Atmospheric Research 122 (2013) 16–31

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Atmospheric Research
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/atmos

Changes in temperature and precipitation extremes observed in

Modena, Italy
M. Boccolari ⁎, S. Malmusi
Department of Materials and Environmental Engineering, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Climate changes has become one of the most analysed subjects from researchers community,
Received 13 February 2012 mainly because of the numerous extreme events that hit the globe. To have a better view of
Received in revised form 12 October 2012 climate changes and trends, long observations time series are needed.
Accepted 14 October 2012 During last decade a lot of Italian time series, concerning several surface meteorological
variables, have been analysed and published. No one of them includes one of the longest record
Keywords: in Italy, the time series of the Geophysical Observatory of the University of Modena and Reggio
Temperature Emilia. Measurements, collected since early 19th century, always in the same position, except
Precipitation for some months during the second world war, embrace daily temperature, precipitation
Trends
amount, relative humidity, pressure, cloudiness and other variables.
Climate indices
In this work we concentrated on the analysis of yearly and seasonal trends and climate extremes
Time series
of temperature, both minimum and maximum, and precipitation time series, for the periods
1861–2010 and 1831–2010 respectively, in which continuous measurements are available.
In general, our results confirm quite well those reported by IPCC and in many other studies over
Mediterranean area. In particular, we found that minimum temperature has a non significant
positive trend of +0.1 °C per decade considering all the period, the value increases to 0.9 °C per
decade for 1981–2010. For maximum temperature we observed a non significant +0.1 °C trend
for all the period, while +0.8 °C for the last thirty years.
On the other hand precipitation is decreasing, -6.3 mm per decade, considering all the analysed
period, while the last thirty years are characterised by a great increment of 74.8 mm per decade.
For both variables several climate indices have been analysed and they confirm what has been
found for minimum and maximum temperatures and precipitation. In particular, during last
30 years frost days and ice days are decreasing, whereas summer days are increasing. During
the last 30-year tropical nights and warm spell duration indices are characterised by a
particular strong increment, if compared to the ones of the entire period.
Finally, a cursory comparison between winter precipitation and NAO index was done, showing
a high anti-correlation, especially since the second half of 20th century.
© 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction as hurricanes, droughts, floods and so on, that increasingly hit

The subject of climate changes has become more and
more important, due to the numerous extreme events, such
⁎ Corresponding author at: Department of Chemical and Geological Sciences,
University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, I-41100, Italy. Tel.: 39 059
2056215; fax: 39 059 2056243.
E-mail address: mauro.boccolari@unimore.it (M. Boccolari).
the globe. The study of these events and their frequency is
very important in order to understand why they happen and
if there are some signs or particular periodicities. Moreover
this kind of researches are fundamental in order, first of all, to
save human beings, but also to avert or to limit damages
done by these extreme events.
In 2007 IPCC published its Fourth Assessment Report
(IPCC, 2007), where numerous results, obtained by studies

