UK windstorms and climate change

This report assesses the impact of three global temperature scenarios on the frequency and intensity of UK windstorms, focusing on windstorms occurring during the winter.

Findings show that temperature increases of just a small number of degrees are likely to lead to insurance losses for high winds which could be 11%, 23% or even 25% higher nationwide. These temperature changes fall within the long-term projections of what climate change experts expect to happen.

These increased losses are not spread evenly across the country but are likely to be concentrated in Northern Ireland, northern England and the Midlands, with Southern England potentially seeing decreasing losses from storms.