Impact Modelling of Climate Change from the Global to the Local Scale

The societal impact of weather and climate phenomena is mainly felt through the occurrence of extreme events (storms, extreme precipitation, floods, heat waves, hail). Processes on short time scales (ranging from a few hours to a few days) play an important role in the impact assessment of climate change on long time scales (next century). The Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI) provides both operational weather forecasts and climate advice. To do so, numerical computer models are used. It is shown here how scientific advances in numerical weather prediction can lead to better climate information.