DW wants to tell your story! As part of a special focus on extreme weather, DW's environment desk is asking our readers to send us your stories.
Image: Imago/Xinhua
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As a result of climate change, extreme weather is on the rise. Mega-storms, heavy rainfall, flooding, cold snaps, heat waves and drought are all impacting ever more of us around the world.
We want to know how your life has changed as a result of living through extreme weather.
Extreme weather events can leave behind deep scars. They can also cause a real shift in behavior, as communities seek to adapt to changing conditions and mitigate the factors causing extreme weather.
We'd like to know how these issues have affected you. If you have experienced extreme weather, tell us how it has changed your life, or that of your community.
Please send text via email to interaktion@dw.com and upload your video, photo or audio (up to 180 MB) with a short description using the form below.
You can also post on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram using the hashtag #ExtremeWeatherStories.
You will find the conditions of participation here.
We'll share the most powerful stories we've received from our audience over our website and social media channels from April 9-13.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Weather forecasting improves as weather events intensify
Since satellites started recording weather data in the 1970s forecasting has taken a huge step forward. It isn't just about sun or rain any more. It's about giving people more time to prepare for extreme weather events.
Image: Reuters/NOAA
Seven days ahead
Weather forecasting has improved massively. 40 years ago meteorologists could only predict weather for the next two or three days. Today weather can be predicted reliably for seven days. But forecasters also give monthly and seasonal predictions. These can be tremendously important for agriculture. If a severe storm is predicted ahead of time, farmers can prepare.
Image: Getty Images/S. Keith
Models and mathematics
Weather is forecast with the help of supercomputers that predict the weather using complex mathematical models and current weather conditions. Some centers for weather prediction take account of up to 900 million global points. For the prediction, the world is split up into grids with grid points spaced 9 km apart.
Image: ECMWF
Pooling data across borders
In 1975 several European states decided to share their data to improve the forecast. They set up the “European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast” (ECMWF). Today the centre has 22 member states, 12 co-operating countries and some of the world's most modern supercomputers.
Image: ECMWF
Taking more elements into account
Roughly a year and a half ago the centre expanded its weather models. Before, they were based on atmospheric predictions. Now the forecasts take more elements into account, such as ocean and land data. This makes them more reliable. With the weather changing due to climate change, forecasts are changing too. Scientists still cannnot link climate change and weather change exactly.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/T. Katic
Life or death predictions
Scientists are sure that climate change intensifies extreme weather events. Heatwaves are even hotter, hurricanes are more intense. That means weather forecasting today is also about saving lives and protecting property. If the forecasts are more exact and data is available faster, people can prepare better for severe weather events.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/R. Kakade
Very hard to predict
Thunder and lightning are very hard to forecast and becoming more intense. It is impossible to predict exactly where lightning will strike. However, this might well improve. The ECMWF is working on predicting lightning within a 50 km range.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
More time to prepare
In general, weather forecasting will continue to improve. By 2025 reliable weather forecasts might cover 10 days instead of the seven that are possible today. That could well mean three extra days to prepare for storms and extreme weather.
