Ski resort Javorník, January 5, 2023 in Liberec.
Prague – The past winter was warmer than usual in the Czech Republic. The average temperature from the beginning of December last year to the end of February this year was 1.2 degrees Celsius. It was almost two degrees higher than the normal from 1991 to 2020. The reason was mainly a very warm January, when meteorologists in the Czech Republic measured over 19 degrees Celsius for the first time. Preliminary data was published by the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute (ČHMÚ). The amount of precipitation in the winter of 2022/23 did not deviate from the usual values, but the water supply in the snow is lower compared to the last ten years.
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Photo gallery: Winter weather 2022/23
The average monthly temperature in January this year was 3.4 degrees higher than usual in the first month of the year. In contrast, meteorologists rate the remaining two winter months as average temperatures, with a deviation from the norm of minus 0.4 degrees Celsius in the case of December and plus 1.6 degrees in February.
The Czech Republic already experienced a temperature extreme on New Year's when they measured 19.6 degrees at the station in Javorník in Jesenice. It was 0.2 degrees cooler in České Budějovice-Rožnov on the same day. “Daily maximum air temperatures higher than 19 degrees Celsius have not yet been recorded in our territory in January,” reports the ČHMÚ. The previous January maximum from January 29, 2002, when 18.8 degrees Celsius was measured in Mánesový sady in Ústí nad Labem, was thus surpassed.
Conversely, the lowest temperature of the past winter was recorded on February 6 at the Kvilda-Perla station in Šumava. The mercury in the thermometer there dropped to minus 29.9 degrees Celsius. If only stations from the standard CHMÚ network were taken into account, then the record would belong to Volary station with a minimum of minus 26.9 degrees, which was reached on December 18.
The previous winter was similarly warm as this year, when the average temperature reached 1.3 degrees. The record still belongs to the winter season of 2006/2007 with an average temperature of 2.7 degrees.
Regarding the amount of precipitation, meteorologists assess the past winter in the Czech Republic as normal. On average, 131 liters of water fell per square meter, which is 103 percent of the average of the winters from 1991 to 2020. The most precipitation during the winter season, namely 190 liters of water per square meter, rained or snowed in the winter of 1986/1987.
The highest daily amount of precipitation this time was measured by ČHMÚ on February 3 in Dvoračky in the Semila region, where 64 liters of water fell per square meter. The most new snow, 40 centimeters, fell on February 2 in Špičák in Šumava.
