Climatology
This page presents Croatia's climate context for the current climatology, 1991-2020, derived from observed, historical data. Information should be used to build a strong understanding of current climate conditions in order to appreciate future climate scenarios and projected change. You can visualize data for the current climatology through spatial variation, the seasonal cycle, or as a time series. Analysis is available for both annual and seasonal data. Data presentation defaults to national-scale aggregation, however sub-national data aggregations can be accessed by clicking within a country, on a sub-national unit. Other historical climatologies can be selected from the Time Period dropdown list.
Observed, historical data is produced by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of University of East Anglia. Data is presented at a 0.5º x 0.5º (50km x 50km) resolution.
The majority of Croatia experiences a moderately warm and rainy climate. Mean temperature in the lowland area of northern Croatia is 10°C–12°C, the mountain regions experience mean temperatures of 3°C–4°C, with coastalare as experiencing temperatures of 12°C–17°C. Most of the precipitation is recorded on the coastal slopes and peaks of the Dinarides from Gorski Kotar in the northwest to the southern Velebit in the southeast. Croatia is defined by three major geomorphological zones: the Pannonian basin, the mountain system of the Dinarides, and Adriatic basin. The Lowland areas, up to 200 m, represent 53% of area of the country, hills and sub-mountains from 200 up to 500 m represent 26%, and mountain areas above 500 m, equate to 21% of the country. As of 2011, 23% of land area was used by for agriculture and forests covered 39% of land area. Croatia is a climatically complex area and has experienced a large variability in precipitation trends across the country, over the last decades. Particularly, the mountainous region and the coastal zones are mostly affected by drying tendencies in precipitation, especially during the summer season (May to October), while the mainland is subjected to wetter precipitation conditions. The reduction in annual amounts of precipitation in the area north of the Sava River results from decline in spring and autumn precipitation. In the mountains and on the Dalmatian Islands the fall season brings decline in winter and spring precipitation. On the northern Adriatic, the reduction in precipitation amount is evident in all seasons. In the northeastern Mediterranean Region (or Adriatic-Ionian region, which encompasses Croatia), heat wave events have become more frequent, longer lasting, and more severe. The country experiences a largely Mediterranean climate with hot, dry and sunny weather during the summer and relatively mild, yet rainy weather during the winter in the coastal area. In the mainland, a typical continental climate can be experienced with four distinguished seasons; warm summers and cold winters and more precipitation in spring and late autumn/early winter. However, due to climate change, usual climate patterns are changing towards more unpredictable seasons