Massive hailstones, some as large as Tennis balls, cause damage estimated at up to CHF200 million: NO ATTRIBUTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
There is nothing normal about these storms.
28th August Switzerland: Extreme Weather
A Swiss woman takes cover under a Bridge as massive hailstones, some as large as golf balls, start to pelt the ground
“A severe hailstorm that hit the Swiss city of Winterthur caused damage, particularly in the Wülflingen district, with large hailstones reportedly breaking windows of homes and damaging vehicles and outdoor property.
The storm struck Winterthur in the canton of Zurich along with heavy thunderstorms. Residents reported that hailstones several centimeters in diameter fell in some areas, leaving piles of ice on balconies and outdoor spaces.
Images shared by local residents showed large hailstones covering balconies and streets, while some homes and vehicles were damaged by the intensity of the storm.”
NO ATTRIBUTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
“Severe hailstorms on Friday caused significant damage in German-speaking Switzerland. Allianz Suisse anticipates more than 10,000 claims for its insurance portfolio alone. The cantons of Aargau, Solothurn, and Zurich are particularly affected. An initial assessment by Gebäudeversicherung Zürich already indicates damages in the millions.
The storm front moved across parts of western and northwestern Switzerland on Friday morning, continuing towards the northeast. It brought large hailstones, fierce gales, and heavy rainfall. Locally, hailstones reached a diameter of up to six centimeters. SRF Meteo recorded approximately 46,000 lightning strikes. A storm cell that moved from Seeland across Aargau and the Zurich Unterland to Lake Constance was particularly affected.”
NO ATTRIBUTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
“Vaudoise Assurances mobilises rapid response to CHF 10 million hail losses
Swiss insurer Vaudoise Assurances is mobilising rapid claims support after a severe hailstorm on 28 August 2026 damaged vehicles across the Aarau, Olten, Solothurn and Zurich regions. The group has already logged more than 650 cases and anticipates over 2,000 vehicle claims in total, implying a loss of around CHF 10 million.”
NO ATTRIBUTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
Dozens of children left with head injuries after massive hail hits during recess as storm batters Switzerland and Italy
Around 40 people in Switzerland, mostly children, were rushed to hospital amid the chaos which unfolded during breaktime on Friday.
Locals in Zurich and Winterthur told how violent hail started to pummel the region – affecting airports and causing public facilities to close.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/40212819/hail-storm-hits-switzerland-france-children-injured
UNSURPRISINGLY NO ATTRIBUTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE
How Exceptional Was the Severe Weather?
Hailstones with a diameter of up to six centimeters are unusually large for Switzerland. SRF Meteo describes such hail events as relatively rare. However, a conclusive historical classification of the event is only possible once all measurement data has been fully evaluated.
Furthermore, a long-term climate trend cannot be derived from a single extreme event. Whether and how severe thunderstorms and hail events in Switzerland will change in the future can only be assessed based on long-term measurement series and scientific evaluations.
One thing is already clear: the severe weather of August 28, 2026, due to the combination of large hail, severe gale-force winds, heavy rain, and numerous damages, ranks among the more significant thunderstorm events of this summer in Switzerland.
“Furthermore, you can’t derive a long-term climate trend from a single extreme event”, but it isn’t a single extreme event. The media gaslights us because they think we are stupid.
Hailstorms of 2024
Posted on by Tomas Pucik
Compared to 2023, 2024 hasn’t featured record-breaking hailstorms or situations that matched the ferocity of 19 and 24 July 2023 or 26 August 2023. However, it was still a very active year, resulting in the most hail reports ever reported into the ESWD: 10 092, as well as days with large (≥ 2cm) and very large (≥ 5cm) hail days: 243 and 101 respectively. In terms of the sheer number of the most damaging hail events, 2024 pales in comparison with 2023 with a decrease in very large hail reports from 1946 to 1086 and giant hail (≥ 10 cm) reports from 97 to 19. These numbers represent the European Severe Weather Database state as of 04 January 2025.
August 2022
The derecho and hailstorms of 18 August 2022
Posted on by Tomas Pucik
On 18 August, severe storms occurred in a swath from Menorca through Corsica, northern Italy, Slovenia, Austria, and southern Czechia. The event featured giant hail up to 11 cm in diameter and extremely severe wind gusts up to 62.2 m/s. In total, 12 people died and 106 people were injured by wind and hail. All fatalities, and most of the injuries, were caused by a long-lived convective system that produced a swath of severe to extremely severe wind gusts. The windstorm event can easily be classified as a derecho, a particularly long-lived and severe convective windstorm as the official criteria for a derecho were clearly met: its damage path exceeded 1000 km in length and wind gusts > 32 m/s were measured in Corsica, Italy, and Austria along the path of the storm.
Frequency rise of future European thunderstorm hazards
Posted on by Pieter Groenemeijer
Researchers at the European Severe Storms Laboratory (ESSL), Munich Re, the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich (LMU) and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) could show that damaging convective weather events including lightning, hail and severe wind gusts are likely to become more common across Europe until the end of this century. An increase in convective instability as a result of rising humidity near the earth’s surface was identified as main reason for the increase in hazard frequency.
They applied a set of additive logistic regression models (AR-CHaMo) to an ensemble of 14 regional climate simulations to predict the frequency of severe thunderstorms and its associated hazards in Europe under projected anthropogenic climate conditions.
They projected a slight decrease in thunderstorm occurrence in southwestern and southeastern Europe, but an increase in the probability of severe weather. Large hail (≥ 2 cm) is projected to become 40%-80% more likely across central Europe in the RCP8.5 scenario by the end of the 21st century (Figure c ) while very large hail is projected to become more likely across most of Europe, with a doubling possible in parts of central and northeastern Europe (Figure i). As a consequence of the rising hazard probabilities, risk models will need to be adapted and public warnings and precautionary measures should be issued as storms approach.
August 2016
RAIN Project projections of severe-weather until 2100: More hail, lightning and floods
Posted on by Pieter Groenemeijer
Within the RAIN project, ESSL researchers Tomáš Púčik and Pieter Groenemeijer have produced projections of severe weather changes according to the EuroCordex regional climate model ensemble.
The ESSL researchers found that the consensus of the model projections suggested a 10 – 30% increase of severe convective weather events across much of Europe and 30 – 60 % in south-central Europe in the business-as-usual rcp8.5 scenario by the end of the century. These increases would be about half as large in the rcp4.5 scenario that assumes moderate climate change mitigation efforts.
RAIN project partners of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Freie Universität Berlin and the Technical University Delft have investigated other hazards, such as wind storms, floods, forest fire and winter weather.
For more information on the RAIN project, projections of other hazards, and a link to the full report: Click here
European Severe Storms Laboratory
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