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Recent climate change is most clearly manifested in rising global temperatures, with regionally amplified warming observed in Central Europe, including its mountainous areas. This study analyses trends in mean annual and seasonal air temperatures and evaluates the influence of atmospheric circulation on temperature extremes in Central European mountains during 1961–2025, comparing the periods 1961–1990 and 1991–2025. Homogenised station-based temperature data from the Czech and Slovak Hydrometeorological Institutes were combined with ERA5 geopotential height fields at the 850 hPa level to characterise atmospheric circulation. The results show a statistically significant increase in mean annual temperatures across all mountain ranges, ranging from 0.28 °C/10 years in the Bohemian Forest to 0.44 °/10 years in the East Slovak Mountains, with a pronounced west–east gradient in warming intensity. Changes in atmospheric circulation are characterised by an increasing frequency of anticyclonic types and a decrease in cyclonic circulation, particularly during spring and summer. Extremely warm days became more frequent, while extremely cold days generally declined. A decomposition analysis revealed that these changes were driven primarily by changes in the thermal characteristics of individual circulation types rather than by changes in circulation-type frequency. Changes in circulation-type frequency played a secondary role, although increasing anticyclonic circulation contributed to the occurrence of warm extremes, particularly during summer. This study contributes to a better understanding of temperature extremes in Central European mountains and the relative roles of circulation changes and thermodynamic warming.