Europe

Biggest windthrow volumes

Storm “Lothar” of December 1999 is in first place of the most destructive storms with 180 million m³ of damaged wood. In some regions of France, Switzerland and Germany, it is still clearly visible which areas have been hit by “Lothar” – even twenty years later. With an overall damage of 100 million m³ in Central Europe, “Vivian” and “Wiebke” follow with some distance in second place. Storms “Erwin” and “Gudrun”, which hit Scandinavia and the Baltic states, rank third with a total of 85 million m³ of damaged wood.

“Kyrill” with 55 million m³ in Central Europe and “Klaus” with 40 million m³ of damaged wood in France are also well known names of big windthrow events.

The intensity of storms decreased over the past 30 years. However, the frequency of extreme weather conditions with considerable damage to forests in Europe increased. With the exception of two years, the last ten years have always seen one windthrow event each year in Europe which made it on the list.

In 2018, storm “Friederike” damaged 17 million m³ in Germany, and “Vaia” caused 11.5 million m³ of damaged wood in Italy. The March storms Eberhard and Franz of March 2019 with an overall damaged of 4 million m³ are still well remembered.

Windthrow events | 1990 to today
The biggest windthrow volumes in Europe (more than 1 million m³ of damaged wood)
Year Name Country Damage
1999 Lothar FR, DE, CH 180 million m³
1990 Vivian, Wiebke Central Europe 100 million m³
2005 Erwin, Gudrun Scandinavia, Baltic states 85 million m³
2007 Kyrill, Olli Central Europe 55 million m³
2009 Klaus FR 40 million m³
2018 Friederike DE 17 million m³
2007 Per SE 12 million m³
2018 Vaia IT 11.5 million m³
2008 Emma AT, DE, CZ 9.5 million m³
2017 Hartmut   AT, CZ, PL 8.8 million m³
2005 Silvio SK 8 million m³
2013 Ivar DK, SE 7.2 million m³
2008 Paula AT 6.3 million m³
2002 Uschi AT, CZ 6 million m³
2011 Dagmar FI, SE 5 million m³
2017 Herwart   Central Europe 5 million m³
2022 Nadia, Ylenia, Zeynep, Antonia DE 4.8 million m³
2019 Eberhard, Franz
DE, CZ 4 million m³
2014 Petra AT, IT, SI 3.8 million m³
2015 Helga, Gorm SE 3.3 million m³
2014 Yvette AT, CZ 3.1 million m³
2015 Niklas AT, DE 2.9 million m³
2017 Kolle   AT, DE 2.5 million m³
2017 Yves AT, SI 2.5 million m³
2018 Burglind   AT, CH, DE 2 million m³
2013 Xaver DE, DK, SE 1.9 million m³
2013 Eino FI 1.5 million m³
2015 nameless FI 1.5 million m³
2017 Xavier   DE 1.4 million m³
2008 Annette SE 1.2 million m³
2013 Christian DE, DK 1.1 million m³
2013 Seija FI 1 million m³