• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

RealClimate

Climate science from climate scientists...

  • Start here
  • Model-Observation Comparisons
  • Miscellaneous Climate Graphics
  • Surface temperature graphics
You are here: Home / Extras / Glossary / Medieval Warm Period (“MWP”)

Medieval Warm Period (“MWP”)

28 Nov 2004 by group

Period of relative warmth in some regions of the Northern Hemisphere in comparison with the subsequent several centuries. Also referred to as the Medieval Warm Epoch (MWE). As with the ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA), no well-defined precise date range exists. The dates A.D. 900–1300 cover most ranges generally used in the literature. Origin is difficult to track down, but it is believed to have been first used in the 1960s (probably by Lamb in 1965). As with the LIA, the attribution of the term at regional scales is complicated by significant regional variations in temperature changes, and the utility of the term in describing regional climate changes in past centuries has been questioned in the literature. As with the LIA, numerous myths can still be found in the literature with regard to the details of this climate period. These include the citation of the cultivation of vines in Medieval England, and the settlement of Iceland and southwestern Greenland about 1000 years ago, as evidence of unusual warmth at this time. As noted by Jones and Mann (2004) [Jones, P.D., Mann, M.E., Climate Over Past Millennia, Reviews of Geophysics, 42, RG2002, doi: 10.1029/2003RG000143, 2004], arguments that such evidence supports anomalous global warmth during this time period is based on faulty logic and/or misinterpretations of the available evidence.

Filed Under: Glossary

Primary Sidebar

Search

Search for:

Email Notification

get new posts sent to you automatically (free)
Loading

Recent Posts

  • Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • This new El Niño is different
  • Unforced Variations: July 2026
  • Unforced Variations: June 2026
  • “The Arctic Council is not dead”
  • Scenarios, schmenarios…

Our Books

Book covers
This list of books since 2005 (in reverse chronological order) that we have been involved in, accompanied by the publisher’s official description, and some comments of independent reviewers of the work.
All Books >>

Recent Comments

  • Chuck on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • Dean Rovang on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • KM on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • MA Rodger on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • Dredd Blog on This new El Niño is different
  • KM on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • KM on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • KM on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • b fagan on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • Barton Paul Levenson on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • Barton Paul Levenson on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • EarthClimate on This new El Niño is different
  • Adam Lea on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • Ken Fabian on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • Douglas Cotton on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • Nabil Swedan on This new El Niño is different
  • E. Schaffer on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • Tomáš Kalisz on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • John Pollack on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • Tomáš Kalisz on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • Tomáš Kalisz on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • Paul Pukite (@whut) on This new El Niño is different
  • Paul Pukite (@whut) on This new El Niño is different
  • EarthClimate on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • E. Schaffer on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • E. Schaffer on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • E. Schaffer on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • Piotr on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • Piotr on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026
  • Barton Paul Levenson on Unforced Variations: Aug 2026

Footer

ABOUT

  • About
  • Translations
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Page
  • Login

DATA AND GRAPHICS

  • Data Sources
  • Model-Observation Comparisons
  • Surface temperature graphics
  • Miscellaneous Climate Graphics

INDEX

  • Acronym index
  • Index
  • Archives
  • Contributors

Realclimate Stats

1,411 posts

15 pages

252,394 comments

Copyright © 2026 · RealClimate is a commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists.