Croatia has had a summer we can only describe as apocalyptic.
From wildfires and drought in Dalmatia to multiple heavy storms all over the country and recent floods in Zadar and Nin, the poor land went through a lot in recent months. Having that in mind, it’s only appropriate for a conference on serious weather conditions to take place in these parts.
Pula is currently hosting the 9th international European Conference on Severe Storms (ECSS 2017). The five-day conference is organised by the Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service (DHMZ) and the European Severe Storms Laboratory (ESSL), reports Morski.hr on September 19, 2017.
The conference will deal with topics such as thunderstorms and climatology of dangerous weather conditions, their socioeconomic effect, and risk adjustment management.
As thunderstorms present a potential threat to human lives and property, infrastructure adjustment is considered vital for prevention of possible damages. However, time and place of storm formation remains to be hard to establish in advance, making for one of the greatest challenges in meteorology.
Head of DHMZ Nataša Strelec Mahović stated that formation of storms cannot be affected in any way. “There are places in Croatia more susceptible to thunderstorms, places they are more likely to appear; the area of Kvarner, Istria and the western part of Croatia in general are very sensitive to thunderstorms, as certain cyclones that pass over these parts bring the largest quantities of rain and thunder”, said Strelec Mahović, adding that the most extreme situations used to take place once every thirty years. “If they start to appear every other year, that is going to present a major problem. That is something we need to talk about on the state level, and decide which way to react to climate changes”, said the DHMZ director.
