The role of serial European windstorm clustering for extreme seasonal losses as determined from multi-centennial simulations of high-resolution global climate model data

Priestley, Matthew D. K.; Dacre, Helen F.; Shaffrey, Len C.; Hodges, Kevin I.; Pinto, Joaquim G.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-2991-2018

Articles | Volume 18, issue 11

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-2991-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-2991-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 11

Research article

|

12 Nov 2018

Research article |

| 12 Nov 2018

The role of serial European windstorm clustering for extreme seasonal losses as determined from multi-centennial simulations of high-resolution global climate model data

Matthew D. K. Priestley, Helen F. Dacre, Len C. Shaffrey, Kevin I. Hodges, and Joaquim G. Pinto

Data sets

Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 10 Center for International Earth Science Information Network - CIESIN - Columbia University https://doi.org/10.7927/H4DZ068D

The ERA-Interim reanalysis: Configuration and performance of the data assimilation system D. P. Dee, S. M. Uppala, A. J. Simmons, P. Berrisford, P. Poli, S. Kobayashi, U. Andrae, M. A. Balmaseda, G. Balsamo, P. Bauer, P. Bechtold, A. C. M. Beljaars, L. van de Berg, J. Bidlot, N. Bormann, C. Delsol, R. Dragani, M. Fuentes, A. J. Geer, L. Haimberger, S. B. Healy, H. Hersbach, E. V. Hólm, L. Isaksen, P. Kållberg, M. Köhler, M. Matricardi, A. P. McNally, B. M. Monge‐Sanz, J.‐J. Morcrette, B.‐K. Park, C. Peubey, P. de Rosnay, C. Tavolato, J.‐N. Thépaut, and F. Vitart https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.828

Short summary

This study investigates the role of the clustering of extratropical cyclones in driving wintertime wind losses across a large European region. To do this over 900 years of climate model data have been used and analysed. The main conclusion of this work is that cyclone clustering acts to increase wind-driven losses in the winter by 10 %–20 % when compared to the losses from a random series of cyclones, with this specifically being for the higher loss years.