Simulation of extreme wind series caused by thunderstorms in temperate latitudes

The authors recently proposed a model of the 3-D wind field in a thunderstorm event, which is characterized by a set of parameters that are defined as random variables with physical significance in meteorology. On the basis of the information available to the authors, tentative statistical models for these variables are suggested and adopted in a simulation study to obtain peak annual velocities at the locations of two meteorological stations where observational data is available Comparison of probability density functions of the maximum annual TS wind velocities fitted to the simulated and recorded data led to encouraging results, suggesting that the approach may have extensive applications in wind engineering and reliability assessments (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved