Lena Wilhelm

In Switzerland hail regularly causes substantial damage to agriculture, cars, and infrastructure. With the high year-to-year variability of Swiss hailstorms, it is important that we understand the key drivers of past interannual hail variability and changes in hail seasonality north and south of the Swiss Alps. In my PhD I am looking at this variability and possible changes by producing a daily hail time series for Northern and Southern Switzerland from 1950 to today from radar hail proxies.
This work is part of the inter- and transdisciplinary scClim project (Seamless coupling of kilometer-resolution weather predictions and climate simulations with hail impact assessments for multiple sectors). scClim will establish a seamless model chain from thunderstorm simulations to the quantification of hail impacts in Switzerland under current and future climate conditions. A close dialogue with key stakeholders and partners from the public and private sector enables us to explore the potential of impact-based warnings and to assess hail risk today and in a changing climate.