Strong winds in Poland in the 17^th century and their consequences, in light of documentary evidence

Abstract. The paper presents a detailed analysis of strong winds in Poland in the 17^th century, including their frequency, intensity, and impacts on the natural environment, society and economy. The analysis is solely based on available documentary evidence. Preliminary archival research allowed the construction of a comprehensive database of strong winds for Poland for the study period. The 542 weather notes were used to obtain the following information about strong winds: time, location/region, duration, and indexations of intensity, extent, and damage character. For the first time, 14 years of complete daily weather data were used to analyse the occurrence of strong winds. The methodology follows that utilised by Przybylak et al. (2025) for the analysis of strong winds prior to the 17^th century. The number of strong winds in Poland in the 17^th century reached 525, with the majority occurring in the second half of the century. In the annual cycle, strong winds were less frequent in summer, whereas the other seasons had similar frequencies. The wind category “fresh and strong breeze” occurred the most frequently (61.9 %), followed by “gales” (26.7 %). The former category dominated in spring and autumn (58.8 %), whereas the latter prevailed in the cold half-year (65 %). Each category of strong wind occurred more commonly in northern and north-eastern Poland than anywhere else. In 13.5 % of reports of strong winds, information about damage was available – most frequently in winter and autumn and least frequently in spring. The most frequently reported damage and destruction involved buildings (residential, agricultural, churches, etc.) and forests. The availability of daily-resolution data significantly improved the reliability of results on strong wind occurrence, particularly for the mildest analysed category (fresh and strong breeze). The changes in frequency of strong wind events in Poland in the 17^th century were more similar to those observed in Northern than Southern Europe.