According to climatologist Prof. Joanna Wibig, this year the average temperatures in Poland are almost 2 degrees higher than 70 years ago. As a result of warming, winters grew shorter and summers grew longer, extending plants’ growing seasons.
“Global warming in Poland is progressing faster than the world average. During the year, the average temperatures in our country are almost 2 degrees higher than 70 years ago. Winters with minus-temperatures-days are rare, and during the day the mercury column usually wanders above zero.”
explained the climatologist from the Faculty of Geographical Sciences of the University of Lodz.
Experts’ observations show that the most intense warming occurs in spring and winter, and the slowest in autumn.
The consequence of this state is the lack of snow cover which is a big problem for farmers – a thick layer of snow protects the ground against excessive cooling and loss of soil moisture; soil lacking this cover is exposed to frost.
Research by climatologists also shows that since the mid-twentieth century, the growing season has been extended in the vicinity of Łódź by almost a month. A longer growing season is conducive to the maturation of plants for which the previous growing season was too short.
Increasingly, the so-called false spring – after several weeks of warming and the start of vegetation, winter returns. A wave of frost during the period of flowering or fruit formation brings huge losses to fruit-growing and natural ecosystems.
Prof. Wibig noted that warming is also visible in summer; the average temperature of the summer months increased by more than 1.5 degrees C. In central Poland, the number of hot days in the last 50 years has almost tripled.
In developed countries, heat is considered the most dangerous meteorological threat to human life. This is especially true in cities, where high temperatures during the day are accompanied by slightly lower temperatures at night.
“Nights during which the temperature does not fall below 20 degrees C are called tropical nights. In the mid-twentieth century, they were very rare in Poland, once every dozen or so years. Currently, they occur very often in cities during heat waves, preventing night regeneration of the body. temperature in summer is also much greater evaporation and often accompanying drought, water deficit or low water quality.”,
noted the climatologist.
In the opinion of the researcher, we should focus on preventing such situations, e.g. striving to reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. “The climate crisis is primarily a threat to people. Due to the progress of global warming, our lives are more difficult, and it may be even harder in the future”, she emphasized.