Session 5: Assessing the Recent Low Activity of European Windstorms: Have we just been lucky?

The presentation explored whether Europe’s recent low windstorm activity reflects a true risk shift or just a temporary lull. Findings highlighted the complexity of cyclone trends, data quality issues before 1979, and the absence of evidence that high-loss periods like the 1990s cannot recur. Using ~1,750 historical storms, catastrophe models generate perturbed scenarios to provide a more complete view for risk assessment.