European Storm Forecast Experiment

The European Storm Forecast Experiment, known as ESTOFEX, is an initiative of a team of European meteorologists, and students in meteorology founded in 2002. It serves as a platform for exchange of knowledge about forecasting severe convective storms in Europe and elsewhere. It is a voluntary organisation and is currently unfunded. It aims to raise awareness and provide real-time education about severe weather forecasting.[1] It issues storm warnings on a daily basis. It also collects reports from the general public about severe convective weather incidents in order to validate its forecasts.[2] ESTOFEX forecasts are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license.

Its definitions of severe convective weather phenomena are one or several of the following :[1]

severe:

  • hail with a diameter of at least 2.0 cm
  • tornado
  • wind gusts with a speed of at least 25 m/s (92 km/h or about 48.6 knots)
  • excessive rainfall of at least 60 mm .

extremely severe :

  • hail with a diameter of at least 5.0 cm
  • wind gusts with a speed of at least 33 m/s (about 119 km/h or 65 knots)
  • a tornado of F2 intensity or higher on the Fujita scale.

References
  1. ESTOFEX FAQ
  2. Verification of ESTOFEX Lightning and Severe Weather Forecasts Alex Kowaleski,, Dr. Harold E. Brooks , Dr. Charles A. Doswell III. pdf


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