Are you feeling a little chilly this summer? You’re not alone. The past few weeks have been marked by cold nights, chilly mornings, and an absence of tropical temperatures. While this may seem unusual compared to recent years, long-term statistics show that this is nothing out of the ordinary.
According to meteorologist Dagmar Honsová, “This whole week brings cold nights, when morning temperatures usually drop below 10 degrees, and in frosty hollows, it freezes. But minimum temperature records are not falling.” She reminds us that historical records for the lowest temperatures in mid-June offer even lower values.
For example, in Karlovy Vary, temperatures dropped to 4.6°C on Thursday, while the record from 2008 is 2°C. In Prague-Ruzyně, it was 6.8°C in the morning, while the temperature record from 1941 is 5°C. In Liberec, the lowest temperature in 1941 was 2.2°C, but on Thursday morning, it did not drop below 7°C. In Prostějov, which was 6.9°C in the morning, the minimum temperature did not approach the record value of 4.4°C.
The cool mornings are also related to the fact that we have not yet experienced tropical temperatures above 30°C this year. While in the recent past, the first low days were usually recorded in May or early June or even at the end of April, this year, we will have to wait until next week.
Even though there were no extremes in the Czech Republic or Europe in May, this month was the second warmest in history, according to the European Union’s atmosphere and climate change monitoring agency, Copernicus. This was due to unusually high temperatures in some parts of Canada, Africa, and Southeast Asia.
So, while it may feel a little colder than usual this summer, nothing unusual is happening in the Czech Republic. Compared to historical records, the temperatures are pretty average.