Articles | Volume 7, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-7-89-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-7-89-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Considerable yet contrasting regional imprint of circulation change on summer temperature trends across the Northern hemisphere mid-latitudes
Peter Pfleiderer
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute for Meteorology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
Anna Merrifield
Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
István Dunkl
Institute for Meteorology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
Homer Durand
Image Processing Laboratory, Universitat de València, València, Spain
Enora Cariou
Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, Météo-France, Toulouse, France
Julien Cattiaux
Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, Météo-France, Toulouse, France
Gustau Camps-Valls
Image Processing Laboratory, Universitat de València, València, Spain
Sebastian Sippel
Institute for Meteorology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
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Peter Pfleiderer, Aglaé Jézéquel, Juliette Legrand, Natacha Legrix, Iason Markantonis, Edoardo Vignotto, and Pascal Yiou
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Short summary
Due to changes in atmospheric circulation some regions are warming quicker than others. Statistical methods are used to estimate how much of the local summer temperature changes are due to circulation changes. We evaluate these methods by comparing their estimates to special simulations representing only temperature changes related to circulation changes. By applying the methods to observations of 1979–2023 we find that half of the warming over parts of Europe is related to circulation changes.
Due to changes in atmospheric circulation some regions are warming quicker than others....