The north atlantic oscillation and winter precipitation totals in Slovakia

Abstract

The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is the most important circulation phenomenon in the Northern Atlantic which impacts climate in Europe in various ways. Precipitation is a basic climatic element which affects the landscape significantly. Therefore in this paper, the relationship between the NAO and winter precipitation in Slovakia is analysed. A Spearman’s correlation analysis was used, which detected the impacts of NAO on the above-mentioned seasonal precipitation in different regions of Slovakia. The correlation coefficients obtained positive values in the region of Orava and Kysuce and changed to negative ones in a southward direction. The detected zonal configuration can be explained by the topographic barrier effect of the Carpathians