Climate of the Pokuttia and Bukovyna Carpathians and foreland in the second half of the 19th – at the beginning of 20th centuries
Authors: Kholiavchuk Dariia 
Published: August 2023

Climate reconstruction of the Pokuttia and Bukovyna Carpathians, its foreland and adjacent mountain and foothill areas in the 19th century is performed due to a dense network of meteorological observations, starting from the 60s of the 19th century in the Bukovyna and Galychyna provinces within the Austrian Monarchy and several paleoclimatic reconstructions, mainly dendroclimatic, carried out on the basis of data collected in the Eastern Carpathians. Spatial interpolations using universal kriging has been performed based on in-situ homogenized data of weather stations of the second half of the 19th century – the first half
of the 20th century.

The longest series of observations in the city of Chernivtsi since 1852 has enabled to track multidecadal changes in average annual and monthly air temperatures and atmospheric precipitation. The centennial course of these climatic indicators corresponds to the general patterns characteristic of all the Eastern Carpathians with the most pronounced continentality among the rest of the Carpathian regions. Cold decades in the second half of the 19th century in Chernivtsi are considered the continuation of the coldest period of 1720–1850 in the Eastern Carpathians in the last 600 years.

The spatial distribution peculiarities of average monthly temperatures in the second half of the 19th – at the beginning of 20th centuries in the region are manifested in a pronounced orographic steplike isotherm pattern. In the second half of the 19th century – the first half of the 20th century, the average long-term temperatures ranged from +3.5 to +4 °C in the southwest to +8 °C in the north and northeast in accordance to the orientation of the mountains. Inversion features of the valleys and internal lowlands are revealed in the spatial distribution of average temperatures, especially in the summer months. These features are also distinguished by a lower amount of atmospheric precipitation in the dry months of spring and autumn. Spatial distribution of temperature and precipitation in the second half of the 19th century – at the beginning of 20th century is also distinctive in the the inner mountain ridges of the adjacent Hryniava and Chornyi Dil mountains. These mountains are founded to be the coldest, often with a lack of meteorological summer and a maximum of precipitation in the spring
and autumn months.

A comparative analysis of the spatio-temporal distribution of average multi-year air temperatures and precipitation at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries was performed. In general, similar distribution of air temperatures and precipitation is revealed. The differences are more noticeable in the monthly context, especially in summer and in the mountainous parts of the region.

Comparing the turns of 19th and 20th centuries, the average July monthly temperature in the southernmost mountain massifs of the region has increased by 1 °C, while in the foothills the increase does not exceed 0.5 °C. In the annual context, changes are less noticeable. The range of air temperature changes from north to south is the same at the turn of both the 19th and 20th centuries. The city of Chernivtsi is founded to become a bit warmer (by 0.5 °C), but interannual fluctuations of annual air temperatures within 2 °C are typical throughout all the centuries. Alongside, high annual temperatures (+9 °C and higher) have been observed more often. While in the last century such temperatures were recorded once per 5–10 years, in the first decade of this century, annual temperature above +9 °C is recorded every second year. Short-term fluctuations (5–10 years) of annual precipitation amounts have been characteristic of the whole period since the 19th century.

The interpretation of local climatic differences involves further devolopment of accurate interpolation techniques and downscaling, especially for the construction of precipitation field given lack of high-mountain weather stations in the earlier centuries. The latter corresponds to the future studies of the author.