0169-8095/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2012.10.022
 M. Boccolari, S. Malmusi / Atmospheric Research 122 (2013) 16–31
done all over the globe from different instruments observa-
tions (both from singular stations, satellites and models), are
collected, to give a global view of climate changes and of the
anthropogenic effects on the Earth system; it reported also
some projection models results and the potential impacts on
the life of human beings.
IPCC described that during the last one hundred years
(1906–2005) the global mean surface temperature increased
by almost + 0.74 °C, particularly during two periods: be-
tween 1910 and 1945 and between 1970 and 2005. In the last
analysed 50 years the warming rate is equal to + 0.13 °C per
decade, almost double the one over the last 100 years
(+ 0.07 °C per decade). Moreover it said that, for the northern
Hemisphere, the second half of the 20th century was warmer
than any other 50-year period in the last 500 years, with
the greatest warming during winter and spring. It reported a
reduction of daily cold extremes and cold nights, while an
increase of warm extremes and warm nights. Finally, diurnal
temperature range (DTR) has decreased of about − 0.07 °C
per decade in the second half of the 20th century, even if in
the last decades the change has been smaller.
On the other hand, IPCC underlined the difficulty to give a
general global trend for precipitation, because its changes
are more spatially and seasonally variable than temperature
ones. It reported that, in the considered period, it has become
wetter in northern Europe, while drier in the Mediterranean.
Moreover an increase of heavy precipitation for many land
areas has been found, also for regions where the total amount
of precipitation is decreasing. These interannual and inter-
seasonal precipitation variations could be caused by the
influence of different atmospheric oscillations, as for example
the North Atlantic Oscillation, which influences precipitation
over Europe.
To better analyse long-term climate changes, in addition
to variations of minimum, maximum and mean temperatures
and precipitation, several studies have defined some climate
indices to underline the variation of intensity of extreme
events (e.g. Klein Tank and Können, 2003; Frich et al., 2002;
Moberg et al., 2006; Ramos et al., 2011). Different groups of
indices have been created, using thresholds, percentiles
and in general values tied with the low or high probability
that certain events occur. One of the most used is the group
of indices of the Expert Team on Climate Change Detection
and Indices (ETCCDI), sponsored by the Commission for
Climatology (CCI) of the World Meteorological Organization
(WMO), the JCOMM (Joint Commission for Oceanography
and Marine Meteorology) and by the CLIVAR (Climate
Variability and Predictability) project.
For the investigation of climate changes and trends long
time series are fundamental. Italy has a significant historical
role in meteorological observations and their improvement,
underlined by the creation of several important meteorological
instruments and by the development of the “rete of Cimento”,
the first observations network in the world (Brunetti et al.,
2006b). Several long-term time series are available, thanks
to the numerous observatories and institutes in the Italian
area; few started to collect data since the 18th century, other
since the 19th one. Several climatological works have been
done taking into account these stations: studies on minimum,
maximum or mean temperatures (Maugeri and Nanni, 1998;
Brunetti et al., 2000b), on precipitation (Buffoni et al., 1999;
17
Brunetti et al., 2000a; Piervitali and Colacino, 2003; Pavan
et al., 2008), but also on other meteorological variables, as for
example pressure (Maugeri et al., 2004). Brunetti et al. (2006b)
recently improved their previous studies and they analysed
several mean, minimum and maximum temperatures and
precipitation time series that almost cover all Italian territory.
Another important work has been done by Auer et al. (2007),
in which they took into account the HISTALP database and
they homogenised and analysed temperature, precipitation,
pressure, sunshine and cloudiness records. They reported an
increasing trend of about +1 °C per century all over Italy for
mean temperature, higher for minimum temperature than for
maximum one. On the other hand precipitation is decreasing
of about −5% per century, but trends are low and rarely
significant.
So far, none of these cited works took into account the
relatively long temperature and precipitation time series of
Geophysical Observatory of Modena (GOMO) located in the
Italian Po Plain, and that have been studied in the present
paper. GOMO dataset includes different meteorological vari-
ables (temperature, precipitation, pressure, humidity, wind,
snow, cloudiness, fog and solar radiation), but in this work
only daily maximum and minimum temperatures, during
the period between 1861 and 2010, and daily accumulated
precipitation, for the period between 1831 and 2010, have
been analysed. Data before 1861 for temperature and before
1831 for precipitation also exist but they represent sparse
observations, so it was decided to not considered them in this
analysis.
These time series have already been studied and published
since the early years of the establishment of Geophysical
Observatory. However, do not exist recent international cli-
matological studies that analyse the GOMO time series. Among
the less old, it could be cited for example Marseguerra et al.
(1979), in which daily temperature for the period 1869–1977
has been analysed, estimating minimum, mean and maximum
temperature trends equal to +0.14, +0.08 and −0.05 °C per
decade respectively, or Aprilesi et al. (1977), in which the
stochastic behaviour of daily temperatures during 1892–1975
was studied. Recently, a collection of several information about
GOMO history, dataset from all its time series and meteoro-
logical events, can be found in Lombroso and Quattrocchi
(2008).
The main aim of this work is to analyse temperature and
precipitation trends and the time variability of their climate
extremes since the beginning of Modena time series, to
understand if the climate of this area has changed.
The paper starts with a brief history of Geophysical
Observatory of Modena and the description of dataset, its recon-
struction and its homogenisation. Thereafter, both minimum
(TN) and maximum (TX) temperatures extreme indices are
given. Following the analogous analysis for precipitation (PRCP)
time series is reported. At the end the conclusions, in which
obtained results are summarised.
2. History, description of data and methodology
2.1. History of Geophysical Observatory
On 14th January 1826 in the east tower of the Ducal
Palace of Modena (Italy), an astronomic observatory was set
18 M. Boccolari, S. Malmusi / Atmospheric Research 122 (2013) 16–31
up by the astronomer Giuseppe Bianchi, following the Duke
Francesco IV and his brother Archduke Massimiliano d'Este
will. The astronomic observatory was allowed in perpetual
use at the University of Modena (now University of Modena
and Reggio Emilia) and the management was assigned to
Bianchi. Since its creation, in addition to astronomic obser-
vations, some meteorological measurements (air pressure,
temperature and precipitation) were also collected, even if
not systematically, in fact only in 1830 measures began to be
recorded regularly. In that period temperature was measured
putting thermometers outside at different fixed hours; in this
way there was no kind of shield to protect instruments from
direct sun radiation and, moreover, no minimum and maxi-
mum temperature measurements were taken. From 1860 also
minimum and maximum temperature were recorded and
since 1863 a Rutherford thermometrograph has been used.
After a brief period led by Pietro Tacchini (1859–1863),
Domenico Ragona arrived in 1863 as new director; with
Ragona the observatory was improved and meteorological
observations became the main aim of the institute (Ragona,
1865). He understood that measurements were taken in a
wrong way, so he projected and then built a sort of meteo-
rological window, in the northern-eastern side of the tower,
that started working in 1865. He adapted one of the tower
windows, putting a sort of wood box to protect instruments
from the direct sun radiation. Ragona bought some Salleron
instruments, among which there were the first recorder
devices; interesting was the fact that some of the instruments
were created by himself, as for example the hygrothermograph
built in 1869 by Salleron, following Ragona's project, that
became operative since May of the same year. In 1876 the
astronomical observatory changed its name in “Meteorological
Observatory”. In 1886 a Richard recorder was introduced.
Ragona, before his death in March 1892, understood that the
window wasn't suitable, due to the lack of the right ventilation.
Prof. Ciro Chistoni, that became the new director of the
observatory after Ragona's death, decided to improve it,
projecting a new one that became operative in June 1898. A
milestone for the observatory was, in 1895, the publication of
the first yearbook (Chistoni, 1895) containing all the meteoro-
logical observations of years 1892–1894. Since that time, the
publication of the yearbook has continued almost every year
until nowadays.
Analysing metadata a discrepancy was found for the first
three months of 1892, where published data were corrected
respect to values reported in meteorological observations
volume; probably Chistoni tried to correct some mistakes
done before his coming in March. The new long window
lined balcony, used for measurements till today, is near the
old Ragona's window, at the same height, and it has wood
walls with bigger openings and so more ventilated. A com-
parison between the two measurements locations was done
later in 1923 by Michele Baruzzi (1928). He built a copy of
the old window and for two years he took measurements
from both positions. He found that temperature from the old
window was always greater than that measured in the new
balcony, with a mean difference around 0.25 °C. This discrep-
ancy is due mainly to the different ventilation between the two
places. He compared this difference with wind data and he
found that when wind was stronger difference was minimum
and vice-versa.
In 1897 the observatory takes the current official name of
“Geophysical Observatory”. In 1907 new instruments were
bought and Cesare Bonacini, that in 1906 took Chistoni place
as director, modified in June 1908 the window, adding
grids in the lower part of the parapet to improve aeration,
modifying the roof (Bonacini, 1909). In 1944, because of the
second world war, researchers had to change place to the
instruments and from 21 December 1944 until 21 April 1945
they took observations from the terrace in the old Institute of
Physics of Modena University, always in the old town centre
(Barbanti-Silva, 1952).
Another milestone was the change of instruments in 1984;
in fact from that year until 1988 recorder SIAP instruments
were placed side by side with minimum/maximum tempera-
ture thermometers and from July 1988 the meteorological
station was completely automated, with PT100 sensor. In 1999
the observatory was hit by fire, but both temperature and
precipitation instruments had no damages.
There were only two interruptions in the temperature
time series, the first one was between 13th August 2001 and
7th February 2002 due to problems tied with the structure
of the observatory, after which also a new SIAP MICROS
meteorological station was installed. The second interruption
was between 24th June and 29th October 2002, due to a crack
of the instrument. Considering precipitation, only measure-
ments for nine days, between 08 and 16 September 1943,
were missed and, due to the length and the meteorological
situation of that period, those days have been considered dry.
2.2. Location and dataset description
Modena is located in a central position in the Po Plain, about
100 km away from both the Adriatic and the Ligurian Sea
(the presence of the Apennine Mountains limits the influence
