Until December 28, there were only seven new cold records in Latvia, while the number of corrected maximum air temperature records reached 324.
Two cold records were broken in January, five – in May. The number of minimum temperature records broken this year is the lowest in recent years. In 2023, 55 cold records were broken.
The number of broken heat records is the largest since 2020, when 394 maximum temperature records “fell”.
Heat records were broken every month this year, at least in January and October – in each of these months, two records for maximum air temperature were broken. In contrast, 53 new heat records were registered in March, 74 in April, and 87 in September.
According to LVĜMC data, the biggest frost this year was -29.5 degrees on January 8 in Daugavpils, while the strongest heat was recorded on June 28, when the thermometer rose to +32.9 degrees in Jēkabpils and Mērsrag.
It has already been reported that this year there was no cold wave in Latvia, but the number of heat waves reached nine by November. The tenth heat wave of this year was registered on December 16-21.
December is the eleventh consecutive month with an above-normal average temperature. The year 2024 is one of the two warmest in the history of Latvian meteorological observations; this year’s average air temperature is approximately +8.8 degrees – similar to 2020.
The climatic standard norm of the annual average air temperature, or the average temperature of 1991-2020 in Latvia, is +6.8 degrees. It is 1.1 degrees higher than the average air temperature of the climatic reference period, i.e. 1961-1990.
Scientists predict that in the second half of the century, the average annual air temperature in Latvia may exceed +10 degrees. However, there is a possibility that as global warming melts glaciers and increases rainfall, sea currents in the Atlantic Ocean may stop, which would mean a sharp drop in temperature in Northern Europe.
Source: www.diena.lv
