The December 2014 glaze event in the Czech Republic: predictability and impacts

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

Dolák

et al. 2021

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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Section: The Broader Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci.

Dolák

et al. 2021

show abstract

“…Huth (1993) studied differences in circulation patterns between cold and mild winters. Popolanský (1996) analysed long-term series of maximum annual weights of ice deposit at the Studnice station, and Kakos et al (2000) investigated synoptic situations favourable for hard rime at the Milešovka station in 1989-1996. Zahradníček et al (2018 analysed the glaze event from December 2014 with respect to its predictability and impacts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Zahradníček et al . (2018) analysed the glaze event from December 2014 with respect to its predictability and impacts. The winter cold waves also contribute to the increased mortality in the Czech Republic, as pointed out, for example, by Kyselý et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Severity of winters in the Czech Republic during the 1961–2021 period and related environmental impacts and responses

Zahradníček

Intl Journal of Climatology

et al. 2023

This paper analyses temperature and snow patterns of winters (December–February) averaged for the territory of the Czech Republic during the 1961–2021 period and their broad environmental impacts and responses. Series of mean, maximum, minimum, absolute maximum and absolute minimum temperatures show significant increasing linear trends, while decreasing trends were detected in numbers of frost, ice and extremely cold days, duration of cold waves, snowfall days, sums of heights of new snow, days with snow depths ≥1 cm, mean and maximum snow depths. The winter severity, derived from five temperature and five snow variables and expressed by temperature/snow scores, indicates decreasing severity of winters for 1961–2021, in which temperature severity is more pronounced than that of snow. Decreasing winter severity is in line with decreasing frequency of cyclonic and directional circulation types according to objective classification, while the trend in anticyclonic types was opposite. Types with maritime airflow from the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean contribute to milder and types with continental airflow from the east to colder winters. The coldest winters, 1962/1963 and 1984/1985, and the mildest winters, 2006/2007 and 2019/2020, were analysed in greater detail. Concerning of different analysed environmental impacts, they are influenced not only by severe winter weather, but also by political, socioeconomic and general environmental changes in the country. In line with decreasing winter severity were only statistically significant decreasing trends in proportions of traffic accidents connected with snow and glaze ice on the roads and volumes of damaged wood due to high weights of snow and ice deposit, expressed as salvage felling. Series of other environmental impacts (e.g., fatalities attributed to weather, impacts on the economy and society) reflect rather severity of individual winters and express high interannual variability without any representative trends.

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Weather and traffic accidents in the Czech Republic, 1979–2020

Zahradníček

et al. 2022

Theor Appl Climatol