Stefan Brönnimann, Barbara Chimani, Gernot Resch, Wolfgang Schöner, and Christoph Marty
The Cryosphere, 16, 2147–2161, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2147-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2147-2022, 2022
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Knowledge about inhomogeneities in a data set is important for any subsequent climatological analysis. We ran three well-established homogenization methods and compared the identified break points. By only treating breaks as valid when detected by at least two out of three methods, we enhanced the robustness of our results. We found 45 breaks within 42 of 184 investigated series; of these 70 % could be explained by events recorded in the station history.
Rudolf Brázdil, Petr Dobrovolný, Jiří Mikšovský, Petr Pišoft, Miroslav Trnka, Martin Možný, and Jan Balek
Clim. Past, 18, 935–959, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-935-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-935-2022, 2022
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The paper deals with 520-year series (1501–2020 CE) of temperature, precipitation, and four drought indices reconstructed from documentary evidence and instrumental observations for the Czech Lands. Basic features of their fluctuations, long-term trends, and periodicities as well as attribution to changes in external forcings and climate variability modes are analysed. Representativeness of Czech reconstructions at European scale is evaluated. The paper shows extreme character of past decades.
Stefan Brönnimann, Peter Stucki, Jörg Franke, Veronika Valler, Yuri Brugnara, Ralf Hand, Laura C. Slivinski, Gilbert P. Compo, Prashant D. Sardeshmukh, Michel Lang, and Bettina Schaefli
Clim. Past, 18, 919–933, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-919-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-919-2022, 2022
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Floods in Europe vary on time scales of several decades. Flood-rich and flood-poor periods alternate. Recently floods have again become more frequent. Long time series of peak stream flow, precipitation, and atmospheric variables reveal that until around 1980, these changes were mostly due to changes in atmospheric circulation. However, in recent decades the role of increasing atmospheric moisture due to climate warming has become more important and is now the main driver of flood changes.
Daniel Steinfeld, Adrian Peter, Olivia Martius, and Stefan Brönnimann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-92, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-92, 2022
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We assess the performance of various fire weather indices to predict wildfire occurrence in Northern Switzerland. We find that indices responding readily to weather changes have the best performance during spring; in the summer and autumn seasons, indices that describe persistent hot and dry conditions perform best. We demonstrate that a logistic regression model trained on local historical fire activity can outperform existing fire weather indices.
Duncan Pappert, Yuri Brugnara, Sylvie Jourdain, Aleksandra Pospieszyńska, Rajmund Przybylak, Christian Rohr, and Stefan Brönnimann
Clim. Past, 17, 2361–2379, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2361-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2361-2021, 2021
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This paper presents temperature and pressure measurements from the 37 stations of the late 18th century network of the Societas Meteorologica Palatina, in addition to providing an inventory of the available observations, most of which have been digitised. The quality of the recovered series is relatively good, as demonstrated by two case studies. Early instrumental data such as these will help to explore past climate and weather extremes in Europe in greater detail.
Gerard van der Schrier, Richard P. Allan, Albert Ossó, Pedro M. Sousa, Hans Van de Vyver, Bert Van Schaeybroeck, Roberto Coscarelli, Angela A. Pasqua, Olga Petrucci, Mary Curley, Mirosław Mietus, Janusz Filipiak, Petr Štěpánek, Pavel Zahradníček, Rudolf Brázdil, Ladislava Řezníčková, Else J. M. van den Besselaar, Ricardo Trigo, and Enric Aguilar
Clim. Past, 17, 2201–2221, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2201-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-2201-2021, 2021
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The 1921 drought was the most severe drought to hit Europe since the start of the 20th century. Here the climatological description of the drought is coupled to an overview of its impacts, sourced from newspapers, and an analysis of its drivers. The area from Ireland to the Ukraine was affected but hardest hit was the triangle between Brussels, Paris and Lyon. The drought impacts lingered on until well into autumn and winter, affecting water supply and agriculture and livestock farming.
