Updated Tornado Climatology of Austria

The aim of this presentation is to give an overview of the climatology of tornadoes in Austria. For this purpose, data on tornadoes in the European Severe Weather Database (ESWD) is analysed and the results are shown with diagrams mainly.

Statistics about the temporal and spatial distribution of tornadoes overall and for different intensity categories are presented. A distinction is made between very weak tornadoes with a maximum intensity of less than IF1, weak tornadoes with a maximum intensity of IF1 or IF1.5 and strong tornadoes with a maximum intensity of IF2 or IF2.5 and such with a maximum intensity of IF3 or larger on the International Fujita Scale (IF-Scale).

The presented statistics show the frequency of tornadoes in Austria per year broken down into different intensity categories. The share of different intensity categories and their empirical return period is given, too. Furthermore, the seasonality of tornadoes in Austria is described. The spatial distribution of probability of occurrence is shown with two maps, namely one map for all tornadoes and one map for strong tornadoes only.

The focus of the presentation is on the 30-year period from 1995 to 2024 in general, but for strong tornadoes a longer time period is analysed, too.