Climate change and design wind load concepts

In recent years, the effects of a possible climate change have been discussed in regard to wind loading on buildings and structures. Simple scenarios based on the assumption of global warming suggest an increase of storm intensities and storm frequencies and a possible re-distribution of storm tracks. Among recent publications, some papers seem to verify these scenarios while others deny the influence of climatic change. In an introductory step, the paper tries to re-examine these statements. Based on meteorological observations of a weather station in Germany, the existence of long-term trends and their statistical significance is investigated. The analysis itself is based on a refined model for the wind climate introducing a number of new basic variables. Thus, the numerical values of the design wind loads used in modern codes become more justified from the probabilistic point of view.