High Pinaceae pollen concentrations in the air and on the surface of puddles before the main pollen season started were observed in Kraków (southern Poland) in May 2013. The paper presents the results of detailed studies of the composition and source of the “yellow rain” in 2013, and as a comparison, the Pinaceae pollen concentrations and samples collected from the ground surface in 2014 were considered. The air samples were collected using the volumetric method (Hirst-type device), while pollen grains sampled from the ground surface were processed using a modified Erdtman acetolysis method. Finally, all samples were studied using a light microscope. In 2013, the period of higher Abies, Picea and Pinus pollen concentrations was observed from the 5 to 12 of May, earlier than the main pollen season occurred. The presence of rainfall on the 12 and 13 of May 2013 caused the pollen deposition on the ground surface, where the prevalence of Pinaceae pollen was found. The synoptic situation and the analysis of the back-trajectories and air mass advection at the beginning of May 2013 indicated that Pinaceae pollen grains could have been transported from Ukraine, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia. In contrast, Pinaceae pollen grains deposited on the ground surface as a “yellow” film in May 2014, originated from local sources.

The paper presents a classification of weather types observed in Krakow during the 20th century on days with particularly strong highs. The classification was based on daily values of a number of weather elements recorded at Krakow's Historic Weather Station during the period 1901–2000. Days with very high pressure were defined as those with an air pressure at 12 UTC equal to or greater than the 99th percentile of all the cases analysed (≥1037.5 hPa). A slightly modified version of a classification developed by Woś ( 1999 ) was used to determine weather types on each of the days identified. Very high pressure was found to have occurred solely during the cold half of the year (October–March). It was mostly accompanied by fairly frosty (9---) or moderately frosty (8---) weather types; subtype: sunny or with little cloud amount and very sunny (-02-) and very cloudy, without sunshine or with little sunshine (-20-); and weather class: without fog (---0). No significant annual or seasonal trends were found in the occurrence of days with very high pressure or in the various weather types. Copyright © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society