Be ready with Clim4Cast maps

The international Interreg CE Clim4Cast project, which has been connecting scientific teams from seven European countries for the past three years, culminated in a final conference held on 27–28 January. The event was hosted by the Global Change Research Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences (CzechGlobe), in cooperation with the Department of Geography at the Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, and other project partners. In a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, experts explained, for example, how heatwaves threaten human health 🤷‍♂️, introduced the newly observed phenomenon of so-called “green drought” 🍃, and especially valuable was the presentation from the Fire Rescue Service 🧑‍🚒, which described what is involved in responding to exceptionally large-scale wildfires. At the same time, the results of work on building the platform itself were presented ➡️ https://clim4cast.eu/, which is available in seven language versions and represents the first unified platform of its kind in Central Europe.

The Clim4Cast project was presented at the European Meteorological Society (EMS) Annual Meeting, which took place in Ljubljana between 8 and 12 September 2025. Gregor Gregorič from Slovenian Environemnt Agency participated in the session on agricultural meteorology and forestry applications, where he presented an overview of the Clim4Cast project and its implementation in Slovenia. The presentation focused on the application of results from the DHF Forecasting Tool, which provides daily analyses and forecasts processed at ARSO. Possible ways of integrating these outputs into Slovenia’s operational drought monitoring system “Sušomer” (Droughtmeter) were also discussed. ARSO’s contribution highlighted how Clim4Cast results can support operational drought monitoring and climate-resilient decision-making in agriculture and forestry, strengthening the link between research, forecasting, and practical applications. Lukáš Dolák from Mararyk University attended the session on climate risks, their assessments and tools, where he introduced the database of drought, heatwave, and forest fire/wildfire events (DHF). The database itself includes DHF events from seven countries participating in the Clim4Cast project, spanning the 2000–2023 period. Except for a general overview, Lukáš also presented two severity indices based on the DHF database, as well as the occurrence and impacts of compound events. The DHF database represents one of the most crucial project outcomes compiled by all project partners. It can serve as an exceptionally valuable source of information not only about the DHF impacts on human society, landscape, and various sectors, but also reveals so far hidden consequences of cross-border DHF events.

From 29 September to 1 October 2025, the ARSO team participated in the Climateurope2 Festival, held in Belgrade under the title “Empowering society through climate services.” The Climateurope2 Festivals aim to connect the European climate services community. The project seeks to standardize the provision of accessible and high-quality climate services that are useful for different social sectors and end users. The Festival featured numerous panels, thematic discussions, and interactive workshops, and ARSO took part in the Marketplace, presenting several projects they are involved in — among them, Clim4Cast. At the Marketplace, Clim4Cast was presented to the international climate services community, highlighting its main products: the impact database, the forecasting tool, and the process for preparing action plans. Clim4Cast was also featured in the keynote presentation by Andreja Sušnik (ARSO), who demonstrated how project datasets are used in the DroughtWatch tool and compared with other approaches for drought monitoring.

The 37th International Conference on Alpine Meteorology (ICAM2025) was held in Poreč, Croatia, from 29 September to 3 October 2025. On 1 October 2025, within the Climate session, Mislav Anić, national coordinator of the Clim4Cast project for Croatia, delivered a presentation titled Impact of climate change on forestry and agriculture in Highland Croatia (Mislav Anić, Ksenija Cindrić Kalin, Kornelija Špoler Čanić, Antonio Stanešić). In his presentation, he highlighted the vulnerability of forestry and agriculture in Highland Croatia under changing climate conditions, while also introducing the Clim4Cast project and its expected outcomes. Participation in ICAM2025 provided an opportunity to present Clim4Cast to the international scientific community and exchange knowledge with experts in alpine and mountain meteorology.