5th European conference on severe storms (ECSS2009)

Severe thunderstorms, with their attendant strong winds, hail, flooding, and tornadoes, are common phenomena in many European countries, leading to a total damage estimate of 5 to 8 billion Euros per year. However, their documentation in the scientific literature has been sparse in the decades after World War II. While meteorological conditions leading to severe thunderstorm occurrences in Europe are similar to those observed in the USA and elsewhere, they differ in detail, especially with regard to mesoscale characteristics like terrain-induced circulations. A better knowledge of European severe thunderstorms storms could bring new insights into severe storm dynamics and forecasting worldwide.

Accordingly, a first conference on "European Tornadoes and Severe Storms" was held in Toulouse in February 2000. The conference participants agreed that this meeting was an important first step in fostering further research coordination and collaboration in this scientifically and economically highly relevant research area. From the follow-up conference in Prague (August 2002), the name of the conference series was changed to "European Conference on Severe Storms (ECSS)".

After the third ECSS in Léon in November 2004, it was decided to have one three-year break before the fourth ECSS in Trieste in September 2007. Thus, the ECSS and the AMS Severe Local Storms conference in the USA are no longer in the same year, and scientifc exchange between severe convective storms researchers in Europe and the USA can be further enhanced. Traditionally, the ECSS conference proceedings appear as Special Issues of the journal Atmospheric Research.