of the second one), in a continental position (Fig. 1).
According to the recent Köppen–Geiger climate classifi-
cation (Kottek et al., 2006), based on temperature and
precipitation data for the period 1951–2000, the climate of
Modena is classified as warm temperate, fully humid, hot
summer (Cfa). Rubel and Kottek (2010) updated the climate
classification analysing temperature and precipitation since
1901 and using also models projection, in order to cover the
period between 1901 and 2100. Modena climate classifica-
tion has not changed from 1901 till nowadays, while in the
future, considering the A1FI (Mitchell et al., 2004) emission
scenario (a world with quick economic growth, that is
maximum climate shift), the climate could become Csa
(from fully humid to summer dry) in the last period of the
21th century (2076–2100).
As said before, Modena observatory is located at the last
floors of the right tower of Ducal Palace. Instruments have
always been positioned at 64.2 m (above the sea level), that
is almost 31.07 m from the surface (lat. 44°38′53′′ N and
long. 10°55′47′′ E).
Modena observatory is in the old town centre and it has
been always in an urban context since its creation. Until the
1950s the northern area was mainly agriculture terrain, after
it has been urbanised.
Modena old town centre had no great changes during the
analysed period, however the population has incremented
since 1861 from 52629 to 175502 (in 2001) and, consequently,
 M. Boccolari, S. Malmusi / Atmospheric Research 122 (2013) 16–31
Fig. 1. Geographical location of Modena station; map has been built up with GTOPO30 DEM of U.S. Geological Survey Department of the Interior (USGS).
suburb areas have grown as appear in the statistical data of the
Modena municipality (ANCM, 2010); in fact referring to 2001
about 63% of houses have been built between 1946 and 1981.
Even if the analysed station is positioned in an urbanised
area, it is possible to study the climatological evolution of this
zone. Conditions around the station have not been affected
by great changes, primarily because it has been positioned in
an historical building that has always been in the centre of
the city. In order to consider an urban station representative
for the climatological study of the area, instruments must be
positioned over the upper limit of the roughness sublayer,
that is characterised by the strong roughness of the urban
surface, due to the presence of buildings and trees. In-
struments must be located at least twice the mean height of
the roughness elements, in order to not be subjected to their
influence and, in that way, datasets could represent a general
response at local-scale (Rotach, 1999, 2001; Kastner-Klein
and Rotach, 2003). The initial choice of Modena observatory
instruments location follows these requirements. Moreover
IPCC (Trenberth et al., 2007) affirmed that the effects of
urbanisation on global temperature are negligible, only
+ 0.006 °C per decade.
The first meteorological time series analysed in this work
is temperature (°C), more precisely both minimum and
maximum ones. The analysed time series starts in 1861 and
data have been collected from GOMO; in the entire archive
there are also previous observations but taken irregularly.
The second meteorological time series analysed in this work
is the daily accumulated precipitation in mm; it has been
collected from GOMO since the 1st April 1830.
2.3. Quality check, data reconstruction and homogenisation test
For all datasets, both daily temperatures and precipita-
tion, the quality check, the reconstruction of short periods
19
with lacking data and the homogenisation tests have been
performed.
Although all the time series have been controlled from the
foundation of the observatory, an additional quality control
was performed; in particular for temperature, the physical
consistency between maximum and minimum values and
then the identification of any outliers have been applied.
Outliers have been searched by checking if any value falls
within a range pre-defined, equal to four standard deviations
(decided analysing if found outliers were or not confirmed by
metadata) from the mean climatological value for that day;
values outside this range have been empirically modified
case-by-case based on data and meteorological situation of
the closest days. Only a small number of these outliers have
been found and then modified; they regarded only maximum
temperature.
After the quality check, the reconstruction of periods with
lacking data has been done. As already said, such periods are
13 August 2001–07 February 2002 and 24 June 2002–29
October 2002, due to problems at the observatory structure
and to an instrumental crash respectively. The reconstruction
of temperature time series has been obtained by means a
multiple linear regression procedure based on predictors of
observations collected in an area inside Modena's scientific
university campus, that is far about 3 km from geophysical
observatory. The period in which data has been contempo-
rary measured in both stations was 1997–1999.
About precipitation, it has been decided to reconstruct the
lacking data using exactly the precipitation measurements
collected in the same university campus during the period of
missing data. As already noted in the previous Section 2.1,
missing total precipitation data, for the week in 1943, have
been set to zero.
Talking about time series homogeneity, different causes
can be sources of inhomogeneities in the data as changes
in measurement instruments, in station relocation and its
20 M. Boccolari, S. Malmusi / Atmospheric Research 122 (2013) 16–31
closest environment and so they should be taken into
account. Modena time series has the advantages that it has
been positioned in the same location (apart during the
second world war between 1944 and 1945) and it has been
always controlled by at least one operator. Metadata, that are
information about station's history, are very useful in order
to homogenise time series, and fortunately some works, in
particular of the early period, are still available and changes
in instruments and locations are recorded.
Despite of several methods that could be applied to
homogenise a time series (Peterson et al., 1998), in order to
assess the possible inhomogeneities it was decided to follow
the procedure indicated in Wijngaard et al. (2003). In this
method the number of wet days in a year has been chosen as
the testing variable for precipitation (a wet day is defined as a
day with precipitation above 1 mm), and two variables
derived from diurnal temperature range (DTR), i.e. its annual
mean (mDTR) and its annual mean absolute day-to-day
differences (vDTR), as testing variables for minimum and
maximum temperature.
For a specific year with n days, vDTR for that year is defined
as vDTR= (∑i|DTR(i) − DTR(i − 1)|)/(n − 1) , i = 2,…, n.
Again, following Wijngaard et al. (2003), SNHT for a single
break (Alexandersson, 1986), Buishand range test (Buishand,
1982), Pettitt test (Pettitt, 1979) and Von Neumann ratio test
(Von Neumann, 1941) have been selected as homogenisation
tests, without reference series, to examine the departure of
homogeneity in the mDTR and vDTR time series and indirectly
to correct daily TN and TX time series using as much as possible
the available metadata. Wijngaard et al. (2003) classify time
series in ‘useful’, ‘doubtful’ and ‘suspect’ depending if one or
zero, two or three or four tests reject the null hypothesis (that
the annual values of the testing variable are independent and
identically distributed) at the 1% level respectively.
Original precipitation time series past directly the previ-
ous set of four tests, so no correction procedures were further
conducted, while the original mDTR and vDTR didn't pass all
test and the homogenisation procedure was needed. Several
breaks have been found and then corrections have been per-
formed to obtain two new useful time series for the climate
investigation, in particular temperature series result ‘useful’
for the period 1980–2010, while for the entire period
1861–2010 result ‘doubtful’. In Section 3.1 for temperatures,
and Section 4.1 for precipitation further descriptions of
homogenisation procedure will be given.
3. Temperature
3.1. Homogenisation
After the transformation of original daily TX and TN time
series in mDTR and vDTR series, the four tests (Buishand,
SNHT, Pettitt and Von Neumann) have been launched
through an iterative procedure, in which at each loop test
statistics are checked; if at least two of four tests are outside
the corresponding critical levels, the major break is found
and a correction on daily TX and TN is applied; again mDTR
and vDTR are calculated and four tests are executed. The
procedure is stopped when time series could be considered at
least ‘doubtful’ (at 0.01 significant level). The correction,
equal to 0.1 °C, at each loop is assigned equally to TX and TN
(with opposite sign, for example adding +0.1 to TX and −0.1
to TN or viceversa), unless the available metadata indicate
that the correction should be applied only to TX or TN, in this
case the temperature is corrected with +/− 0.2 °C. If the
correction makes worse test statistics, the test run is done
again but with correction values with opposite sign. Procedure
terminates when at least two of four tests pass.
The general algorithm is composed by the following
steps:
1) Calculation of mDTR and vDTR from daily TX and TN time
series
2) Perform 4 tests and compute test statistics
3) Is it the first loop? If YES go to 6.
4) Test statistics are worst than those of the previous loop? If
NO go to 6)
5) Delete last correction to TX and TN and recompute mDTR
and vDTR, and go to 7)
6) Almost two test statistics are within the respective critical
levels? If Yes then STOP
7) Found the year of break; add ΔT to TX and subtract ΔT to
TN from the beginning of the series to the break year;
then goto 1)
At the end of testing procedure, 17 breaks have been
detected (see Table 1). Among the found breaks, seven (four
between 1861 and 1882) are undocumented; the first two
(1862 and 1863) are comprised in a period in which changes in
measuring techniques and observing practices have frequently
happened. For these breaks, the DTR correction was rather
large as it can be noted in column 4 of Table 1. The last four
undocumented detected breaks after 1900 have been corrected
with low values. The documented breaks have been found in
1869 when a new hygrotermograph began to be operative; in
1886 with the introduction of a new Richard recorder; in 1898
when the new observation window was built; in 1908 when
a new ventilated grid was set; in 1944 with the temporary
relocation of the instruments; in 1967 and 1968 with TN
and TX instrument calibration (values reported exactly on a
document by an operator), and in 1985 and 1988 with the
introduction of a new automatic instruments together with
the old instruments (Lombroso and Quattrocchi, 2008). The
maximum correction has been made before 1883, as it could
also be noted in Fig. 2, in which differences between the
corrected TX and TN (TXcorr and TNcorr, respectively) and the
original TX and TN (TXorig and TNorig, respectively) are shown.
Apart for 1967 and 1968, when it seems clear the attribution to
TX/TN, for the other breaks, where it is not sufficiently clear if
the shift would affect TX or TN, it was decided to assign half
part of the contribution to TX and the other to TN.
Referring three periods (1861–2010, 1861–1980 and
1981–2010), mDTR has passed all 4 tests (Buishand, SNHT,
Pettitt and Von Neumann) respect their critical values at 0.01
significant values. Considering vDTR all tests passed for
1981–2010, while SNHT statistic exceeded the critical value
for 1861–1980 and for 1861–2010 and Buishand one only for
1861–2010. Therefore, the two sub series (1861–1980 and
1981–2010) should be considered ‘useful’ while the entire
period 1861–2010 should be considered ‘doubtful’. It has
been decided also to divide the time series in two sub series
because around 1980 vDTR has a significant decrease (about
0.1 °C) respect the previous years. The origin of such shift has
 M. Boccolari, S. Malmusi / Atmospheric Research 122 (2013) 16–31 21

