The highest temperature anomalies in 2023 in Romania reported in the east of the country

Climate change has made its presence strongly felt in Romania in recent years, with last year and the beginning of 2024 culminating in absolute records. According to Romanian physicist Bogdan Antonescu, specialized in atmospheric physics, who conducted an analysis for www.infoclima.ro, compared to the other regions of Europe, the largest temperature anomalies were observed in eastern Romania in 2023, between 2-2.5°C compared to the reference period 1991-2020.

Also for most of Romania’s territory, 2023 was the warmest year since 1950. Regarding monthly temperature deviations, the months of April-June were characterized by lower temperatures than those of the reference period 1991- 2020. The other months had positive average temperature anomalies, of which the January 2023 temperature record stands out, the analysis points out.

For most of Europe, with the exception of northern regions, at least a few days of intense heat stress were observed, most days (60–80 being observed in southern Europe). In the case of days with very intense thermal stress, most (up to 80 days) are observed in the south of Spain. In southern Romania, approximately 30 days were characterized by intense thermal stress.

With the exception of mountainous regions, in 2023 the duration of the Sun’s brilliance increased in Romania. In the southern and eastern region an increase of up to 6% was observed compared to the 1991-2020 average. Also, in 2023 the cloud cover decreased in Romania by up to 6% compared to the 1991-2020 average.

As for the precipitation regime, it was deficient for almost the entire territory of Romania in 2023, with regions in the south-east of Romania being characterized by “exceptional” negative deviation values compared to the period 1991-2020.

Gloomy data for Europe climate in 2023

On a more extensive approach across the entire Europe, the analysis says that the extreme phenomena fueled by climate change have led to material losses of billions of euros in Europe. The data derive from the latest European Agency Copernicus Annual Climate Report 2023.

In terms of temperature, the report shows that the average temperature in Europe in 2023 was 2.6 °C above pre-industrial times, indicating that Europe has already exceeded the 1.5 °C limit set by the Paris Treaty. In 11 of the 12 months of 2023, the average temperature in Europe was above normal values.

Sea surface temperature in all European seas and the Mediterranean was well above normal. In several European seas, the average annual sea temperature was the highest ever recorded.

Extreme phenomena

Forest fires of large proportions were also many in 2023, especially in Iberia, Sicily and Greece. 5,000 km, as much as London, Paris and Berlin combined, burned in the fire season of 2023. According to the report, in Evros, between July and August 2023, we had the largest forest fire ever recorded in the European Union. These extreme phenomena affected approximately 550,000 people in the EU.

Flooding was also widespread, with an estimated 1.6 million people affected by flooding in 2023.

Overall, 63 people lost their lives in storms, 44 in floods and 44 in forest fires, while economic losses in 2023 in Europe reached 13.4 billion euros, of which 81% are related to floods. 

In terms of energy, in 2023, a record proportion of actual electricity production in Europe was produced from renewable sources from renewable sources, 43%, up from 36% in 2022.

*Dr. Bogdan Antonescu is a physicist specialized in atmospheric physics, interested in history, climatology, physical processes and the impact of extreme weather phenomena. Bogdan is a lecturer at the Faculty of Physics (University of Bucharest) and a researcher at the National Research and Development Institute for Earth Physics. He currently leads the “Extreme weather events in the future climate of Romania” (ClimExRo) project, which aims, among other things, to bring academic research closer to the public.