Ice Storm Risk Workshop; West Lafayette, Indiana; October 11-12, 2021

Ice storms pose significant risks to infrastructure, transportation, forests, and the economy, with annual losses in the billions of dollars. The basic weather patterns that result in ice storms are well-understood, however there are questions about how well ice storms are represented in climate models and how ice storm risk may change in a future climate.

This award is for a small workshop to be held at Purdue University that will bring together meteorological experts with risk experts from a number of industries to define the high priority research questions that the atmospheric science field should be addressing in the upcoming years. The workshop has direct societal relevance due to the long-term goal of improving forecasting and reducing ice storm risks.

This award is for a two-day Ice Storm Risk Workshop to explore scientific questions and risk mitigation for freezing rain events. The meeting will take place on campus at Purdue University on October 11-12, 2021. The central objective of the workshop is to generate an interdisciplinary road map of critical research gaps in ice storm science and risk, with specific focus to: 1) define solutions for reducing ice storm risks under climate change; and 2) identify the underlying scientific knowledge gaps that must be filled to realize those solutions.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.