Table 1 trend followed by an abrupt increment after late 1980s.

List of years’ breaks, the corresponding mDTR, TX and TN corrections, and Before 1980s annual smoothing curves indicate prominent
the suspected origins (Lombroso and Quattrocchi, 2008).
positive anomalies, that took place between mid-1940s and
Break mDTR TX TN Suspected origin mid-1950s and between late 1960s and late 1970s for both
Year correction correction correction TX and TN. Such periods are quite confirmed for (mean)
(°C) (°C) (°C) temperature time series for Mediterranean area in Giorgi
1862 +0.8 +0.4 −0.4 Undocumented (2002). The warm period during 1960s and 1970s is clearly
1863 +0.8 +0.4 −0.4 Undocumented observed also for winter season and corresponds with a
1869 +0.6 +0.3 −0.3 New hygrotermograph
decrement phase in precipitation. Winter is also the season
1872 +1.2 +0.6 −0.6 Undocumented
1882 −1.2 −0.6 +0.6 Undocumented showing the most pronounced relative minimum, in partic-
1886 −0.2 −0.1 +0.1 Undocumented ular during 1890 s and 1940s; in correspondence with these
1898 −0.2 −0.1 +0.1 Undocumented periods the other seasons seem to have an opposite
1908 −0.6 −0.3 +0.3 New ventilated grid behaviour. The whole behaviour of all temperature is in
1919 +0.2 +0.1 −0.1 Undocumented
good agreement with that shows in Brunetti et al. (2000b)
1944 +0.2 +0.1 −0.1 Temporary relocation
1953 −0.4 −0.2 +0.2 Undocumented over north Italy.
1967 0 −0.3 −0.3 TN and TX instrument Seasonal TX and TN anomalies before last 30-year show
calibration both common and different features respect the annual ones,
1968 −0.5 0 +0.5 TN instrument calibration
and respect themselves. Spring TX series resemble quite well
1971 −0.2 −0.1 +0.1 Undocumented
1979 −0.2 −0.1 +0.1 Undocumented
the corresponding annual one, also with positive anomalies
1985 +0.2 +0.1 −0.1 New automatic station during 1860 s and in early year of 1920s; winter TX has
1988 +0.2 +0.1 −0.1 New automatic station positive anomaly that took place around 1900, mid 1910s
to mid 1920s, early 1970s to early 1980s; autumn TX from
mid 1920 to mid 1930, in late years of 1860s, and in1980s;
not yet been understood and it represents an objective of summer TX in early 1870 to early 1890, last 1920 to last 1930
investigation. and early 1950 to early 1970. Sometimes summer and
Critical values are obtained for SNHT from Khaliq and autumn TX series seem anti-correlated with winter and
Ouarda (2007), for Buishand test from simulations using spring ones, for example from late 1920s to late 1930 and
bootstrap procedure, for Von Neumann test from the normal from early 1980 to early 1990. About seasonal TN series their
approximation equation in Buishand (1981) and for Pettitt behaviour is often similar to the annuals ones, apart winter in
test from the expression for significant extreme (Rutishauser which a strong negative anomaly is found in early 1890 s,
et al., 2009). 1940s, and late 1960, and a strong positive anomaly is
observed during 1970s.
3.2. Annual and seasonal temperature trends Table 2, reporting the averages of yearly and seasonal data
for all the period 1861–2010, including their standard
The anomalies (relative to 1961–1990) of annual and deviations, it could be noted that, both for TX and TN, spring
seasonal TN and TX are shown in Fig. 3, together with the and autumn have values nearly equal to the corresponding
11-year smoothing curves. For all series, and for both TN and yearly average. During the last 30-year, respect to 1861–
TX, it can be noted a more or less slight oscillating positive 2010, there was primarily an increase in minimum and

a
12
TN (°C)

11
10
9
8 Orig.
Correct
7
1870 1890 1910 1930 1950 1970 1990 2010
Year

b
19.5

18.5
TX (°C)

17.5

16.5
Orig.
15.5 Correct

1870 1890 1910 1930 1950 1970 1990 2010

Year

Fig. 2. Annual differences of TN (a) and TX (b) before and after the homogenisation.
22 M. Boccolari, S. Malmusi / Atmospheric Research 122 (2013) 16–31

Minimum temperature anomaly Maximum temperature anomaly

3 3
YEAR YEAR
1.5 1.5

0 0

−1.5 −1.5

−3 −3
1860 1890 1920 1950 1980 2010 1860 1890 1920 1950 1980 2010

3 3
DJF DJF
1.5 1.5

0 0

−1.5 −1.5

−3 −3
1860 1890 1920 1950 1980 2010 1860 1890 1920 1950 1980 2010

3 3
MAM MAM
1.5 1.5

0 0

−1.5 −1.5

−3 −3
1860 1890 1920 1950 1980 2010 1860 1890 1920 1950 1980 2010

3 3
JJA JJA
1.5 1.5

0 0

−1.5 −1.5

−3 −3
1860 1890 1920 1950 1980 2010 1860 1890 1920 1950 1980 2010

3 3
SON SON
1.5 1.5
0
0
−1.5
−1.5
−3
1860 1890 1920 1950 1980 2010 1860 1890 1920 1950 1980 2010

Fig. 3. Anomalies, relative to 1961–1990, of yearly and seasonal anomalies (°C), for (a) TX and (b) TN, with 11-year smoothing curves.

maximum temperatures (about 1 °C), in particular in sum-
mer and in winter respectively. Both for TX and TN the
difference between all the period and the last 30-year is
about 1 °C.
Trends of averaged annual and seasonal time series have
been analysed, after the calculation of averaged monthly
values. To assess the temperature and precipitation trends,
the linear regression has been chosen. The existence of trends
has been detected with both parametric t-test and by the
non-parametric Mann–Kendall test at 5% level but, because
results are comparable (Önöz and Bayazit, 2003), in the rest
of this paper only Mann-Kendall outcomes (passed or not
passed) are reported.
In Table 3 for the entire time series, but also for the last
30-year period and 1861–1980, annual and seasonal tem-
peratures trends are reported.
From Table 3 it could be noted that, for all the period
1861–2010, both annual and seasonal minimum and maxi-
mum temperatures have all significant positive trends
(except yearly TX) even if very small (0.1 °C per decade),
that become practically zero during the period until 1980.
Looking at the last 30-year period, both annual and seasonal
TX and TN trends have significant increment, lesser extent
in autumn.
Winter values are confirmed in Luterbacher et al. (2004),
where temperature trend over Europe for the 20th century
 M. Boccolari, S. Malmusi / Atmospheric Research 122 (2013) 16–31 23

Table 2
Average of yearly and seasonal mean values with their standard deviation for minimum and maximum temperature (°C), for the entire period, the last 30 years
period and 1861–1980.

