Keywords: extreme summer temperatures, mean dates, trends.
Abstract
The main feature of the temperate continental climate in Belgrade is the occurrence of summer heat in the warm part of the year. In meteorology and climatology, the summer months are considered to be June, July, and August, which do not strictly coincide with the period of astronomical summer. Based on climatological criteria, a summer day is considered to be one in which the highest air temperature is equal to or higher than 25 degrees, and a tropical day is one in which the temperature is equal to or higher than 30 degrees. Normally, summer days occur before and after climatological and astronomical summer. Instrumental data on air temperature from the Belgrade Meteorological Observatory at Vračar for the period 1887-2025 were used for the analysis. In order to extend the series and better observe the change trend, corrected and reconstructed data for the period 1848-1887 from the Senjak measuring station in Belgrade were used. An analysis of extreme values of daily, monthly, and annual air temperatures, the average date of the appearance of the first and last temperature with values equal to or greater than 25, 30, and 35 degrees was performed. Trends in these temperature parameters were also examined. The analysis aimed to determine the most significant features of summer heat expressed through air temperature. The results show that extreme values of summer temperatures are a common meteorological phenomenon for the temperate continental climate in Belgrade, that they have a slight increasing trend that is not significant, and that they have multi-decadal variability and periodicity that is mainly in accordance with the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO). The analyzed data and results are presented in tabular and graphical form.