Changes in climate and changing climate regions in Slovakia

In the context of climate change, scientists discuss the relevant reference periods for the assessment of changes in climate. Recently, many studies have been published comparing recent conditions with the last reference period 1961–1990. In this paper, the trends of annual, seasonal and monthly average air temperature, as well as annual, seasonal and monthly precipitation totals in Slovakia, are presented to point out changes which will probably show up in the next reference period 1991–2020. In the second part of paper, changes in the climate regions in Slovakia are analysed, comparing spatial distributions in the period 1961–1990 and in the period 1961–2010.