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Wind — severe windstorms

Page Last modified 19 Nov 2021
1 min read
Severe windstorms can cause widespread damage to forests, buildings, and transport and energy infrastructure. High winds at sea contribute to storm surges, which can be destructive for coastal regions. Storms were the costliest natural hazard in terms of insured losses in Europe, with the highest impacts in north-western Europe, especially in coastal areas.

Key messages


  • Limited data and inherent weaknesses in current climate models make projections for extreme wind more uncertain than for other climate hazards.
  • There is moderate confidence in projections that the frequency and intensity of storms will increase in northern and central Europe. For southern Europe, storm intensity is expected to increase but with a decrease in their frequency.

Extreme wind speed days

Definition

The extreme wind speed days index counts the number of days with daily maximum wind speeds above the 98th percentile, computed over the reference period. Variants of the index can adopt different percentile-based thresholds for identifying the extreme conditions.

Index factsheet (ETC/CCA Technical Paper): Extreme wind speed days

Relevance

The index can be easily interpreted and used in applications related to the design and maintenance of buildings, energy and transport infrastructure, and forest management.

Past and projected changes

Because of the limited availability of data from observations and the high degree of uncertainty associated with model projections of extreme wind speed, this index is not currently covered in any Copernicus Climate Change Service (CS3) Climate Data Store (CDS) data set.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report (IPCC, 2021: Climate change information for regional impact and for risk assessment, Section 12.4.5) finds with medium confidence that the frequency and intensity of storms, including strong winds and extra-tropical storms, is likely to increase in northern and central Europe. For southern Europe, storm intensity is expected to increase and storm frequency to decrease.

Chapters of the Europe's changing climate hazards report

  1. Heat and cold

  2. Wet and dry

  3. Wind

  4. Snow and ice

  5. Coastal

  6. Open ocean

                                                                               

Back to main page of the report

Related content

Related briefings

Briefing What will the future bring when it comes to climate hazards? - Overview A carefully selected set of indices covering the main climate-related hazards for Europe has been put together from available data sources by experts in the field. These 32 indices are organised according to 16 hazards and are grouped into six categories consistent with the ‘climatic impact drivers’ adopted in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report. These categories and the key take-home messages from the EEA’s interactive report on Europe’s changing climate hazards are found below.
Briefing Europe’s changing climate hazards — about the report Europe’s changing climate hazards report lets users explore the latest data on 32 climate hazard indices. It provides the big picture and also the detailed information needed for smarter decision-making to prevent the worst impacts of climate change from affecting communities and regions across Europe. Here, we show how information can help Europe tackle the hazards created by man-made climate change.

See also

Page National and transnational climate atlases in Europe Many European countries have developed national ‘climate atlases’ (or ‘climate portals’) with spatially explicit information on past and projected climate change. These atlases inform the development and implementation of climate change adaptation plans and strategies, and provide complementary information to pan-European sources, including the indices presented in the Europe’s changing climate hazards report and the European Climate Data Explorer. The national atlases often use more detailed models and observations, and they can contextualise information on the changing climate in terms of regional environmental and socio-economic conditions in the local language(s).
Folder Open ocean From this page you can access all the indices related to Open ocean.
Folder Coastal From this page, you can access all indices related to coastal hazards.
Folder Snow and ice From this page, you can access all the indices related to snow and ice hazards.
Folder Wind From this page, you can access all indices related to wind hazards.
Folder Wet and dry From this page, you can access all indices related to wet and dry hazards.
Folder Heat and cold From this page, you can access all indices on Heat and cold hazards.

Permalinks

Geographic coverage

For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/europes-changing-climate-hazards-1/wind/wind-severe-windstorms or scan the QR code.

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