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Indexes of Spring Arrival between 2000 and 2010 in Oltenia

Abstract: The present paper deals with the conditions related to spring arrival in Oltenia between 2000 and 2010. A first general evaluation may be achieved by comparing the mean general indexes for the entire region of Oltenia for each spring, which are calculated as a mean of the indexes of spring arrival for all the meteorological stations from Oltenia, including the mountainous area.Out of the 11 analysed years, the lowest value was 171.1°C, registered in the spring of 2003, which followed the coldest winter (2002-2003) of the studied interval (Bogdan, Marinică, Marinică, 2010); the highest value reached 460.7°C and it was registered in the spring of 2002 that followed a warm winter, 2001-2002, the general mean of which is on the 9th place in the increasing hierarchy of the general temperature means for winter during the analysed interval. The general mean of the index for the 11 analysed years is 366.0°C with a positive percentage deviation of 43.2%, which, according to a Hellmann’s type of criterion established by us, emphasizes that springs were early (E) during the entire period. The negative deviation of the latest spring (2003) was of -29.1.1%, which means a late spring (L). The second value of the index was 262.9°C, which means a normal spring. The positive deviation of this general mean of the spring arrival index for the spring in question (2003) reached 7.1%, which means a normal spring, in fact, the single normal spring of the entire interval. For Oltenia, as well as for the entire country, the decade 2000-2010 was warm. It stands out through – the warmest winters, which also registered the highest frequency, the earliest springs, the hottest summers with the more extended dog days’ periods, the exceeding of certain absolute thermal maximum values in the country, some of them considered real “climatic thresholds”, all induced by the climate variation limits of the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. The predominance of early springs represent a proof of the regional climatic changes during this interval.