The XWS open access catalogue of extreme European windstorms from 1979–2012

Abstract

Abstract. The XWS (eXtreme WindStorms) catalogue consists of storm tracks and model-generated maximum three-second wind-gust footprints for 50 of the most extreme winter windstorms to hit Europe over 1979–2012. The catalogue is intended to be a valuable resource for both academia and industries such as (re)insurance, for example allowing users to characterise extreme European storms, and validate climate and catastrophe models. Several storm severity indices were investigated to find which could best represent a list of known high loss (severe) storms. The best performing index was Sft, which is a combination of storm area calculated from the storm footprint and maximum 925 hPa wind speed from the storm track. All the listed severe storms are included in the catalogue, and the remaining ones were selected using Sft. A comparison of the model footprint to station observations revealed that storms were generally well represented, although for some storms the highest gusts were underestimated due to the model not simulating strong enough pressure gradients. A new recalibration method was developed to estimate the true distribution of gusts at each grid point and correct for this underestimation. The recalibration model allows for storm-to-storm variation which is essential given that different storms have different degrees of model bias. The catalogue is available at http:///www.europeanwindstorms.org/.

The dynamics of suspended particulate matter (SPM) and chlorophyll- a from intratidal to annual time scales in a coastal turbidity maximum

“…In September 2011 ex-hurricane Katia caused wind speeds > 9 Bft and Hs > 4 m followed by an extremely calm November, and an extremely turbulent December with an average wave height in the intermediate category. Winter 2011-2012 had twice as many storms as normal with four cyclone passings over the North Sea (Roberts et al, 2014), followed by milder wave conditions than normal in and storm (Hs > 3.5 m) of 10-years of data.…”

Spatial patterns and time distribution of central European extreme precipitation events between 1961 and 2013

“…However, apart from the magnitude and the event duration, the extremity of an event has an important aspect of the spatial extent of the precipitation (Müller and Kašpar, ), which should be taken into account. The involvement of the affected area in the evaluation of the event extremity is common even in the case of other meteorological phenomena, for example, heat waves (Lhotka and Kyselý, ; Valeriánová et al ., ) or windstorms (Roberts et al ., ; Kašpar et al ., ). On the other hand, a regional evaluation technique is often prone to the choice of the study area and its extent (Konrad, ).…”

The variability of maximum wind gusts in the Czech Republic between 1961 and 2014

“…Jungo et al (), utilizing data from the storms known as ‘Vivian’ (26–27 February 1990) and ‘Lothar’ (26 December 1999), presented a method for determining the probability of occurrence for daily wind gusts as a function of daily mean wind speed on the basis of three types of synoptic situation in Switzerland. More recently, Roberts et al () published a catalogue of 50 extreme European windstorms from the October–March 1979–2012 period, giving tracks for each of them, together with model‐generated maximum 3‐s gust footprints and recalibrated footprints.…”