Climatology of derechos and wind squalls in Czechia during the last 25 years

Derechos are well known as originators of widespread and significant damage associated with larger convective storms. Damage caused by derechos can be comparable with damage produced by tornadoes, locally even with strong tornadoes, but an affected area is much larger. As a result, derechos are able to cause significant damage to property, crops, forests etc. They are also able to cause numerous injuries and even fatalities. The research activities of some authors in Europe during the last two decades have shown that derechos are not rare in Central Europe.This study presents detailed results of our research on the occurence and characteristics of derechos and other large scale convectively induced wind squalls in the Czech Republic during warm seasons of the last 25 years (1998 - 2022). We have used our own software tools to identify all convectively indiced wind events. Newly we also used GIS software tools to create better and more complete spatial analyses and climatology of derechos and occurence of convective wind storms. Cold season events were rejected from our study because they usually are a part of a large, synoptic scale, wind storms and it is not easy to distinguish between convective or nonconvective wind gusts. The comparison with the US climatology shows that derechos here in the heart of the Central Europe are almost as frequent as in the continental US and that they definitely should be taken into account in weather forecasts and also in a weather risk assessment.