Storm Friederike (Western and Central Europe)

On 18th January 2018, on the same day of the week and date as Orkan "Kyrill" in 2007, hurricane "Friederike" swept over a broad strip of Benelux across Germany to Poland. The gusts reached hurricane strength down to the lowlands (138 km/h in Gera), on the Brocken in the Harz was 204 km/h and the nationwide record gusts during "Kyrill" (202 km/h, Wendelstein) was exceeded.

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Excessive Indian Monsoon

Localized excessive rain amounts related to 2017 Indian summer monsoon led to devastating flooding in some parts of northern and north eastern India as well as in parts of Nepal and Bangla Desh. The death toll rose to more than 2000 people. Torrential rain made buildings collapsing and left part of cities underwater. Furthermore, vast areas of land were flooded in the state of Uttar Pradesh, thousands of villages were submerged and flooding affected millions of people.

However, overall averaged rain amounts for India didn’t show unusual values. Also the timing of the onset of the monsoon was pretty much what has to expected on average.

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Winterstorm 'Egon', Western and Central Europe

A strong frontal zone developed above the Atlantic Ocean at the 10th and 11th of January 2017. The resulting ground depression "Egon" moved, while strenghtening, from Brittany across Belgium to Lower Saxony in the morning of the 13th of January. The weather station on the Weinbiet in Rhineland-Palatinate measured a gust with 148 km/h. Besides strong wind, heavy snowfall on the northern part of the depression caused substantial traffic obstruction resulting in numerous accidents in the southern and central part of Germany. Storm and Snow caused damage to buildings, power lines and parking cars.

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Amatrice Earthquake, Central Italy

On the 24^th of August in 2016 an earthquake hit the regions Rieti and Ascoli Piceno in Italy at 01:36:32 UTC. The most impact was in Amatrice, Accumoli and Pescara & Arquata del Tronto. The Epicenter was located at 42.704 latitude and 13.238 longitude. The Hypocenter was located at 4.2 km depth. The magnitude 6.0 (Mw) earthquake lasted for 15 seconds. The sad results of the disaster are 268 death, 400 severe injured, 4000+ sheltered homeless. (status: 26.08.2016 – 16:00 GMT)

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Extreme Rain Event, Central Europe

An extreme rain event in Central Europe from the 19^th to the 21^st of November in 2015 was caused by the low pressure systems "Iwan", "Kunibert" and "Jürgen". 150-200 mm of water fell within the 36 to 48-hour event (start around 11 UTC), which is extraordinary. Considering the 24 period (00 to 00 UTC), the Feldberg rain amount was a new record. Nevertheless, the enormous high rain amounts had only minor impacts because nearly all rivers in Bavaria, Baden - Württemberg and Switzerland were at low water before the rain event. (status: 23.11.2015 – 13:00 GMT)

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Greece Earthquake

On the 17^th of November in 2015 an earthquake hit the island Levkas in Greece at 07:10:09.1 UTC. The Epicenter was located at 38.66 latitude and 20.6 longitude. The Hypocenter was located at 10 km depth. The magnitude 6.4 (Mw) earthquake lasted for 50 seconds. In southern Lefkas Island, there have been 20 uninhabitable, 120 houses damaged, with one death coming from a collapsed stable. On Ithaka, 40 houses were damaged and on Kefalonia there were also reports of building damages. (status: 23.11.2015)

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Chile Earthquake

On the 16^th of September in 2015 an earthquake hit the regions Coquimbo and Valparaiso in Chile at 22:54:33 UTC. The Epicenter was located at -31.57 latitude and -71.65 longitude. The Hypocenter was located at a depth of 25 km. The magnitude 8.3 (Mw) earthquake lasted for 80 seconds. Based on news reports, there had been minor damage to buildings in various locations, landslides and tsunami inundation damage close to the epicenter. (status: 17.09.2015 – 05:30 GMT)

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Winterstorm 'Xaver', Germany/Denmark/Great Britain

Storm “Xaver” developed on 4^th of December in 2013 in a zone of high horizontal temperature contrast between Newfoundland and Greenland. During continuous intensification, the storm moved further over Scotland to Southern Sweden on 5^th -6^th of December
Highest gust speeds were measured over Scotland (228 km/h; Aonach Mor, 1130 m) and over Germany (max: 185 km/h, Sylt).
Gale wind force from the north over a long-term period of > 24 hrs in connection with high astronomical tides due to new moon caused high water level at the Elbe River. In Hamburg, the water level (St. Pauli) was 4 m over the mean high water, which was near the historic flood event 1962. (status: 06.12.2013, 19:00 CET)

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Philippines (Bohol) Earthquake

On the 15^th of October in 2013 an Earthquake hit the islands Bohol and Cebu in the Philippines at 12:12:31 UTC. The Epicenter was located at 9.86 latitude and 124.07 longitude. The Hypocenter was located at a depth of 12 km. The magnitude 7.2 (Mw) earthquake lasted for 30 seconds. The counting of buildings destroyed has not been undertaken with only a few houses included in the current count of 10020 destroyed and 35621 damaged. Based on families displaced, this value could be up to at least 15000 destroyed.
There are currently 222 dead and 8 missing reported. (status: 02.11.2013, 14:00 GMT)

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Typhoon 'Saola', Philippines and Taiwan

Extensive flooding, landslides, more than 30 fatalities, many injuries, thousands of homeless people- this is the result (first estimation) of the tropical cyclone (TC) Saola that crossed first over the Philippines and afterwards over Taiwan in the period from 28th July to 3rd August 2012. TC Saola moved very slowly over Taiwan, leading to extreme precipitation totals in excess of 1000 mm in 48 h at some stations. The track of Saola including the huge precipitation totals were not properly predicted by the weather forecast models.

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