CZEXWED: The unified Czech extreme weather database

0567748 - ÚFA 2024 RIV NL eng J - Journal Article
Kašpar, Marek - Müller, Miloslav - Bližňák, Vojtěch - Valeriánová, A.
CZEXWED: The unified Czech extreme weather database.
Weather and Climate Extremes. Roč. 39, Mar (2023), č. článku 100540. ISSN 2212-0947. E-ISSN 2212-0947
R&D Projects: GA MŠMT(CZ) LTC19043; GA TA ČR(CZ) SS02030040
Institutional support: RVO:68378289
Keywords : Weather extreme * Weather extremity index * Meteorological database
OECD category: Meteorology and atmospheric sciences
Impact factor: 8, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212094722001190?via%3Dihub

A crucial step in developing a strategy against natural hazards is the analysis of weather extremes in the past. Due to the multiplication of their impacts when occurring in a larger area, we strongly recommend not evaluating the extremes only at individual sites but assessing regional extreme weather events. The presented Czech Extreme Weather Database (CZEXWED) comprises six types of extreme events, namely, heat waves, cold waves, air temperature drops, windstorms, heavy precipitation events, and heavy snowfalls. To date, it covers the period 1961-2020. To minimize methodological differences in the process of evaluating various types of extreme weather events including compound events, we employed the weather extremity index (WEI), a universal in-dicator based on the evaluation of return periods of relevant variables. Each event is characterized not only by the WEI value but also by its spatial extent and duration.Heat and cold waves in Czechia generally reach higher WEI values than other types of extreme weather because they usually affect larger areas. The number and extremity of heat waves are increasing significantly, while the opposite may be true for cold waves and windstorms. Air temperature drops defined by declines in daily maximum air temperature are frequent in the warm half-year, but three of four top events occurred in January. Windstorms and heavy precipitation events prevailed in the cold and warm half-years, respectively, but weaker events of these types also occurred during the opposite season. A comparison of CZEXWED with event lists from the wider Central European region shows that Czech and Central European extreme events correspond well with each other.
Permanent Link: https://hdl.handle.net/11104/0339007