New Norwegian climate normals – but has the climate changed?

Abstract

The new normal values for the period 1961–1990 will be used as a reference for weather conditions in years to come. There has been a drop in temperature in most parts of Norway since the previous normal period 1931–1960. Annual precipitation has increased in most parts of the country. Moving averages indicate that a 30-year period is too short a time to obtain stable mean values of climatic parameters, and thus the standard normal values may be quite ‘abnormal.’ Trend-analysis is used to describe temperature and precipitation variations in Norway during the last 100 years.