YEARLY DJF MAM JJA SON

1861-2010 TX 17.0 ± 0.8 5.6 ± 1.6 17.1 ± 1.1 27.8 ± 1.0 17.2 ± 1.1
TN 9.9 ± 0.8 0.8 ± 1.5 9.1 ± 1.1 18.6 ± 1.0 10.9 ± 1.1
1981-2010 TX 17.9 ± 1.0 6.7 ± 1.5 17.9 ± 1.4 28.8 ± 1.2 17.8 ± 1.1
TN 10.9 ± 0.9 1.8 ± 1.5 9.9 ± 1.2 19.8 ± 1.1 11.7 ± 1.0
1861-1980 TX 16.7 ± 0.6 5.3 ± 1.5 16.9 ± 1.0 27.6 ± 0.9 17.0 ± 1.0
TN 9.7 ± 0.5 0.5 ± 1.4 8.9 ± 0.9 18.3 ± 0.7 10.7 ± 1.0

Table 3
Annual and seasonal trends (°C per decade) of annual TN and TX time series, for the entire period, the last 30-year period and for 1861–1980, with their 95%
confidence intervals.

YEARLY DJF MAM JJA SON

1861-2010 TX +0.1 ± 0.0⁎ +0.1 ± 0.1 +0.1 ±0.0 +0.1 ± 0.0 +0.1 ± 0.0
TN +0.1 ± 0.0 +0.1 ± 0.1 +0.1 ± 0.0 +0.1 ± 0.0 +0.1 ± 0.0
1981-2010 TX +0.8 ± 0.3 +1.1 ± 0.5 +1.0 ± 0.5 +0.8 ± 0.4 +0.5 ± 0.4
TN +0.9 ± 0.2 +1.2 ± 0.5 +1.0 ± 0.4 +0.8 ± 0.4 +0.6 ± 0.4
1861-1980 TX +0.0 ± 0.0⁎ +0.0 ± 0.1⁎ −0.0 ± 0.1⁎ −0.0 ± 0.0⁎ +0.0 ± 0.1⁎
TN +0.0 ± 0.0 +0.1 ± 0.1⁎ +0.0 ± 0.0⁎ +0.0 ± 0.0⁎ +0.0 ± 0.1⁎
⁎ not significant with Mann-Kendall test at 5% level.

(1901 to 2000) is + 0.08 °C per decade, while the winters
between 1973 and 2002 were the warmest period of the
last half-millennium. In Klein Tank and Können (2003) mean
temperature trends over Europe during 1946–1999,
1946–1975 and 1976–1999 increase 0.11, -0.03 (n.s.) and
0.43 percentage per decade respectively vs. 0.2 , 0.1 (n.s.) and
0.6 percentage per decade in the same periods.
3.3. Climate indices
Climate extremes indices allow the assessment of changes
in extreme weather and climate events. They can be divided
mainly into four different classes (Alexander et al., 2006):
percentile-based indices, absolute indices, threshold-based
indices and duration indices. Percentile-based indices repre-
sent the amount in percent of temperature/precipitation falling
above a fixed percentile, generally during each year. Absolute
indices refer to counts of days crossing a specified absolute
value that can be for example a minimum or a maximum value
within a month or a season or a year. Threshold-based indices
consist in the number of days on which a temperature/
precipitation value falls above or below a fixed threshold.
Finally, duration indices define periods of extreme warmth,
cold, wetness or dryness. In addition to these there are other
indices as for example the diurnal temperature range (DTR),
indices; cold spell duration index (CSDI), warm spell
duration index (WSDI) and growing season length (GSL) as
duration indices. None of the absolute indices have been
calculated because their results are quite redundant com-
pared to the others. The indices calculation has been
implemented in MATLAB, based on Zhang and Yang (2004).
For threshold indices, to avoid possible inhomogeneities
across the in-base and out-base periods, for the calculation of
the base period (1961–1990) a bootstrap procedure (Zhang
et al., 2005) has been implemented.
Even for all the indices, trends have been evaluated by
means a linear regression analysis, and the Mann-Kendall
test has been used to estimate the statistical significance of
these trends. In Table 4 trends for the entire period, last
30-year, and 1861–1980 are shown. Confidence intervals at
95% are included.
From Table 4 appears to be clear that for the period
1861–1980, trends are very small and n. s. (apart TN90p),
while for the period after 1980 values, although the same
Table 4
Climate indices trends, including 95% confidence intervals, calculated from TX
and TN time series for the entire period, for the last 30-year, and for 1861–1980.
All indices trends are expressed in number of annual days per decade, except
percentile-based indices in annual percentage of days per decade.

that has been used indirectly to homogenise the time series, or 1861-2010 1981-2010 1861-1980
the simple daily intensity index (SDII), which are not classified
FD −1.3 ± 0.5 −14.1 ± 4.9 −0.8 ± 0.7
in the four previous classes. TR +1.5 ± 0.5 +11.2 ± 5.6 +0.2 ± 0.6⁎
Different set of climate indices have been proposed, but in TN10p −0.5 ± 0.2 −3.8 ± 1.5 −0.2 ± 0.2⁎
this work most of the climate indices recommended by the TN90p +0.9 ± 0.2 +8.1 ± 2.6 +0.2 ± 0.2
ETCCDI (http://cccma.seos.uvic.ca/ETCCDMI/list_27_indices. SU +1.0 ± 0.4 +6.4 ± 5.9⁎ +0.1 ± 0.6⁎
ID −0.3 ± 0.2 −1.4 ± 1.0 −0.1 ± 0.4⁎
shtml) (Peterson et al., 2001) has been chosen. For minimum
TX10p −0.4 ± 0.1 −3.0 ± 1.4 −0.1 ± 0.2⁎
and maximum temperature time series the following climate TX90p +0.7 ± 0.2 +7.0 ± 2.6 +0.2 ± 0.2⁎
indices have been considered: frost days (FD), tropical nights CSDI −0.7 ± 0.4 −4.8 ± 3.4 −0.2 ± 0.6⁎
(TR), summer days (SU) and ice days (ID) as threshold-based WSDI +1.2 ± 0.4 +14.1 ± 7.0 +0.3 ± 0.4⁎
indices; cold nights (TN10p), warm nights (TN90p), cold GSL +1.5 ± 0.9 +15.9 ± 12.7 +0.8 ± 1.2⁎

days (TX10p) and warm days (TX90p) as percentile-based ⁎ not significant with Mann-Kendall test at 5% level.
24 M. Boccolari, S. Malmusi / Atmospheric Research 122 (2013) 16–31

