Spatiotemporal variability of tornadoes in the Czech Lands, 1801–2017

Brázdil, Rudolf; Chromá, Kateřina; Dolák, Lukáš; Kotyza, Oldřich; Řezníčková, Ladislava; Dobrovolný, Petr; Černoch, Zbyněk

doi:10.1007/s00704-018-2553-y

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…In this situation, their presence tends to be reflected in documentary sources of various kinds that facilitate the creation of datasets of information about weather and related phenomena as the basic platform for historical climatology [64,65]. Information about tornadoes has to be derived from a range of documentary sources that contain indications and descriptions of events of interest (narrative sources such as annals, diaries and chronicles, taxation reports, newspapers, reports published by scientific societies, pictorial evidence, special reports, and websites-see [62]). Tornado data already collected for other publications [61,62] have been extended herein by further searches within documentary sources, particularly newspapers.…”

Section: Documentary Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Information about tornadoes has to be derived from a range of documentary sources that contain indications and descriptions of events of interest (narrative sources such as annals, diaries and chronicles, taxation reports, newspapers, reports published by scientific societies, pictorial evidence, special reports, and websites-see [62]). Tornado data already collected for other publications [61,62] have been extended herein by further searches within documentary sources, particularly newspapers.…”

Section: Documentary Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The analysis addresses their spatiotemporal variability, material damage and casualties done, dynamic climatology, and the environmental conditions associated with them. This paper is an extension of work already published by Brázdil et al [61,62]. Section 2 presents the documentary and meteorological data employed in this study and describes approaches to their analysis.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…A chronology developed by Setvák et al [58] was progressively and significantly extended by researchers from Masaryk University, Brno, as one of the outcomes of their broader historical-climatological research. Tornadoes became a part of their analyses of strong winds in the Czech Lands [59,60] and considerably extended tornado chronologies for the Czech Republic were analyzed and published by Brázdil et al [61,62].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Climatology of Significant Tornadoes in the Czech Republic

Brázdil

Chromá

Púčik³

et al. 2020

Atmosphere

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In the Czech Republic, tornadoes may reach an intensity of F2 and F3 on the Fujita scale, causing “considerable” to “severe” damage. Documentary evidence is sufficient to allow the creation of a chronology of such events, from the earliest recorded occurrence in 1119 CE (Common Era) to 2019, including a total of 108 proven or probable significant tornadoes on 90 separate days. Since only 11 significant tornadoes were documented before 1800, this basic analysis centers around the 1811–2019 period, during which 97 tornadoes were recorded. Their frequency of occurrence was at its highest in the 1921–1930, 1931–1940, and 2001–2010 decades. In terms of annual variations, they took place most frequently in July, June, and August (in order of frequency), while daily variation favored the afternoon and early evening hours. Conservative estimates of human casualties mention 8 fatalities and over 95 people injured. The most frequent types of damage were related to buildings, individual trees, and forests. Tornadoes of F2–F3 intensity were particularly associated with synoptic types characterized by airflow from the western quadrant together with troughs of low pressure extending or advancing over central Europe. Based on parameters calculated from the ERA-5 re-analysis for the period of 1979–2018, most of these tornadoes occurred over a wide range of Convective Available Potential Energy (CAPE) values and moderate-to-strong vertical wind shear. The discussion herein also addresses uncertainties in tornado selection from documentary data, the broader context of Czech significant tornadoes, and the environmental conditions surrounding their origins.

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Section: Documentary Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Documentary Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Climatology of Significant Tornadoes in the Czech Republic

Brázdil

Chromá

Púčik³

et al. 2020

Atmosphere

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“…Climate variability in recent decades, as documented by many climatological papers (see e.g. Brázdil et al, 2017Brázdil et al, , 2019aZahradníček et al, 2021), and socio-economic factors, as mentioned for weather-related car accidents in the previous paragraph, all have parts to play. Each individual fatality is a synergy of different, largely random circumstances, including hazardous behaviour in many cases.…”

Section: The Broader Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fatalities associated with the severe weather conditions in the Czech Republic, 2000–2019

Brázdil

Chromá

Dolák

et al. 2021

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. This paper presents an analysis of fatalities attributable to weather conditions in the Czech Republic during the 2000–2019 period. The database of fatalities deployed contains information extracted from Právo, a leading daily newspaper, and Novinky.cz, its internet equivalent, supplemented by a number of other documentary sources. The analysis is performed for floods, windstorms, convective storms, rain, snow, glaze ice, frost, heat, and fog. For each of them, the associated fatalities are investigated in terms of annual frequencies, trends, annual variation, spatial distribution, cause, type, place, and time as well as the sex, age, and behaviour of casualties. There were 1164 weather-related fatalities during the 2000–2019 study period, exhibiting a statistically significant falling trend. Those attributable to frost (31 %) predominated, followed by glaze ice, rain, and snow. Fatalities were at their maximum in January and December and at their minimum in April and September. Fatalities arising out of vehicle accidents (48 %) predominated in terms of structure, followed by freezing or hypothermia (30 %). Most deaths occurred during the night. Adults (65 %) and males (72 %) accounted for the majority of fatalities, while indirect fatalities were more frequent than direct ones (55 % to 45 %). Hazardous behaviour accounted for 76 %. According to the database of the Czech Statistical Office, deaths caused by exposure to excessive natural cold are markedly predominant among five selected groups of weather-related fatalities, and their numbers exhibit a statistically significant rise during 2000–2019. Police yearbooks of the fatalities arising out of vehicle accidents indicate significantly decreasing trends in the frequency of inclement weather patterns associated with fatal accidents as well as a decrease in their percentage in annual numbers of fatalities. The discussion of results includes the problems of data uncertainty, comparison of different data sources, and the broader context.

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