2022 was the third warmest year on record in Romania since 1900, Environment Minister says/ Other statistics on climate change in the country

The year 2022 was the third warmest year in the history of meteorological measurements in Romania, with an average annual temperature of 11.77 degrees Celsius and a temperature deviation of 1.55 degrees Celsius from the average for the period 1981-2010, according to an analysis by the National Meteorological Administration (ANM), Agerpres.ro reports.

According to the cited source, the five warmest years in the period 1900 – 2022 are: 2019, 2020, 2022, 2015 and 2007, and the interval 2012 – 2022 is the warmest period of 11 consecutive years, which clearly confirms the trend of increasing air temperature in our country.

„This statistic demonstrates what we have all felt for many years, that climate change is threatening and affecting the whole planet, we can no longer talk about a local problem or a national problem. The Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests has the resources to fight against climate change: we have, through the Forests and Biodiversity Protection component of the PNRR (recovery and resilience fund – editor note), a total budget of €1.173 billion and our ambition is to increase the area of forest with this money. At the same time, forests are the most resilient to the effects of climate change, they can best fight these weather events and contribute to climate regulation,” said Environment Minister Barna Tanczos.

He said that last fall, the National Forestry Strategy was adopted, which sets binding rules for afforestation and reforestation, forests and woodlands in areas vulnerable to climate change.

„Forest and landowners are also now encouraged and incentivized to ensure that the areas they own are conserved and used to their true potential, they receive €456/year/ha for 20 years for converting this land into forests. The forestry sequestration premium is a measure to stimulate the conversion of as much land as possible in Romania into future forests”, said Barna Tanczos.

The period 1991 – 2020, considered the current climatic reference period according to the World Meteorological Organisation’s recommendations, shows an increase of 0.5 degrees Celsius in Romania’s annual multiannual average air temperature compared to the previous period 1981 – 2010.

„At the decade level, the largest increases in average air temperature are in the last two decades (2001 – 2010 and 2011 – 2020), with frequent daily, monthly, seasonal and annual temperature records being recorded over the last 20 years, each of which has broken previous records,” the research adds.

Also, according to meteorologists, 2022 saw 9 months of positive monthly temperature deviations, with the highest, in descending order, in February and December/+3.1 degrees C, followed by November/+2.6 degrees C, August/+2.0 degrees C, June/+1.8 degrees C, July/+1.7 degrees C, October/+1.6 degrees C, January/+1.3 degrees C and May/ +0.4 degrees C. December 2022 was the third warmest December since 1961 to date.

According to the analysis, in summer 2022 the second earliest heatwave Code Red was issued in our country, from 30 June to 1 July, for low areas in Arad, Bihor, Satu Mare, Sălaj, Maramureș and Bistrița Năsăud counties in the west and north-west of the country.

„The highest value of the maximum air temperature was 39.8 degrees C and was recorded in Săcuieni (Bihor county) on 1 July 2022. In Bucharest, the highest value was 36.2 degrees C and was recorded on 30 June 2022 at the Bucharest-Filaret weather station. Also, on 30 July 2022, the first Code Red for severe atmospheric instability and strong winds was issued, valid for 15:00 – 20:00, for four counties in the west of the country: Caras-Severin, Timis, Arad and Bihor,” the press release said.