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Abstract.One of the aims of the MEDEX project is to improve the knowledge of high-impact weather events in the Mediterranean. According to the guidelines of this project, a pilot study was carried out in two regions of Spain (the Balearic Islands and Catalonia) by the Social Impact Research group of MEDEX. The main goal is to suggest some general and suitable criteria about how to analyse requests received in Meteorological Services arising out of the damage caused by weather events. Thus, all the requests received between 2000 and 2002 at the Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya as well as at the Division of AEMET in the Balearic Islands were analysed.Firstly, the proposed criteria in order to build the database are defined and discussed. Secondly, the temporal distribution of the requests for damage claims is analysed. On average, almost half of them were received during the first month after the event happened. During the first six months, the percentage increases by 90%. Thirdly, various factors are taken into account to determine the impact of specific events on society. It is remarkable that the greatest number of requests is for those episodes with simultaneous heavy rain and strong wind, and finally, those that are linked to high population density.

Abstract. In the assessment of social impact caused by meteorological events, factors of different natures need to be considered. Not only does hazard itself determine the impact that a severe weather event has on society, but also other features related to vulnerability and exposure.The requests of data related to insurance claims received in meteorological services proved to be a good indicator of the social impact that a weather event causes, according to studies carried out by the Social Impact Research Group, created within the framework of the MEDEX project. Taking these requests as proxy data, diverse aspects connected to the impact of heavy rain events have been studied.The rainfall intensity, in conjunction with the population density, has established itself as one of the key factors in social impact studies. One of the conclusions we obtained is that various thresholds of rainfall should be applied for areas of varying populations. In this study, the role of rainfall intensity has been analysed for a highly populated urban area like Barcelona. A period without significant population changes has been selected for the study to minimise the effects linked to vulnerability and exposure modifications. First, correlations between rainfall recorded in different time intervals and requests were carried out. Afterwards, a method to include the intensity factor in the social impact index was suggested based on return periods given by intensity-durationfrequency (IDF) curves.

Abstract. The benefit of having a daily synoptic weather type catalogue and even more, a detailed catalogue for high impact weather events is well recognised by both climatologist and meteorologist communities. In this way the Meteorological Service of Catalonia (SMC) has produced some accurate classifications for extreme events, such as hailstorms or strong winds (SW). Within the framework of the MEDEX project, the SMC has been collaborating to increase the level of awareness about these events. Following this line of work, the aim of this study is to characterise the SW events in Catalonia.According to the guidelines of the MEDEX project we worked with its SW event database for the period June 1995 to May 2004. We also used the period 2005-2009 to test the methodology. The methodology is based on principal component, cluster and discriminant analyses and applied to four variables: SLP, temperature at 850 hPa and geopotential at 500 hPa on a synoptic-scale and local gust wind. We worked with ERA-Interim reanalysis and applied discriminant analysis to test the quality of the methodology and to classify the events of the validation period.We found seven patterns for the SW events. The strongest event corresponds to NW-Flow with the Azores Anticyclone and the passing of a low pressure through the Pyrenees. This methodology has distinguished the summer events in an independent cluster. The results obtained encourage us to follow this line of work.