MAXIMUM AND MINIMUM TEMPERATURE TRENDS IN IRELAND, ITALY, THAILAND, TURKEY AND BANGLADESH

Recently, Karl et al. analysed monthly mean maximum and minimum temperatures from countries comprising 37% of the global landmass. Over the period 1951-1990, minimum temperatures warmed by 0.84 degrees C compared to only 0.28 degrees C for maximum temperatures. Over the same period average temperatures, estimated for all the world's land areas, warmed by 0.33 degrees C, compared to 0.56 degrees C from those analysed by Karl et al. The difference is primarily due to the lack of tropical countries in the earlier analysis. In this paper results are presented for five countries not analysed earlier: Bangladesh, Ireland, Italy, Thailand and Turkey. Trends toward smaller diurnal ranges are present, though to lesser extents than in Karl et al. (1993).