sign, are in absolute significantly higher than the previous FD and TN, with a strong anti-correlation (from −0.54 during
ones. In particular it could be noted an increase of tropical 1861–1980 to −0.72 during 1981–2010).
nights (almost 40%) and of warm spells duration (46%). All trends indices seem to be consistent with what has
Percentage is still higher for summer days, but it is n.s. with been found in other studies, as in the global analysis of Frich
Mann-Kendall test at 5% level. et al. (2002) for 1946–1999, Kostopoulou and Jones (2005)
In Fig. 4(a) smoothing curves (11-year span) of frost days on eastern Mediterranean between 1958 and 2000, Tebaldi
and tropical nights anomalies (relative to 1961–1990) are et al. (2006) in an intercomparison model-simulated of
shown. Apart the just mentioned significant increase in extreme events covering all the globe, for a period between
absolute value, during the last period it could be noted the 1880 and 2000.
particularly evident anti-correlation between the two indices The TN10p negative trend in the last century is confirmed
(with the linear correlation coefficient raising −0.62 for in several works: for example, by Alexander et al. (2006) in
1981–2010 period). Similarly, in Fig. 4(b) the smoothing curves a global analysis during 1951–1993 where they found a
of TN10p and TN90p anomalies show the same behaviour of general decrease all over the world; in Kostopoulou and Jones

a b

Anomaly (Percentage of days per year)

FD TN10p
40
TR 20 TN90p
Anomaly (number of days)

20

10

0
−20

−40 −10
1860 1890 1920 1950 1980 2010 1860 1890 1920 1950 1980 2010
Year Year

c d
20 20
Anomaly (Percentage of days per year)

TX10p

15 TX90p

10
Anomaly (number of days)

10

0 5

−10
SU
−5
ID

−20 −10
1860 1890 1920 1950 1980 2010 1860 1890 1920 1950 1980 2010
Year Year

Fig. 4. Smoothing curves (span 11 year) of anomalies, relative to 1961–1990, of (a) frost days and tropical nights (number of annual days), (b) cold nights and
warm nights (percentage of days), (c) summer days and ice days (number of annual days), (d) cold days and warm days (percentage of days).
 M. Boccolari, S. Malmusi / Atmospheric Research 122 (2013) 16–31
40
CSDI
WSDI
30
Anomaly (number of days)
20
10
0 4. Precipitation
−10
1860 1890 1920 1950
Year
Fig. 5. Smoothing curves (span 11-year) of anomalies (number of annual
days), relative to 1961–1990, of cold and warm spell duration indices.
(2005) in the eastern Mediterranean for 1958–2000. For
TN90p, both above mentioned studies found a large significant
positive trend mainly in summer pattern (JJA), underlining a
general tendency for warmer summer nights throughout the
eastern Mediterranean.
Smoothing curve of SU index and ID index anomalies
(relative to 1961–1990) are shown in Fig. 4(c). Again,
especially for SU index significant increases appear during
last thirty years. In Fig. 4(d) the smoothing curves of TX10p
and TX90p anomalies are shown. They resemble the
smoothing curves of TN10p and TN90p: in fact TX10p and
TX90p show a strong anti-correlation between them (− 0.59
for the entire period, − 0.35 for 1861–1980 and − 0.76 for
the last 30 years).
In Ramos et al. (2011) for 1941–2006, 1945–1975 and
1976–2006 percentile-based and threshold-based indices
have prevalent trend signs over the most analysed stations
in Portugal in accordance with Modena in the same periods,
but not for TX10p and TN10p, during 1945–1975, for which it
is opposite. Similar results are given by the comparisons
of the same trend indices with Klein Tank and Können
(2003) ones, over Europe during 1946–1999, 1946–1975 and
1976–1999. In Wulfmeyer and Henning-Müller (2006) during
1878–2002, for Hohenheim, Germany, ice days decline by
1.2 days per decade and frost days decline by 2.2 days
per decade while for Modena in the same period, values are
−0.5 days per decade and −1.5 days per decade respectively.
In Simolo et al. (2010) percentile-based indices trends over
Table 5
Mean annual and seasonal accumulated precipitation (mm), with their standard deviation, for the whole period and for 1831–1980 and 1981–2010 sub-periods.
YEARLY
1831-2010 664.8 ± 158.7
1981-2010 660.7 ± 159.0
1831-1980 665.6 ± 159.1
25
northern Italy for 1952–2008 and 1980–2008 have equal sign,
but values are greater respect Modena in the same periods.
In Fig. 5 smoothing curves of CSDI and WSDI anomalies
are shown. Again, a certain anti-correlation between cold
spell and warm spell is found (ranging between − 0.26 for
the whole period, − 0.06 for 1861–1980 and − 0.38 for the
last thirty years), but it is evident a higher increase of warm
spell respect the cold ones
Growing Season Length that defines how long is the
“warm” period of every year is very similar to the WSDI. In
Ramos et al. (2011) for 1941–2006, 1945–1975 and 1976–2006
GSL, CSDI and WSDI, prevalent trend signs over Portugal are in
accordance with Modena in the same period.
4.1. Homogenisation
The number of wet days in a year has been chosen as the
1980 2010
testing variable for precipitation (Wijngaard et al., 2003),
where a wet day is defined as a day with precipitation above
1 mm. Again, the four tests, SNHT, Buishand range test,
Pettitt test and Von Neumann ratio test, have been selected to
test the homogeneity of the time series. All test statistics values
fall inside their respective critical values both for the whole
period (1831–2010) and for 1831–1980 and 1981–2010.
Therefore, the total precipitation series has been analysed
without any further corrections.
4.2. Annual and seasonal trends
In Table 5, total averages of yearly and seasonal total
precipitation for the whole period (1831–2010) and for the
sub-periods are reported. For all three periods, annual, vernal
and autumnal values are fairly close to each other; for
summer and winter 1981–2010 values, compared with those
of the entire period, a considerable decrease during winter
(− 20%) and an increase in summer (+12%) could be noted.
As expected, annual values are very similar to those found
for nearby stations (Bologna, Ferrara, Mantova) analysed in
Brunetti et al. (2000c). Seasonal average precipitation for the
same period indicates that summer is characterised by the
smallest amount, followed by winter, spring and autumn,
with the highest precipitation amount. So it is not surprising
that the highest correlation between the annual series and
seasonal ones is found for autumn followed by spring,
summer and winter, with linear correlation coefficients
given by 0.72, 0.55, 0.52 and 0.18 respectively.
The annual and seasonal precipitation amount anomalies
(relative to 1961–1990) smoothed over 11 years, in Fig. 6, at
a first glance show a sequence of wet periods, alternated with
dry periods. Looking at the annual filtered curve, positive
DJF MAM JJA SON
142.6 ± 66.8 172.4 ± 64.1 138.7 ± 63.7 211.8 ± 91.0
114.1 ± 47.0 172.1 ± 56.6 155.4 ± 73.0 218.9 ± 93.1
148.3 ± 68.9 172.5 ± 65.7 135.4 ± 61.3 210.4 ± 90.8
26 M. Boccolari, S. Malmusi / Atmospheric Research 122 (2013) 16–31

600
YEARLY
300
0
−300

1850 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000

200 DJF

−200
1850 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000
PRCP anomaly (mm)

