CR prepress abstract   -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/cr01730

ABSTRACT: The construction and analysis of daily temperature data series in a time period long enough is important to understand decadal to multi-decadal variability and changing trend in extreme temperature events. This paper reports a new analysis of extreme temperature indices over the last 140 years in Wuhan, China, with an emphasis on extreme high temperature changes. The daily temperature data of nine stations from 1881 to 1950 and one modern station from 1951 to 2020 were used for the analysis. Based on the data, and the commonly used extreme temperature indices, the variations and long-term trends of extreme high temperature events in Wuhan since 1881 were analyzed. The results show that there is no clear warming trend, but a quite large inter-annual and inter-decadal fluctuation, in maximum temperature; In contrast, the warming of minimum temperature has been very significant, with a large upward trend overall. The extreme temperature indices exhibit a periodic variability, and frequent extreme heat events have been experienced over the last 140 years in Wuhan. Most extreme temperature indices did not exhibit remarkable changes during the first half of the period analyzed. However, the majority of the extreme temperature indices showed significant upward trends over the latter half of the 140-year period. The possible causes of the observed changes in the extreme high temperature events in varied time periods were also discussed in this paper.