Assessing the joint wind and temperature hazard for the United States

Reliability-based design of infrastructure requires the probabilistic assessment of jointly occurring natural hazards. For example, wind and temperature are hazards whose properties are of interest for design of transmission lines and energy infrastructure for both temperature extremes as well as offshore and enclosed structures. Increasing temperatures across the globe likely will increase the frequency of high temperature loading conditions and subsequently decrease low temperature conditions for infrastructure. A shift in location of areas of specific temperature loading conditions is also possible. In addition to infrastructure, the joint wind and temperature hazard can present problems for air quality, urban environment issues (e.g., urban heat wave and wind flows), energy demand and human comfort levels. High temperatures combined with high winds can become a significant hazard for wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires which also pose a significant threat to infrastructure and human life. In this paper, observed wind and temperature data are analyzed for locations in the Northern Plains and Southern California. These areas may be subject to more frequent wind, icing, and wind-driven wildfire events than most areas in the United States.