200 MAM

−200
1850 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000

200 JJA

−200
1850 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000

200 SON
0
−200
1850 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000
Year

Fig. 6. Anomalies (mm), relative to 1961–1990, of annual and seasonal precipitation amount (PRCP) for 1831–2010 period. Solid lines represent the 11-year
smoothing curves.

anomalies take place until the last 1880 s, between 1890–1920,
1930–1940, from late 1950s to late 1970, and after 1990, while
negative anomalies take place between 1880 and 1890,
1920–1930, 1940–1950, and 1970–1990.
A preliminary spectral analysis with a Lomb periodogram,
together with a wavelet analysis (Torrence and Compo,
1998), over annual PRCP indicates that the significant (at
95%) contributions come from the harmonics at 2.3 and
2.8 years, and about 55–60 years. The previous first two are
in agreement with short periods (2–2.8 years) found by
Brunetti et al. (2000a) in their annual precipitation analysis
over northern Italy; they have also found a significant
14–26 years long period that it has not been found in this
analysis. The short period could be related with Quasi-
Biennal Oscillation, while the quasi 60-year period is found in
numerous multi-secular climatic records (Scafetta, 2010).
Considering all the period, yearly and seasonal trends for
total precipitation result negative, and in particular for the
sub-period until 1980 only the winter one is not significant
(Table 6). Instead, annual and seasonal trends for the last

Table 6
Linear trends (with 95% confidence intervals) of annual and seasonal accumulated precipitation time series (mm per decade) for all the period and for 1831–1980
and 1981-2010.

YEARLY DJF MAM JJA SON

1831-2010 −6.3 ± 4.4⁎ −1.8 ± 1.9 −1.8 ± 1.8 −0.8 ± 1.8 −2.1 ± 2.6
1831-1980 −11.1 ± 5.7⁎ −0.5 ± 2.6 −3.3 ± 2.4⁎ −3.2 ± 2.2⁎ −4.5 ± 3.3⁎
1981-2010 +74.8 ± 63.6⁎ +13.1 ± 20.0 +18.8 ± 23.8 +13.1 ± 31.7 +30.5 ± 39.2
⁎ Significant with Mann-Kendall test at 5% level.
 M. Boccolari, S. Malmusi / Atmospheric Research 122 (2013) 16–31
Table 7
Climate indices trends for all the period and for the last 150-year, 120-year, 90-year, 60 year and 30 yr. All indices are expressed in number of annual days per
decade, except R75, R95 and R99 that are in annual percentage per decade and SDII that is in (mm/day) per decade.
1831-2010 1861-2010
R75p −6.2 ± 4.1⁎ −1.0 ± 5.1
R95p −3.4 ± 2.9⁎ −0.2 ± 3.4
R99p −1.1 ± 1.9 +1.1 ± 2.3
R10mm −0.3 ± 0.2⁎ −0.1 ± 0.2
R20mm −0.1 ± 0.1⁎ −0.1 ± 0.1
CDD +0.1 ± 0.3 +0.1 ± 0.4
CWD +0.0 ± 0.0 +0.0 ± 0.0
SDII −0.1 ± 0.0⁎ −0.0 ± 0.1
⁎ significant with Mann–Kendall test at 5% level.
30-year period, 1981–2010, are all positive; also in this case
only yearly trend is significant, but with a higher value
(+ 74.8 mm per decade).
A great phenomenon, that could be seen in Fig. 6, is the
negative winter rainfall trend since the 1960s (Cullen and
deMenocal, 2000; Goodess and Jones, 2002; Xoplaki et al.,
2004) and finishing in 1990s (the biggest pattern that could
be seen in the graph), when it is switching from one wet
phase to a dry phase. This negative trend can at least partly
be explained by the positive trend of NAO oscillation
(e.g. Dünkeloh and Jacobeit, 2003; Xoplaki et al., 2004).
In Brunetti et al. (2006a) during 1865–2003, in the geo-
graphical area to which Modena belongs, there is accordance in
the sign of trends except for winter. In Klein Tank and Können
(2003), for the period 1946–1999, the annual precipitation
trend over the Po valley is positive but n.s. at 5%, that is in
accordance with the value for Modena. Even Ramos and
Martìnez-Casasnovas (2006) found n.s. positive trend for
annual precipitation in their work on three time series in
Penedès-Anoia region, in the north-east of Spain.
IPCC analysed precipitations between 1900–2005 and it
found both increases and decreases in precipitation over
Eurasia (Trenberth et al., 2007), concluding that it is difficult
to give an unique trend. They reported that it has become
wetter in northern Europe while drier in the Mediterranean.
IPCC annual precipitation trend graph for the Mediterranean
Basin (Trenberth et al., 2007) is similar to the one found
for Modena, with precipitation decrement during almost all
the 20th century, with a minimum in the 1940s, and then
an increment after the 1990s, in correspondence of a great
positive NAO index value.
4.3. Climate indices
Also for the precipitation time series climate indices have
been calculated. Generally speaking their trend are not
significant (Table 7). Statistically significant values can be
found for R75 and R95 (and also R10mm, R20mm), for the
entire period 1831–2010, even if quite low, and higher for all
three percentile-based indices and SDII during the 90 years
since 1921 (and 60 years since 1951).
In Fig. 7 the smoothing curves of percentile-based indices
(R75p, R95p and R99p) anomalies (with respect 1961–1990)
are shown. Heavy precipitation days (R10mm) and very
heavy precipitation days (R20mm) threshold-based indices
are not shown because the first one is very similar to R75p
percentile-based index (that corresponds to 11.1 mm), while
27
1891-2010 1921-2010 1951-2010 1981-2010
1.6 ± 7.0 +15.8 ± 9.7⁎ +23.0 ± 18.9⁎ +61.2 ± 59.8
1.9 ± 4.9 +12.8 ± 6.8⁎ +16.4 ± 14.1⁎ +21.4 ± 48.1
+3.4 ± 3.3 +10.1 ± 4.7⁎ +14.6 ± 9.7⁎ +31.4 ± 34.5
−0.1 ± 0.3 +0.5 ± 0.4 +0.7 ± 0.9 +2.7 ± 2.5⁎
−0.0 ± 0.2 +0.2 ± 0.2 +0.2 ± 0.4 +0.6 ± 1.1
+0.2 ± 0.6 +0.2 ± 0.9 +0.3 ± 1.6 −2.8 ± 5.4
+0.0 ± 0.1 −0.0 ± 0.1 +0.0 ± 0.2 +0.7 ± 0.6
+0.1 ± 0.1 +0.2 ± 0.1⁎ −0.3 ± 0.2⁎ +0.6 ± 0.7
R20mm gives very similar results to that of R95p percentile-
based index (that corresponds to 27.6 mm). The behaviour of
these indices anomalies reflect quite closely the one of total
precipitation, seen before (Fig. 6). Similar results have been
reported by Ramos and Martìnez-Casasnovas (2006) in the
north-east Spain region; they found that extreme events are
increasing in the analysed periods (one time series between
1923 and 2002, the other two of 40-year periods). In IPCC
report the number of events with heavy precipitation (95th
percentile) has increased over the period 1900–2005, also
in continental regions where the total amount of rainfall
has actually dropped (Trenberth et al., 2007), and this is
confirmed for Modena (about + 5% per decade but n.s.). R75p
and R95p calculated by Klein Tank and Können (2003) for the
period 1946–1999, for the Po Valley, seem to underestimate
the value found in this work.
Consecutive dry days (CDD) and consecutive wet days
(CWD) represent the greatest number of consecutive days,
for each year, in which daily precipitation amount is b 1 mm
and ≥ 1 mm respectively. From Table 7 it can be noted that
CDD and CWD trends for all the period are always n.s.,
practically indicating no variation since 1831. In the last
thirty years CDD trend is negative but n.s., while CWD trend
is slight positive but n.s. Also Moberg and Jones (2005) found
that CDD index trend is mostly n.s. in summer and winter
seasons over central and western Europe, during 1901–1999.
Simple daily intensity index (SDII) is quite constant
during all period, even if an alternation of trend sign. The
n.s. trend of precipitation around 1900 is balanced by the
positive trend in number of rainy days, so SDII trends for this
period remain significantly negative. SDII trends for the last
100 years are positive, due mainly to the negative trend in
the number of days. This is confirmed by Frich et al. (2002)
where they reported that SDII has increased during the
second half of 20th century in many parts of the world; in
particular there are significant positive trends over Italy.
Similar results, for both annual and winter periods, have been
revealed by Kostopoulou and Jones (2005) in their study
focused on eastern Mediterranean.
4.4. Correlation between NAO and precipitation
Hurrell and Folland (2002) discussed a possible link
between sea-level pressure (SLP) averaged over the southern
action centre for NAO in summer and JJA precipitation in
Europe. Xoplaki et al. (2004), from a CCA, showed relation-
ship between variations in the NAO index and time scale
28 M. Boccolari, S. Malmusi / Atmospheric Research 122 (2013) 16–31

