Extreme weather events and changes in their probability in the recent past draw a lot of attention because of their great social and economic impacts. Their correlation with large-scale climate oscillations was a subject of numerous studies over the past period. The subject of this study are variations of positive and negative winter temperature and pressure extremes in Europe, variations of positive and negative temperature extremes in the Adriatic and the Gulf of Genoa and their correlation with changes in phases of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and East Atlantic Oscillation (EAO). Period is from 1969 to 2005. Data analysed is taken from UERRA (Uncertainties in Ensembles of Regional Re-Analyses) HARMONIE (HIRLAM ALADIN Regional/Mesoscale Operational NWP in Europe) V1 reanalysis, NOAA's (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and DHMZ's (Državni Hidrometeorološki Zavod; or Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service) data bases. Empirical orthogonal functions are used to study spatial modes of temperature and pressure variability and their change in time. It is found that changes in NAO and EAO phases are closely connected with air and sea temperatures and mean sea level pressure winter extremes over the observed areas and specific spatial patterns of these correlations are determined.