Airtemperatureisakeyindexreflectingclimatechange.Airtemperatureextremesareveryimportantbecausetheystronglyinfluencethenaturalenvironmentandsocietalactivities.TheArcticairtemperatureextremesnorthof60°Nareinvestigatedinthewinter.Dailydatafrom238stationsatnorthof60°Nfromtheglobalsummaryofthedayfortheperiod1979–2015areusedtostudythetrendsofcolddays,coldnights,warmdaysandwarmnightsduringthewintertime.Theresultsshowadecreasingtrendofcolddaysandnights(rateof–0.2to–0.3d/a)andanincreasingtrendofwarmdaysandnights(rateof+0.2to+0.3d/a)intheArctic.Themeantemperatureincreases,whichcontributestotheincreasing(decreasing)occurrenceofwarm(cold)daysandnights.Ontheotherhand,thevarianceatmoststationsdecreased,leadingtoareducednumberofcoldevents.ApositiveAO(ArcticOscillation)indexleadstoanincreased(decreased)numberofwarm(cold)daysandnightsovernorthernEuropeandwesternRussiaandanincreased(decreased)numberofcold(warm)daysandnightsovertheBeringStraitandGreenland.ThelowerextentofArcticautumnseaiceleadstoadecreasednumberofcolddaysandnights.TheoccurrencesofabruptchangesaredetectedusingtheMann-KendallmethodforcoldnightsoccurringinCanadain1998andforwarmnightsoccurringinnorthwesternEurasiain1988.ThisabruptchangemainlyresultedfromthemeanwarminginducedbysouthwindsandanincreasedNorthAtlanticseasurfacetemperature.
