Warmer climate gives more thunder – Västervikstidningen

Warmer climate gives more thunder – Västervikstidningen

Sunday recorded 47,901 lightning discharges over Sweden. It is the highest number of measured discharges in a day since SMHI began with their measurements in 2002.

Lusty thunderstorm is something we can expect more of in the future. That is the consequence of a changing climate, says Sofia Söderberg, meteorologist at SMHI.

It is a tendency that it is expected to more extreme weather. We’ve certainly had periods of this kind of thunder before, but it may become more frequent in the future.

It also applies to tornadoes that have occurred in several parts of the summer, at the latest on Monday outside Borås.

Every year causes lightning hundreds of fires, and according to Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, MSB, increases the number of ash-related fires. One explanation may be that fire safety are increasingly based on electronic alarms that can be knocked out by lightning. Also, we have more electronic devices at risk of burn.

Thunderstorms can also affect society through power outages and transportation and telecommunications interference, which we have seen examples in the recent past.

-Very important public activities have protection against surges that become of thunder. But of course there are always vulnerable items that may need attention, says Erik Egardt, Fire Engineer at MSB.

He thinks they engaged in any essential services should learn lessons from the events that occurred and make vulnerability assessments.

– It is appropriate to identify the reasons why it has received such train stop and identify protection needs and changing routines associated with thunderstorms.