Interhemispheric perspective on the most extreme surface winds in the storm tracks

Stanković, Aleksa; Caballero, Rodrigo; Messori, Gabriele

doi:10.5194/wcd-7-1507-2026

Articles | Volume 7, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-7-1507-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-7-1507-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 7, issue 3

Research article

|

26 Aug 2026

Research article |

| 26 Aug 2026

Interhemispheric perspective on the most extreme surface winds in the storm tracks

Aleksa Stanković, Rodrigo Caballero, and Gabriele Messori

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-7-1507-2026-supplement

Data sets

ERA5 hourly data on pressure levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach, B. Bell, P. Berrisford, et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.bd0915c6

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

Hourly ERA5 cyclone tracking data from 1979--2020 using topological methods J. Beran, T. Bin~Masood, W. Engelke, et al. https://doi.org/10.17043/beran-2024-era5-cyclone-tracking-1

SSTs for peer review A. Stankovic https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19184263

Short summary

Most storms occur over ocean where they cause strong surface winds. The storms are strongest over the North Atlantic, North Pacific and Southern Ocean. In each of these basins, the storms that cause the strongest surface winds develop similarly. These storms typically develop together with another, previously existing storm. At the same time, extreme winds are stronger in some basins than in others. Our analysis points that if the storms develop faster, they, on average, cause stronger winds.