Changes in winds and storms in the context of climate change are much more difficult to record and calculate using climate models than changes in temperature. This is mainly because wind exhibits high variability on small spatial and temporal scales. Furthermore, unlike temperature, wind is not directly influenced by changes in the radiation balance, but arises indirectly from pressure differences that depend on numerous factors.

Pinto et al. (2024) provide a comprehensive overview of the state of research on wind in climate change in their review for the book “Climate Change in Germany.” They summarize various studies and conclude that previous wind trends in Germany are not clear. For the future, there are indications that cyclones over Western Europe could become less frequent overall, but that particularly strong cyclones could occur more frequently [1].

A recently published preprint by Krieger et al. (2025) confirms this trend for the German Bight. They describe that storm activity is also decreasing overall here, but that particularly extreme storms could occur more frequently or intensely in the future [2].

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