Gridded analyses of observed precipitation are an important data resource for environmental modelling, climate model evaluation and climate monitoring.In Europe, datasets that resolve the rich mesoscale variations widely exist for the national territories, but similar datasets covering the entire continent are more recent. Here, we evaluate daily precipitation in two newly available pan-European datasets: E-OBS (v19.0e), a statistical analysis from rain-gauge data, and ERA5, the new global reanalysis from ECMWF. Special interest is on how the refinements of grid spacing, the methodological upgrades and the quantification of uncertainty (ensemble), bear on capabilities at the mesoscale.The evaluation is conducted in three subregions, the Alps, the Carpathians and Fennoscandia, and involves as reference high-quality regional datasets derived from dense rain-gauge data. The study suggests that E-OBS and ERA5 agree qualitatively well with the reference datasets. Major mesoscale patterns in the climatology (mean, wet-day frequency, 95% quantile) are reproduced.The improvement over earlier versions of the datasets is evident. ERA5 was found to overestimate mean precipitation in all regions, related to too many wet days. The accuracy of E-OBS was found to depend on station density, with spatial and temporal variations clearly less accurate in data sparse regions. In comparison, E-OBS turned out to be superior to ERA5 in regions with dense data, but the two datasets are on a par in regions with sparse data, and partly ERA5 has advantages. For both datasets we find that the spatial resolution is coarser than the grid spacing, with overly smooth fields and an underestimation of high quantiles. Also, both datasets were found to be clearly overconfident in their uncertainty characterization (too small ensemble spread).Overall, the two datasets advance the characterization of precipitation on a

The trend analysis of meteorological time series has gained prominence in recent decades, the most common method being the so-called ‘linear analytical trend analysis’. Until the mid-1990s, trend analysis was commonly performed on non-homogenized data sets, which frequently led to erroneous conclusions. Nowadays, only homogenized data sets are examined, so it really is possible to detect climate change in long meteorological data sets. In this paper, the methodology of linear trend analysis is summarized, the way in which the model can be validated is demonstrated, and there is a discussion of the results obtained if unjustified discontinuities caused by changing measurement conditions, such as the relocation of stations, changes in measurement time, or instrument change occur. On the basis of an examination of records for the preceding 118 years, it is possible to state that both annual and seasonal mean temperature trends display a significant warming trend. In the case of homogenized data series, the change is significant over the entire territory of Hungary; in the case of raw data series, however, the change is not significant everywhere. The validity of the linear model is tested using the F-test, a task as yet carried out on the entire Hungarian data series, series comprising records for over 100 years. Furthermore, neither has a comparison been made of the trend data for raw data series and the homogenized data series with the help of information on station history to explore the causes of inhomogeneity.

Climate studies, particularly those that are related to climate change, require long, high-quality controlled data sets, which are representative both spatially and temporally. Changing the conditions of measurements, for example relocating the station, or changing the frequency and timing of measurements, or changing the instruments used can cause breaks in the time series. To avoid these problems, data errors and inhomogeneities are eliminated and the data gaps are filled by using the MASH (Multiple Analysis of Series for Homogenization, Szentimrey, 1999, 2008) homogenization procedure. The Hungarian meteorological observation network was upgraded significantly in the last decades. Homogenization of the data series raises the question of how to homogenize long and short data series together within the same process. It is possible to solve this with the MASH method due it has solid mathematical foundations, which make it suitable for such purposes. The solution includes the synchronization of the common parts’ inhomogeneities within three (or more) different MASH processing of the three (or more) datasets with different lengths depending on the time periods and elements. After the homogenization process, the station data series were interpolated to a 0.1 degree regular grid covering the whole area of Hungary. The MISH (Meteorological Interpolation based on Surface Homogenized Data Basis; Szentimrey and Bihari, 2007) program system was used for this purpose. The MISH procedure was developed specifically for the interpolation of various meteorological elements. In the case of mean temperature, we also renewed the MISH modeling, as compared to previous years, the number of homogenized stations doubled due to the new work, so it was expedient to model the climate statistical parameters with this extended station system. Time series of daily mean temperature and precipitation sum for the period 1870–2020 for Hungary were used in this study. As a result, the longest ever homogenized, gridded daily data sets became available for Hungary. The method described here can also be applied to produce representative datasets for other meteorological elements.

⎯ The rainfall intensity for various return periods are commonly used for hydrological design. In this study, we focus on rare, short-term, 60-minute precipitation extremes and related return values which are one of the relevant durations in the planning and operating demands of drainage and sewerage systems in Hungary. Time series of 60-minute yearly maxima were analyzed at 96 meteorological stations. To estimate the return values for a given return period, the General Extreme Value (GEV) distribution was fit to the yearly maxima. The GEV fit and also the Gumbel fit (GEV Type I.) were tested. According to the goodness of fit test results, both GEV and Gumbel distributions, are adequate choices. The return values for 2, 4, 5, 10, 20, and 50 year return periods are illustrated on maps, and together with their 95% confidence intervals, are listed in tables for selected stations. The maps of return values demonstrate that the spatial patterns of the return values are similar, although the enhancing effect of orography can be explored in the Transdanubia region and in the North Hungarian Range. As the return period is increasing, so the range of the confidence are widening as it is expected.