Last year was an exceptional one for Romania’s climate. Compared to the other regions of Europe, the largest temperature anomalies were observed in eastern Romania in 2023, between 2 – 2.5°C compared to the reference period 1991-2020. In southern Romania, approximately 30 days were characterized by intense heat stress, while the European maximum was in southern Spain, 80 days.
DroughtPhoto: Shutterstock
In an InfoClima.ro article, the physicist Bogdan Antonescu analyzes the European Copernicus Agency’s annual report on Europe’s climate 2023 and extracts some data for Romania.
For most of Romania’s territory, 2023 was the warmest year, if we take the data from the last 74 years. Regarding monthly temperature deviations, the months of April-June were characterized by lower temperatures than those of the reference period 1991-2020. The other months had positive average temperature anomalies, of which the January 2023 temperature record stands out.
With the exception of mountainous regions, in 2023 the duration of the Sun’s brilliance increased in Romania. In the southern and eastern region an increase of up to 6% was observed compared to the average of the interval 1991-2020. Also, in 2023 the cloud cover decreased in Romania by up to 6% compared to the 1991-2020 average.
Regarding the precipitation regime, it was deficient for almost the entire territory of Romania in 2023, the south-east of Romania being characterized by “exceptional” negative deviation values compared to the period 1991-2020.
The average temperature in Europe in 2023 was 2.6 °C above pre-industrial times, indicating that Europe has already exceeded the 1.5 °C limit set by the Paris Treaty. In 11 of the 12 months of 2023, the average temperature in Europe was above normal values.
For most of Europe, except for northern regions, at least a few days with intense heat stress were observed, most days (60-80 being observed in southern Europe), and for days with very intense heat stress, most ( up to 80 days) being observed in southern Spain. In southern Romania, approximately 30 days were characterized by intense thermal stress.
The number of snowy days in Europe was lower than the annual average. In the Alps, during the winter, only three localities had more snow days, while most had much less than the average of the last decades.
Sea surface temperature in all European seas and the Mediterranean was well above normal data. In several European seas, the average annual sea temperature was the highest ever recorded.
Forest fires of large proportions were also many in 2023, especially in Iberia, Sicily and Greece. 5,000 km, as much as London, Paris and Berlin combined, burned in the fire season of 2023. According to the report, in Evros, between July and August 2023, we had the largest forest fire ever recorded in the European Union.