200

150

Anomaly (number of days)

100

50

−50
R75
R95
R99
−100
1840 1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
Year

Fig. 7. Smoothing curves of anomalies (mm/day), relative to 1961–1990, of R75p , R95p and R99p indices for 1831–2010 period, with 11-year smoothing curve.

variations of the Mediterranean precipitation throughout the
20th century. It is known that temperature increment is
connected to the change of water storage of the atmosphere,
about 7% per °C. So over northern continents, as for example
Europe, warm winters lead to more precipitation. Different
situation is for the Mediterranean area, where a drier trend
has been found (Trenberth et al., 2007). These differences are
mainly tied to NAO oscillation: for example in Po plain, as
for Mediterranean area, negative NAO index corresponds to
rainiest season and vice-versa. For northern Europe, on the
contrary, precipitation is directly correlated to NAO index
(Hurrel, 1995). This anti-correlation could clearly be seen
from the 1990s, where a great positive NAO phase caused
drier conditions over the area.
In Fig. 8 NAO index (provided by the Climate Analysis
Section, NCAR, Boulder, USA, Hurrel (1995)), for the period

2
Standardized anomaly

−1

−2

−3
1860 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000
Year

Fig. 8. NAOI vs. DJFM precipitation comparison, for the period 1864–2010. Squares are NAO index, stars precipitation data, the thin solid and the thick solid lines
are the smoothing curves with an 11-year span of NAO index and precipitation respectively.
 M. Boccolari, S. Malmusi / Atmospheric Research 122 (2013) 16–31
1864–2010, and DJFM accumulated precipitation over
Modena are compared. Squares represent NAO index and
stars precipitation data; the two lines (thin solid line for NAO
index and thick solid line for precipitation) are the smoothing
curves with 11-year span. For a better comparison all data
were transformed in their centred scaled version (standardised
anomalies).
Fig. 8 underlines a clear anti-correlation between the two
datasets, especially after around 1920 (already noted in
Boccolari et al., 1998). Such anti-correlation reaches high
values up to last of 1800s (− 0.62 during 1871–1900), then
drops and then increases again, reaching − 0.61 in the last
30-year 1981–2010. One explanation could be derived from
the NAO centres of action shifting, but the NAO index used
in this context is station-based that is fixed in space, so
shouldn't take into account the motion (Hurrel and Deser,
2010). However, the correlation calculation using NAO index
based on principal components (https://climatedataguide.ucar.
edu/guidance/hurrell-north-atlantic-oscillation-nao-index-pc-
based) for the period 1899–2010, anti-correlation variations
remain the same even if limited to a narrower range. The
strong positive NAO between the late 1980's and 1990 could
explain the higher value of anti-correlation (Marshall et al.,
2001). The fact that the wettest seasons in this location are
autumn and spring, suggests that probably there isn't a direct
connection with the recent positive trend of climatic indices,
in particular R75p, R95p and R99P, with the augmented anti-
correlation. In other works the correlation between precipita-
tion and NAO index over the Po plain has been studied
(Brunetti et al., 2000a and 2006c). Also Rodríguez-Fonseca and
Castro (2002) found a connection between winter precipita-
tion and NAO index over Iberian peninsula.
5. Conclusions
The maintenance of the historical stations is very
important, because these long time series are fundamental
for the analysis of climate and its changes. Modena contin-
uous time series of maximum and minimum temperature
and precipitation, available since 1861 and 1831 respectively,
have been analysed, for trends and extreme climate indices,
after having tested the homogeneity of their respective
mDTR and vDTR series for temperature, and the number of
rainy days for precipitation. Only the temperature time series
have required to be corrected for homogenisation, carried out
without reference time series, through an iterative procedure
'test-and- fix', giving satisfactory results. For the first two
temperature time series decades, other documented meta-
data would be necessary to improve the first part of the time
series.
Minimum and maximum temperature time series show a
significant abrupt increment during last three decades. Their
annual trends increase from + 0.1 °C per decade during all
analysed period 1861–2010, to + 0.8 and + 0.9 °C per decade
respectively during the last thirty years, with major values in
winter and minor ones in autumn. If the last 30-year are not
considered, both annual and seasonal trends are practically
zero.
The analysis of several temperature climate indices, for
all the period 1861–2010, shows for example that frost days
are decreasing (− 1.3 days per decade) while tropical nights
29
are increasing (+1.5 days per decade). For all the analysed
period and for the last 30-year period all indices (apart SU
for 1981–2010) calculated from TN and TX are statistically
significant. Greater trend indices values have been found
for the period 1981–2010; FD is diminishing (− 14.1 days per
decade) while TR and SU are increasing (+ 11.2 and
+ 6.4 days per decade but n.s.). Spell duration indices follow
previous results: cold spells duration index is diminishing
(− 4.8 days per decade for 1981–2010), while warm spell
duration index has a strong increase (+14.1 days per decade
for 1981–2010).
Precipitation trends are significant for yearly data
(− 6.3 mm per decade for 1831–2010 and + 74.8 mm per
decade over last 30 years) but n.s. for seasonal ones. Unlike
previous temperature indices, those related to precipitation
show almost all significant trends over the period 1831–
2010, while for the last 30 years only R10mm is significant,
with + 2.7 days per decade. Duration indices are practically
constant for all periods.
The comparison of DJFM precipitation with NAO index
confirm an high anti-correlation, that is at negative NAO
index corresponds a rainiest season and vice-versa.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank: the European Climate
Assessment & Dataset project for all useful documentations
present in its site; James W. Hurrel and NCAR Climate Analysis
Section for NAO index database; U.S. Geological Survey
Department of the Interior (USGS) for GTOPO30 DEM, the
Institute of Veterinary Public Health of the University of Wien
for its Köppen and Geiger climate classification maps and
Luca Lombroso for GOMO daily temperature and precipitation
time series.
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