Climate variability in north-western Italy during the second half of the 20th century

We analyse a large set of daily temperature and precipitation time series measured by a dense observational network in north-western Italy, in the period from 1952 to 2002. We find that average temperatures display a significant increase of about 1°C over the period of observation. The increase is particularly evident for maximum daily temperatures in winter and summer months. By contrast, precipitation time series display no significant trend over the last fifty years. We also determine the statistical properties of interannual fluctuations in temperature and precipitation, and quantify their correlation with large-scale atmospheric patterns and global indices such as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the Scandinavian pattern (SCAN) and European Blocking (EB). The positive phase of the Scandinavian pattern and the presence of frequent blocking episodes are found to be significantly correlated with increased summer and fall precipitation and cold temperatures in the study area.