ABSTRACT. - The influence of precipitation and air temperature on perennial ice accumulations in Scărişoara Ice cave. Recent increase of global air temperature has played an important role in the retreat of both mountain and polar glaciers and ice sheets. Perennial ice accumulations in caves also respond in a sensitive manner to changes in climatic parameters, especially air temperature and rainfall amount, but the role and importance of these two factors is still in debate. In this paper, we asses the dynamics of ice in Scărişoara Ice Cave (Romania) in relation to external climatic forcing. We show that there is an important difference between surface and cave glaciers in terms of response to the recent climate changes, i.e. (opposite to surface ice bodies), mild winters and rainy autumns are favorable for ice formation, while warm and dry summers determine the preservation of accumulated ice.