European climate

Europe as a whole is farther north than the United States, Pittsburgh is at the latitude of Naples in southern Italy, for instance.

Europe's narrower western tip is warmed in the winter by the closeness of the seas on all sides and by the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic.

As Europe (effectively, a peninsula of the Asian continent) widens and increases its latitude towards its center and east, the climate becomes more continental, with more pronounced differences between summers and winters. Slovakia is in the central part of Europe.

 

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Villages at 1,840 ft.
Northern Slovakia

Central European Time

CET applies in Slovakia and is used in a large part of Europe.

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Dark red and dark green - true Central European Time zone.

Yellow marks Slovakia.

Red (dark and light) - countries that actually use Central European Time.

Green (dark and light) - countries that use East European Time.

Blue - countries that use West European Time.

Khaki - Moscow Time.

Daylight Saving Time

"Summer time," letný čas, (European DST) begins three weeks later in Europe than in the U.S. and ends a week earlier there.

DST begins the second Sunday in March in the U.S., summer time begins the last Sunday in March in Europe.

Summer time ends the last Sunday in October in Europe, DST ends the first Sunday in November in the U.S.

 

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Peak, 5,275 ft., drizzle
Northern Slovakia

Slovakia's Weather

Q: How does it compare to Pittsburgh?

Pittsburgh's overall temperatures are warmer, because it is farther south than Slovakia. It is also farther inland than Central Europe, so the continental effect on the difference between winters and summers is stronger in Pittsburgh.

Regional weather variations in Slovakia split between the warmer and drier lowlands in the south-west (the Danube and Bratislava) and south-east (Košice), and the rest of the country, which is mountainous and cooler, most so in north-central Slovakia (the historical counties of Orava, Liptov, and Spiš).

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Elevation plays a role too. The lowlands are at about 300-500 ft., some of the densely populated areas elsewhere are at 1,500-2,200 ft., and villages can be higher, up to over 3,000 ft. for a few farming communities and resorts in the High Tatras.

Daily highs and lows

Bratislava, south-west, 424 ft., Fahrenheit

J F M A M J J A S O N D
33 35 48 55 67 73 77 75 68 55 45 37
24 28 33 42 50 55 58 57 52 49 35 30

Poprad, north-central, 2,205 ft.

J F M A M J J A S O N D
28 32 41 52 62 68 71 72 64 54 41 32
12 15 23 32 41 46 50 48 43 33 28 21

Pittsburgh, 715 ft.

J F M A M J J A S O N D
37 38 46 60 71 80 83 82 76 64 50 43
21 21 27 38 48 57 61 60 53 42 32 27

(Click on upper Liptov for local seasonal data.)

Precipitation

Bratislava (16.3 inches/year), Poprad (17.4) , and Pittsburgh (36.8). Monthly totals for each city:

J F M A M J J A S O N D  
1.2 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.7 1.5 1.8 1.5 0.9 1.5 1.5 1.3 BA
0.7 0.6 0.8 0.9 1.9 2.3 2.3 2.0 1.3 1.0 1.0 0.8 PP
2.5 2.4 3.4 3.1 3.6 3.7 3.7 3.2 3.0 2.4 2.9 3.9 Pgh

The last line shows that clouds shed more water in Pittsburgh, but the downpours are substantially heavier, so the overall number of hours with rain is not as much higher in Pittsburgh than in Slovakia.

Daylight

Slovakia is farther north than much of the U.S., so the days are somewhat shorter in the winter and longer in the summer. By comparison to Pittsburgh, the shortest day of the year is about an hour shorter and the longest day about an hour longer in Slovakia.

  21 Dec 21 Mar 21 Jun
  rise set rise set rise set
Bratislava 7:39 4:00 5:53 6:05 4:51 8:55
Poprad 7:30 3:43 5:40 5:52 4:34 8:46
Pittsburgh 7:41 4:58 7:25 7:33 5:50 8:54

(Pittsburgh has already introduced daylight saving time by 21 March, Europe does so later.)

The difference between the length of time from sunrise to sunset is due to the difference between Slovakia’s and Pittsburgh’s latitudes. The actual time of the sunrise (and sunset) is incidental – it is due to Slovakia’s location east of the Central European Time meridian while Pittsburgh is west of the Eastern Standard Time meridian.