The database contains detailed information about extreme temperature-related weather and climate events for the area of present-day Poland (including six historical geographical regions: Baltic Coast and Pomerania, Masuria-Podlasie, Greater Poland, Masovia, Silesia, and Lesser Poland) in the Middle Ages (1001–1500 CE). The database contains a variety of documentary evidence used to evaluate these extreme temperature events in Poland, such as: medieval chronicles, administrative records, ecclesiastical documents, historical compilations, correspondence, and early weather diaries.
The database contains, besides a simple list of extreme events, important additional information such as: the geographic location, approximate timing within the year, and duration of the event. It also includes the exact textual content of the original weather notes, directly accompanied by the specific documentary source from which each note was extracted and an assessment of that source’s reliability. Furthermore, it provides the authors’ categorization of the event (severe frost; cold waves; river, lake, and sea ice events; snow and snowstorms; or heat and warm waves), an estimation of its intensity level, and reported societal and environmental impacts.
