Relationship between mean annual temperatures and precipitation sums in Montenegro between 1951-1980 and 1981-2010 periods

Abstract

In the second half of the 20th and by the beginning of the 21st century the area of Montenegro was dominated by positive air temperature fluctuations and negative precipitation sums. This paper analyses a 60-year period (1951-2010), with the aim to determine air temperature and precipitation deviation between the two 30-year periods: 1951-1980 and 1981-2010. Calculations of mean, mean maximum and mean minimum temperature have been done, as well as annual values of precipitation sums. All three temperature parameters, particularly maximum values, show that the 1981-2010 period was significantly warmer in relation to previous three decades. Significant changes in mean annual precipitation sums between the two observation periods have been recorded on the coast and, locally, in the western part of the country. The results also showed that there was a significant increase in positive deviations of mean maximum temperature in most parts of Montenegro during the 1981-2010 period in relation to the 1951-1980 period, while changes of this type in other observation parameters were mostly minor.

Keywords

• temperature
• precipitation
• Montenegro