Storms the most significant factors affecting Scots pine forests in Europe. Predicted changes in wind climate will increase the damages even further. Therefore it is important to analyze the possibilities to predict the wind damages in Scots pine stands.
Impact of storm on Scots pine with mean height of 8 to 22 m, was analyzed. Available data on wind speeds from meteorological stations were interpolated to obtain wind speeds and directions in 1x1 km grid. Wind speeds in gusts reached 25-30 ms-1. Information about destroyed (less than 10% of canopy cover remaining) stands was obtained from the digitalized forest inventory maps. ForestGALES program was used to model (predict) the potential damages.
From the assessed 219 stands 85 (i.e. 39%) were damaged by the storm to an extent, that sanitary clearcut was needed. Accuracy of prediction of Scots pine stand damages ranged from 50 to 74%; the average accuracy was 69%. There were no trend related to the mean height of the trees, neither were there a significant differences between the height classes. Lower accuracy was observed in stands on peat soils in comparison to those on mineral soils. It can be concluded, that for the analyzed range of mean height of the stands the model has a good prediction accuracy and can be used to assess the potential damages. However, larger trees also need to be included in the analysis, the model is to be applied also in mature stand on good quality soils.