Climate Change Chart of Volgograd, Russian Federation

Overview of climate changes

Temperature changes

The unweighted mean difference across calendar months indicates monthly mean temperatures were higher by a difference of +2.41 °C in the more recent reference period; this summarizes the set of monthly means, rather than a day-weighted annual average or daytime maximum temperatures. The largest monthly increase was in January, with a difference of +5.68 °C compared with the earlier period. This identifies the strongest increase among the monthly mean-temperature differences, not a change applying uniformly to every month.

Changes in sunshine duration

Mean daily sunshine duration averaged across calendar months was lower by a difference of -0.39 hours/day in the more recent period. This is an unweighted summary across monthly means, not a day-weighted annual average, and does not imply that sunshine decreased in every month. Monthly differences were not uniform: March recorded the largest increase, with a difference of +0.26 hours/day, while the largest decrease was in December, at a difference of -1.19 hours/day in mean daily sunshine duration.

Changes in rainfall

Averaged across calendar months, mean daily rainfall increased by a difference of +0.27 mm/day. This is an unweighted summary of monthly means, not a day-weighted annual average or a monthly rainfall total. The largest monthly increases in mean daily rainfall were tied between May / September, each with a difference of +0.73 mm/day. By contrast, August had the largest decrease, with a difference of -0.28 mm/day. These month-specific differences describe daily mean amounts, not accumulated rainfall totals.

Changes in snowfall

Averaged across calendar months, mean daily snowfall increased by a difference of +0.26 mm/day. This unweighted summary concerns monthly mean daily amounts, not a day-weighted annual average or monthly snowfall totals. The largest monthly increase in mean daily snowfall was in January, with a difference of +2.74 mm/day; the largest decrease was in February, with a difference of -1.88 mm/day. These opposing monthly differences show why the average change should not be read as a description of every month.