Moritz Buchmann, Michael Begert, Stefan Brönnimann, and Christoph Marty
The Cryosphere, 15, 4625–4636, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4625-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4625-2021, 2021
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We investigated the impacts of local-scale variations by analysing snow climate indicators derived from parallel snow measurements. We found the largest relative inter-pair differences for all indicators in spring and the smallest in winter. The findings serve as an important basis for our understanding of uncertainties of commonly used snow indicators and provide, in combination with break-detection methods, the groundwork in view of any homogenization efforts regarding snow time series.
Nicolaj Hansen, Peter L. Langen, Fredrik Boberg, Rene Forsberg, Sebastian B. Simonsen, Peter Thejll, Baptiste Vandecrux, and Ruth Mottram
The Cryosphere, 15, 4315–4333, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4315-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-4315-2021, 2021
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We have used computer models to estimate the Antarctic surface mass balance (SMB) from 1980 to 2017. Our estimates lies between 2473.5 ± 114.4 Gt per year and 2564.8 ± 113.7 Gt per year. To evaluate our models, we compared the modelled snow temperatures and densities to in situ measurements. We also investigated the spatial distribution of the SMB. It is very important to have estimates of the Antarctic SMB because then it is easier to understand global sea level changes.
Claudia Timmreck, Matthew Toohey, Davide Zanchettin, Stefan Brönnimann, Elin Lundstad, and Rob Wilson
Clim. Past, 17, 1455–1482, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1455-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1455-2021, 2021
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The 1809 eruption is one of the most recent unidentified volcanic eruptions with a global climate impact. We demonstrate that climate model simulations of the 1809 eruption show generally good agreement with many large-scale temperature reconstructions and early instrumental records for a range of radiative forcing estimates. In terms of explaining the spatially heterogeneous and temporally delayed Northern Hemisphere cooling suggested by tree-ring networks, the investigation remains open.
Noemi Imfeld, Leopold Haimberger, Alexander Sterin, Yuri Brugnara, and Stefan Brönnimann
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 2471–2485, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-2471-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-2471-2021, 2021
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Upper-air data form the backbone of reanalysis products, particularly in the pre-satellite era. However, historical upper-air data are error-prone because measurements at high altitude were especially challenging. Here, we present a collection of data from historical intercomparisons of radiosondes and error assessments reaching back to the 1930s that may allow us to better characterize such errors. The full database, including digitized data, images, and metadata, is made publicly available.
Rudolf Brázdil, Kateřina Chromá, Lukáš Dolák, Jan Řehoř, Ladislava Řezníčková, Pavel Zahradníček, and Petr Dobrovolný
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 1355–1382, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-1355-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-21-1355-2021, 2021
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We present an analysis of fatalities attributable to weather conditions in the Czech Republic during the 2000–2019 period based on our own database created from newspaper reports, on the database of the Czech Statistical Office, and on the database of the police of the Czech Republic as well as on their comparison. Despite some uncertainties, generally declining trends in the number of fatalities appear for the majority of weather variables. The structure of fatalities is described in detail.
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Editorial statement
The paper shows that historical records of wine yield and quality from Central Europe (1416–1988) can be combined into a Yield Quality Index (YQI). This index serves as a reliable indicator of climate conditions from May to July. Using long-term tax, tithe, and estate records from the Moselle region in Germany and the Swiss Plateau, the study shows that high YQI values correspond to warm summers, early harvests, and supportive tree-ring evidence. Conversely, low values often reflect cold summers or frost damage. These results confirm that wine production data can significantly improve climate reconstructions and help explain the social and economic impacts of past climate extremes.
The paper shows that historical records of wine yield and quality from Central Europe...
Short summary
Narrative historical records of wine production in Central Europe date back to 1200. A study of taxes paid to authorities in the French-Luxembourg Moselle region, Germany, and the Swiss Plateau over the last few centuries shows that wine yields provide indirect indications of summer temperatures when the impact of heavy frosts is taken into account. This enables climate reconstructions based on tree rings to be refined and confirmed. Occasionally, poor harvests gave rise to witch hunts.
Narrative historical records of wine production in Central Europe date back to 1200. A study of...
