The aim of this paper is to analyze and highlight the most important meteorological parameters which are in strong bound with severe weather events and their impact on agriculture in the Western part of Romania. Forecasting severe weather events is one of the most challenging tasks in operational meteorology. The complexity of the forecasting process comes from the large amount of data which is to be analyzed in order to issue a severe weather alert. Nowcasting is used as a short-term three hour forecast in which severe weather events might appear. It is usually issued with the help of the Weather Surveillance Radar either by a forecaster or by a computer software. Severe weather events such as squalls, supercells and flashfloods tend to become normal under the current climate change situation. One of the most important areas in which climate change and its associated severe weather events produce important damage is agriculture. The climate of a region is determined by factors such as physical, dynamic and radiative geography. They directly affect spatial and temporal variations of climatic elements in a given territory. The Western part of Romania is characterized as having a warm temperate continental climate with moderate humidity originating from the South and South Western part of Europe. By analyzing the synoptic situation, the convection indices (KI, CAPE, CTI, TTI) together with RADAR and satellite images, weather related hazards are identified and hazard maps are compelled. Due to the humid air, which originates from the South Western part of Europe, convection is initiated and severe thunderstorms may develop. Risks associated with Cumulonimbus clouds (hail, squalls, flashfloods) account for the majority of the agriculture-related severe weather events. This study points out the importance of agriculture related severe weather forecasts as well as mitigation strategies and adaptation measures for climate change.

severe weather events, agriculture, sustainable development, Western Romania

sciences soil

Presentation: poster