Article history: Received 7 December 2007 Received in revised form 29 August 2008 Accepted 20 September 2008 This study summarizes the current severe thunderstorm warning and forecast operations in different European National Hydro-Meteorological Services (NHMSs), and, in doing so, suggests ways for countries developing their own warning service to learn from experiences in other countries, as ...

The objective of the study was to assess the effects of a dog-appeasing pheromone (DAP) collar in reducing sound-induced fear and anxiety in a laboratory model of thunderstorm simulation. Twenty-four beagle dogs naïve to the current test were divided into two treatment groups (DAP and placebo) balanced on their fear score in response to a thunderstorm recording. Each group was then exposed to t...

The North-eastern part of Italy is known to be one of the most rainy regions in Europe. In this paper three extreme events are analysed, using a multi-sensor observing system including a weather radar and a dense telemetric network of surface stations, recording precipitation, wind, temperature and relative humidity. The cases examined comprise two long lasting rainfall events impacting two dis...

During the first 20–30 min of a thunderstorm, patients suffering from pollen allergy may inhale a high concentration of the allergenic material that is dispersed into the atmosphere, which in turn can induce (severe) asthmatic reactions in some cases [3–6]. Even though thunderstorms can induce severe asthma attacks or exacerbations, they are neither frequent nor responsible for a high amount of...

The North East (NE) region of India is prone to severe thunderstorm during pre monsoon period. These premonsoon precipitations are measured at Guwahati (26 17’ N, 91 77’ E) using a laser based particle size and velocity (PARSIVEL) disdrometer from 15 April to 31 May 2010 under a national field campaign named Severe Thunderstorm Observational and Regional Modeling (STORM). For the improved under...

VOLUME 16, NUMBER 2, 2007 LINCOLN LABORATORY JOURNAL 263 Thunderstorms are a dominant cause of commercial-aircraft delays in the United States and their impact is worsening, as shown in Figure 1. Although they are highly dynamic and are difficult to forecast over multi-hour time periods, these thunderstorms do not normally completely shut down airspace. Their effects, however, are fundamentally...

The fifth report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecasts that greenhouse gases will increase the global temperature as well as the frequency of extreme weather phenomena. An increasing body of evidence shows the occurrence of severe asthma epidemics during thunderstorms in the pollen season, in various geographical zones. The main hypotheses explaining association betw...

OBJECTIVES To describe the demand for emergency medical assistance during the largest outbreak of thunderstorm asthma reported globally, which occurred on 21 November 2016. DESIGN A time series analysis was conducted of emergency medical service caseload between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2016. Demand during the thunderstorm asthma event was compared to historical trends for the overall p...