StratoClim questionnaire on effect of cold-spells in cities

We need your help defining cities’ consideration of cold-spells (extended periods of significantly colder than ‘normal’ weather) and their effects on cities. As part of the EU FP7 project StratoClim (stratoclim.org, and below*), we are looking into the socio-economic effects of cold spells on European cities, including predictions of their frequency and severity into the future. It may seem counter intuitive, but while climate change will cause temperatures to increase on average, our initial analysis shows that cold-spells will occur about as often, and be about as severe, as previously. We are developing an indicator to quantify the severity of cold-spells, both in the past, but also into the future. We need your help in making this indicator reflect the reality on the ground in cities. To do this, we would be greatly thankful if you could complete this questionnaire (by the end of November), and/or forward it on to colleagues (e.g. from other departments) who may also have valuable insights. * StratoClim's main objective is to produce more reliable projections of climate change and stratospheric ozone by improving the understanding of key processes in the Upper Troposphere and Stratosphere (UTS), which are currently inadequately represented in the global models. Improved climate models will be used to make more robust and accurate predictions of surface climate and stratospheric ozone, both with a view to the protection of life on Earth.