The DKKV workshop took place for the third time in November 2025. The joint event with the DWD brought together scientific and operational stakeholders in Offenbach to discuss current challenges in dealing with extreme weather in a practical manner. Under the thematic framework “Extreme weather in focus: facts, fakes & consequences,” presentations were once again given and opportunities for discussion were created at the tables of the interactive World Café.

The four main topics of the event were natural hazards, communication, verification, and heat. The following keynote presentations were given on these topics on the first day:

• The Natural Hazards Portal – Challenging interface of federal disaster control structures
• Natural hazards in the mountains: Landslides, rockfalls, and forest fires in alpine terrain – which warning products can help
• Communication: Facts and fake news on social media
• Verified weather warnings – An important component of emergency response and hazard prevention planning
• From a beautiful summer to a heat disaster – effects of extreme heat

The World Café in the afternoon consisted of four tables, each of which focused on a topic related to the presentations heard earlier. The content and results of the World Cafés can be found in the accompanying documentation.

For the first time, the DKKV workshop had a second day dedicated to practical application and a joint learning process. Various serious games were played (e.g., Neustart, Klima Robust, etc.) and tours of the German Meteorological Library and the DWD’s forecasting and advisory center were offered. The event then came to a close with a fishbowl discussion about the joint results and discussions from the individual World Cafés.

The German Weather Service (DWD) is continuously developing its product range. With the program RainBoW (application-oriented, individualizable provision of optimized warning information), the warning system is to be reformed and expanded with impact information. As a DKKV member, the DWD developed the first DKKV-Werkstatt together with the DKKV office. During the workshop, which was attended by more than 30 participants, the current developments of the DWD were presented to the actors of the operational disaster management, e.g. actors of the fire department, the Federal Agency for Technical Relief or the German Red Cross, and their needs and requirements for such a system were explored.

The workshop format included keynote presentations as well as an interactive World Café, which actively promoted cooperation and communication between the participants from science and practice. In doing so, the four main topic areas of the workshop were as follows:

• Sharing data sets to optimize future warning products.
• Exchange of practical findings on the use of DWD warning products
• Generating product design ideas for potential impact products
• Identification of training needs

DWD can now incorporate the findings directly into the further development of the warning products. Discussions will be continued in a next DKKV-Werkstatt.