Rich Hewston's Website

 Welcome......

....and thanks for stopping by!

I'm a post-doc in the Engineering School at Swansea University, with my main interests lying in historic and future spatial and temporal climate variations (mainly extratropical cyclones), mesoscale modelling, dynamical downscaling, and climate change and its impacts. I'm currently involved with the EPIRUS project, which is concerned with coastal flood risk in the UK. Previous research has included quantifying historic and future climate change impacts on the UK insurance industry. I also maintain an interest in the links between weather and crime.

My current research utilises WRF as a tool for dynamical downscaling extreme storm events. These high resolution meteorological data are subsequently used to drive wave, tide, surge and surf zone hydrodynamical models. Analysis of historic storms enables an assessment of the current coastal flood risk to be made, while analysis of projected future climates allows coastal engineers and managers to assess potential future changes in flood risk over the coming century.

Prior to joining Swansea University I undertook my  PhD at the University of East Anglia with Steve Dorling. My research was in the broad area of weather and insurance, with a focus on extratropical cyclones and wind damage. Historic and future variations in the frequency and intensity of extratropical storms over the UK, and their subsequent impacts on insured losses from wind damage to buildings, are discussed in my PhD thesis.

More details on my present and past research can be accessed via the navigation bar on the left. Feel free to contact me if you have an interest in any of these topics.