Benefits of kilometer-scale climate modeling for winds in complex terrain: strong versus weak winds

Belušić, Danijel; Lind, Petter

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-863-2025

Articles | Volume 6, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-863-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-863-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 6, issue 3

Research article

|

01 Sep 2025

Research article |

| 01 Sep 2025

Benefits of kilometer-scale climate modeling for winds in complex terrain: strong versus weak winds

Danijel Belušić and Petter Lind

Data sets

Data and codes used in "Benefits of km-scale climate modeling for winds in complex terrain: strong versus weak winds" P. Lind and D. Belušić https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15000594

ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.adbb2d47

Average wind, gust and wind direction SMHI https://www.smhi.se/data/temperatur-och-vind/vind/wind

NorCP HCLIM 12km ERA-Interim data The HARMONIE Climate community https://doi.org/10.11582/2025.00046

NorCP HCLIM 3km ERA-Interim data The HARMONIE Climate community https://doi.org/10.11582/2025.00064

Short summary

Kilometer (km)-scale climate models have large added value for modeling precipitation, but their benefits for winds are less studied. We show that the km-scale model better reproduces strong winds in complex terrain, which are up to twice as strong as in a coarser model, and can capture downslope glacier winds in higher terrain. Future changes in mean and strong winds are governed by the large-scale circulation change, whereas for weak winds, they are governed by the temperature change, which is less uncertain.