Why isn’t autumn good… crazy? September was like a solid summer, October was warm, and November was approaching 30 C. Fall 2023 is good for hiking and being outdoors, but not for farming. Why is it bad that autumn is so warm? How unusual was the weather in October compared to normal.

When was the warmest autumn in Romania

This drop could break records if November continues as it has, especially since September and October were well above average. 2019 and 2012 were the warmest autumns on record, with temperatures well above average in September, October and November in those years. ANM forecasts show that the 11th month of 2023 will be warmer than normal, and that is how it started and will continue. For example, on the 8th, the country will have a maximum of +23, and after May 11, maximums of over 20 degrees are possible.

In 2020, September and October were extremely hot, while November brought drought. October was also warm in 2022 and 2018, while November 2018 was unusually warm, but its average temperature was “knocked down” by days at the end when temperatures fell below -15 degrees in some parts of the country, and almost below -6 degrees. throughout. November was above average in 2022 as well.

• Top 10 extreme autumn weather conditions in Romania

When was the coldest autumn in the last decade? In 2016, when October was especially cool (-1.7 C compared to the norm).

2011 turned out to be a completely atypical autumn: September was much warmer than usual (+3.1°C), October was much colder, and November was even colder (-3.5°C above normal), i.e. a real winter month.

• “Reversed” seasons? – What the October 2023 final tells us about what autumn will be like in Romania in the future

Climatologists say that when ranking seasonal changes, summer has warmed the most, followed by winter, spring and autumn compared to the base period of 1961-1990. So autumn seems to be the last in the “signals” of warming, but there are also autumns like 2019 or 2023, when the season of gorgeous leaves “forces” the note.

Why is it bad when the summer is so hot?

September was similar to August this year, and October also brought high summer temperatures, over 33C in the south and well above 25C in the rest of the country. Compared to the 90s, the rhythm of the seasons has changed, autumn starts later and ends even later, because in the last decade there were several years when it was warm not only at the end of November, but also in December. The December heat means highs of over 12C in the mountains and 18-20C in the south (but also nights with plus temperatures).

It is great for tourism that autumn is warm, also good for those who want to do sports or spend a lot of time outdoors. It doesn’t snow much in November, but it can be t-shirt weather for a while, and you don’t need to take off your thick clothes at all in October.

Autumn heat is a big problem for agriculture, especially since 2023, like 2019 and 2022, is experiencing a severe drought, and there are places where there has been no rain for two months.

• How autumn colors change due to a warmer climate – what happens to trees and leaves in years of extreme weather

Due to high temperatures in late October, wheat, canola and barley crops are at risk of being compromised, with production down by tens of percent compared to good years.

The areas most affected by extremely low soil moisture are Dobruja, Muntenia and a large part of Moldova.

Because it hasn’t rained for dozens of days, the ground is very dry, which is a big problem because some farmers can’t get the potatoes out without watering the furrows first.

Lack of precipitation, high temperatures and strong winds have dried the soil so much that autumn crops are almost never planted.

• From -10 degrees to +35 in less than three days in Romania – Records and extremes of the short summer of the second half of October

Where there is irrigation, water has been turned on as in the height of summer, and this will lead to additional costs for farmers who can no longer count on the usual autumn rains. Since there is not enough water, it is necessary to feed the animals with the water supply that was allocated for the winter period.

Lower yields and higher irrigation and feed costs mean higher product prices. There are also cases where farmers have sold their farms due to unbelievably high costs.

How many days with more than 1 mm of precipitation were there at several weather stations in the south and southeast in September and October 2023? One in Sulin, two in Constanța, three in Buzău and Fetești, four in Giurgiu and Calarasi. There is very little rain, considering that the two months together have 61 days.

October 2023 with summer “iz” in Romania

Last month is tied with October 1966 and October 2020 for the warmest October months for complete records. There were also maximums of +35 C after 20 October (La Turnu Măgurele and Bechet) and there were very few places where frost occurred.

In Bucharest Băneasa, the average temperature for the month was +15.8 C and the maximum temperature exceeded 25 C on 17 of the 31 days of the month, reaching a peak of 32 C.

In Constanta, the average temperature last month was almost 18 degrees Celsius, which is 4 degrees higher than in the last 60 years. Several times the night minimum did not fall below 18 degrees, an exceptional fact for October. For example, the minimum on the morning of October 28 was +18.3 degrees.

In Buzău, the average monthly temperature was almost 5 C higher compared to the period 1961-2022, and half of the days had a maximum temperature exceeding 25 C.

In Sulin, the average temperature last month was unusually high: +17.5 C, and there were also six tropical nights, which is extraordinary for October. Tropical nights are those in which the minimum temperature does NOT fall below 20 C.

• Will there be snow for skiing in the mountains after 2050? What will happen to ski resorts due to climate warming

And in Iasi, the average temperature for the month was more than 4 C above the 60-year average, with a maximum temperature exceeding 25 C for six days in October 2023. On the 21st it was 33 C, not far from the absolute record since 1952 (+33.9 C).

Giurgi had 19 days with a high above 25 C in October 2023. In comparison, when the month “Brumărel” was particularly cold, i.e. 1988, there were only two days with a high above 25 C.

Even during Mt Omu’s summit, October 2023 was 2 degrees Celsius warmer than normal, with maximum temperatures above 8C on the last two days of the month.

Mercury Chuk had the lowest in the country for the last month (-10 C), but the average for the whole month came close to 10 C as the day was very hot. There was also a difference of 26 C between morning and afternoon, and there were ten days with highs over 20 C (including the last day of the month).

Extreme temperatures in late October and early November in Romania

On October 30, the maximum temperature was +28.2°C in Feteşti, +27.8°C in Calarasi and +27.6°C in Giurgiu. An extremely high temperature of +25.4 C was in Dumbreven, which is in Ardeal (not far from Sighisoara).

On the morning of 31 October, the maximum temperature was unusually high in the west: +19.1°C in Dumbravica de Codru, +18.8°C in Oravice and +18.1°C in Shiria. However, we must not forget that we are in the second half of autumn, and in Merkurya-Chuka it was…-4.1°C.

At noon, it was +29.2°C in Oltenit and +28.4°C in Calarasi, an exceptional temperature for the last day of October.

On the morning of November 1, the highest temperature was +17.1 in Mangalia, +16.6 in Constanta. Only at a very high altitude did he freeze. On November 3, the temperature in many places in the south was above 10 degrees, and in Sulin it reached a maximum of +15.8 degrees.