TRAINING.

Overview

After participating in this course, you will be able to:

• Discuss atmospheric conditions leading to severe wind events such as downbursts, tornadoes and bow echoes, including derechos.
• Distinguish between synoptic and non-synoptic wind loads and assess their relevance to structural engineering design.
• Evaluate and apply wind loading principles and failure mechanisms associated with severe storm impacts.
• Interpret severe storm climatology and analysis tools.
• Analyze real-world case studies of structural failures due to severe storms and identify mitigation strategies.
• Interpret results from wind tunnel tests and numerical simulations relevant to wind loading on structures.

Description
Severe convective storms present unique challenges to engineers and planners due to their intense, short-duration, and spatially complex wind fields. This course introduces practicing engineers to the science and engineering of non-synoptic wind events such as downbursts and tornadoes, focusing on their origin, structural impacts, and techniques to assess wind loads.

Participants will explore the atmospheric drivers of severe storms and how these phenomena generate wind fields that often exceed code-based prescriptions. The course highlights design gaps in current standards and provides tools for integrating climatological data and advanced simulation methods into resilient design.

Using recent case studies, Doppler radar/lidar observations, wind tunnel experiments, and engineering analyses, this course bridges meteorology and structural design, offering practical insights for engineers working in storm-prone regions. Attendees will leave with a strong foundation in quantifying, analyzing, and mitigating storm-induced wind hazards. The syllabus progresses logically from understanding storms (Day 1) to their engineering impacts and mitigation strategies (Day 2). This structure supports learners in building knowledge incrementally.

Who Should Attend
This course is intended for structural engineers, civil engineers, wind engineers, meteorologists, and infrastructure planners.

It will be especially useful to professionals involved in structural design, building code compliance, resilience planning, forensic investigations, and risk management related to wind hazards. Municipal engineers, insurance professionals, and those involved in p

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Syllabus

Day 1: Meteorology and Wind Engineering Foundations

• Types of convective storm wind hazards: downbursts, tornadoes, bow echoes, and derechos
• Atmospheric dynamics and storm structure
• Wind field characteristics and comparison to synoptic winds: duration, profiles, directionality, turbulence
• Anemometer, Doppler radar and lidar for storm analysis
• Introduction to wind loading: theory and applications
• Case studies: storm damage in urban and rural environments
• Interactive Q&A and breakout discussion on storm impacts

Day 2: Structural Impacts, Codes, and Mitigation Strategies

• Structural response to non-synoptic wind loads
• Common failure mechanisms in buildings and infrastructure
• Engineering codes: limitations and opportunities for improvement
• Natural hazard modeling
• Wind tunnels and numerical simulations for wind loading assessment
• Non-wind hazards: hail, lightning, and flooding
• Case study and breakout sessions: the 2018 Ottawa–Gatineau tornadoes—structural impacts and engineering lessons
• Interactive Q&A and wrap-up discussion

Instructor

Djordje Romanic, PhD

Dr. Djordje Romanic is an Associate Professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at McGill University. He holds dual PhDs in Atmospheric Sciences and Wind Engineering, and his research sits at the intersection of severe weather, boundary-layer meteorology, and wind-structure interaction.

Dr. Romanic leads multiple federally and provincially funded research projects on urban wind hazards, risks to infrastructure, urban sustainability and resilience, and the dynamics of non-synoptic wind events such as downbursts and tornadoes. His work combines field observations, wind tunnel testing, numerical modeling, and forensic case studies to improve engineering design and public safety. For his outstanding contributions to research on severe winds in urban environments, the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society awarded Prof. Romanic the 2024 Andrew Thomson Prize in Applied Meteorology.

He is a nationally recognized educator, consistently ranked as the top-rated instructor in his department based on student evaluations. He teaches a variety of courses, including Science of Storms, Boundary Layer Meteorology, Mesoscale Meteorology, Extreme-Weather and Climate-Change Physics, and gives guest lectures in Wind Engineering. He has published widely in both atmospheric science and engineering journals. Dr. Romanic is also an active public science communicator on his YouTube channel and a member of the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (CMOS).