Articles | Volume 22, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-957-2026
© 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-22-957-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
08 May 2026
Research article |
| 08 May 2026
| 08 May 2026
Newly recovered series of meteorological measurements in SW Greenland (Nuuk) in the period 1806–1813
Rajmund Przybylak
Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland
Centre for Climate Change Research, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland
Andrzej Araźny
Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland
Centre for Climate Change Research, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland
Przemysław Wyszyński
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland
Centre for Climate Change Research, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland
Garima Singh
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland
Konrad Chmist
Faculty of Earth Sciences and Spatial Management, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland
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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Climate of the Past (CP).
Short summary
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This study presents the first comprehensive assessment of heavy and extreme precipitation in Poland from the 12th to 18th centuries based on historical written records. We identified 477 events, most frequently in summer and in Silesia and northern Poland. Many caused damage without reported flooding. The findings provide a long-term perspective on past precipitation extremes and a valuable baseline for assessing present and future rainfall risks.
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Short summary
The currently observed climate changes are most intense in the Arctic region. This study utilized some of the oldest existing meteorological measurement series in this region. Atmospheric pressure and anemological conditions were analysed and then compared with contemporary measurements. This showed that the weakest low and strongest high systems occur in the same months. Prevailing wind directions have also remained unchanged, while the northerly wind carries less frigid air than in the past.
Rajmund Przybylak, Aleksandra Pospieszyńska, and Piotr Oliński
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Rajmund Przybylak, Janusz Filipiak, Piotr Oliński, Babak Ghazi, and Andrzej Araźny
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3524, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3524, 2026
Short summary
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This article extends the database of strong wind events in Poland (1001–1600) using 17th-century documentary evidence. A total of 525 events were identified, most occurring in the second half of the century. Strong winds were least frequent in summer, while their occurrence was relatively similar across the other seasons. Temporal variability in the frequency of strong wind events in Poland in the 17th century was more consistent with patterns observed in Northern Europe than in Southern Europe.
Peter Stucki, Stefan Brönnimann, Noemi Imfeld, Lucas Pfister, Conall E. Ruth, Yannis V. Schmutz, Yuri Brugnara, Martin Wegmann, Rajmund Przybylak, and Janusz Filipiak
Clim. Past, 22, 517–540, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-517-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-22-517-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
We test nine reconstructions of Europe’s hot summer of 1807, using weather records, reanalyses, machine-learning (ML), and data assimilation. Most approaches match observed temperature and pressure well. Approaches based on physics of atmospheric flow capture weather patterns well, while ML approaches better reflect station records. Ingestion of accurate records from new regions improves the reconstructions markedly. In all, the approaches provide new insights to pre-industrial extreme weather.
Rajmund Przybylak, Andrzej Araźny, Janusz Filipiak, Piotr Oliński, Przemysław Wyszyński, and Artur Szwaba
Clim. Past, 21, 1501–1519, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1501-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-1501-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
A comprehensive database of strong winds up until AD 1600 was created based on documentary evidence for the area within the modern-day borders of Poland. Three types of documentary sources were used: handwritten and unpublished, published, and “secondary” literature. The database contains detailed information about occurrences of strong wind (the location, time, duration and indexation for intensity, extent and character of damage) and the exact textual content of the original weather note.
Garima Singh, Rajmund Przybylak, Przemysław Wyszyński, Andrzej Araźny, and Konrad Chmist
Clim. Past, 21, 877–895, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-877-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-21-877-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study aims to determine the nature of the climate in Labrador in historical times (late 18th century), which is crucial to understanding past climate changes in the Arctic and their causes. It is equally important to estimate the range of natural climate variability, which can help in correctly recognizing the causes of present and future climate changes – especially the influence of humans on climate. The analysis shows a significant warming from historical to present times.
Rajmund Przybylak, Garima Singh, Przemysław Wyszyński, Andrzej Araźny, and Konrad Chmist
Clim. Past, 20, 1451–1470, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1451-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1451-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The purpose of this study is to recognise the nature of the climate in historical times (second half of 18th century) in Greenland. Such knowledge is important for validating Greenland temperature reconstructions based on both modelling works and various proxies. The two unique series of old meteorological observations from Greenland we used indicated that temperature in the study period was comparable to that of the early 20th-century Arctic warming but lower than that of the present day.
Rajmund Przybylak, Piotr Oliński, Marcin Koprowski, Elżbieta Szychowska-Krąpiec, Marek Krąpiec, Aleksandra Pospieszyńska, and Radosław Puchałka
Clim. Past, 19, 2389–2408, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2389-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-2389-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The present paper upgrades our knowledge of Poland’s climate in the period 1001–1500 using multiproxy data. Four new climate reconstructions have been constructed – three based on dendrochronological data (since the 12th century) and one on documentary evidence (since the 15th century). The results should help improve the knowledge of climate change in Europe, particularly in central Europe.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
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
Short summary
Short summary
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.
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Short summary
This study presents and analyses a newly discovered unique series of meteorological measurements from Greenland, covering the period 1806–1813. This record, the longest instrumental dataset from the Arctic before 1840, provides valuable information for improving knowledge about the climate of that period. The analysis shows that it was one of the coldest intervals in the past two millennia. Intense volcanic activity and low solar activity are proposed as the main reasons for this cold period.
This study presents and analyses a newly discovered unique series of meteorological measurements...
