The highest monthly precipitation in the area of the Ukrainian and the Polish Carpathian Mountains in the period from 1984 to 2013

Abstract

The article deals with annual and multiannual courses of the highest monthly precipitation in the Polish and the Ukrainian Carpathians on the basis of the data from 27 measuring stations in the period from 1984 to 2013. The monthly precipitation variability in terms of the highest values in the annual, decadal and the 30-year dimension, taking into consideration the spatial coverage, is the key to the understanding of the precipitation climates of the Carpathian mountain regions with distinctive local features of climate change. The highest monthly amounts of precipitation are regularly observed in the period from May to September and only occasionally in the rest of the months. In winter months, the frequency of occurrence of the highest monthly precipitation totals does not exceed 1%. The highest monthly total precipitation in the whole period out of all the stations was recorded in the most western part of the Polish Carpathians and in the central part of the Ukrainian Carpathians. July 2008 was the only month when the highest monthly precipitation in a year was observed at all stations. The range of the highest monthly precipitation values is broader in the Ukrainian part. Cyclonic circulation patterns are the predominant cause of the highest monthly precipitation in both the Polish and the Ukrainian Carpathians. The findings suggest no significant trends, no apparent patterns in the temporal and spatial distribution of the highest monthly precipitation cases with the biggest number of the highest monthly precipitations cases in the last decade and the prevalence of the cases in the warm period.