Climate Change Chart of Zhengzhou, China

Overview of climate changes

Temperature changes

Averaged across calendar months, monthly mean temperature shows a difference of +0.76 °C compared with the earlier reference period; this is an unweighted summary of monthly means, not a day-weighted annual average or a measure of daytime highs. The monthly pattern was not uniform: March recorded the largest increase, a difference of +2.01 °C, while June had the largest decrease, a difference of -0.23 °C. These selected months describe the extremes among monthly differences, rather than a change applying equally throughout the year.

Changes in rainfall

Mean daily rainfall, rather than monthly totals, averaged across calendar months shows a difference of -0.86 mm/day in the more recent period. Monthly differences varied: the largest decrease was in August, at a difference of -3.22 mm/day, while December registered the largest increase, a difference of +0.02 mm/day. The mean summarizes the set of calendar-month averages; it does not imply that rainfall decreased in every month, and the selected monthly changes do not describe total rainfall over a month.

Changes in sunshine duration

Mean daily sunshine duration averaged across calendar months was lower by a difference of -0.34 hours/day compared with the earlier reference period; this is an unweighted summary of monthly means, not a day-weighted annual figure. The monthly changes differed in direction: June had the largest decrease, a difference of -1.26 hours/day, whereas August had the largest increase, a difference of +0.68 hours/day. These monthly extremes show why the overall mean should not be read as a description of every month.

Changes in snowfall

Mean daily snowfall, not monthly snowfall totals, averaged across calendar months had a difference of -0.12 mm/day compared with the earlier period. The largest monthly decrease occurred in December, with a difference of -0.70 mm/day, while the largest increase was in November, at a difference of +0.08 mm/day. These are differences in recorded monthly mean daily amounts; the across-month average does not mean that every month changed in the same way.