Regional climate model simulations of daily maximum and minimum near-surface temperatures across Europe compared with observed station data 1961-1990

Simulations of the present-day temperature climate in Europe obtained with the dynamic regional climate model HadRM3P from the Hadley Centre are evaluated. Observed daily temperature maxima (Tx) and minima (Tn) for the 1961-1990 period at 185 stations are compared with their nearest corresponding HadRM3P grid-box data. The model generally performs well over the UK and elsewhere between latitudes 50 and 55°N, with biases mostly within ±0.5 K. In other areas coherent regions with seasonal biases up to more than ±5 K exist. In some areas, biases in climatological averages are associated with even larger errors (up to more than ±15 K) in the upper/lower extreme temperature range. Both areas with systematically overestimated and underestimated intra-seasonal daily temperature variances exist, but overestimation dominates. Too hot summer Tx south of about 45°N are associated with drying soils in the model. This problem may occur further north in "future" integrations with a greenhouse-gas induced warming. Given the existence of errors in the simulations of the present-day climate, we recommend that results from future scenario integrations are treated with care.