Introduction The frequency of the storm surges in the Black Sea is lower than that in other regions of the World Ocean (RYABININ et al. 1996) but they cause significant damages as the magnitude of the sea level set-up is up to 7- 8 times greater than that of the other sea level variations. Strong storm surges in the Western Black Sea along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast are usually observed from October to the end of March every winter. The highest storms are recorded in January and February. The analysis of the longest Bulgarian tide- gauge records (1928-1998) in Varna and Burgas (MUNGOV et al., 1994) shows that from 1928 to 1976 the amplitude of the storm surges did not exceed 50-60 cm. Several severe storms have been observed in the winter period since October 1976. These storms have caused serious damages to the ports, the various hydrotechnical construc- tions, the shore and the sand beaches, sig- nificantly increasing the coastal erosion. The sea water set-up does not often go up to or exceed 1 m above the mean sea level. It is about 8-10 times more than the amplitude of the maximum semi-duirnal tide observed in the central part of the Bulgarian shore and 2-3 times more than the "seasonal wave" in the mean sea level due to the seasonal variability of the Black Sea water balance. These strong storms could also cause seri- ous ecological disasters because the shelf of the Bulgarian and Romanian sector of the Medit. Mar. Sci., 1/1, 2000, 45-50 45 Storm surges in the Western Black Sea. Operational forecasting. G. MUNGOV 1 and P. DANIEL 2 1 National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences 66 Tzarigradsko Chaussee, 1784 Sofia, Bulgaria e-mail: george.mungov@meteo.bg 2 Meteo-France, Scem/Previ/Mar, 42 Avenue Coriolis, 31057 Toulouse Cedex, France e-mail: pierre.daniel@meteo.fr Manuscript received: 18 August 1999; accepted in revised form: 11 January 2000 Abstract The frequency of the storm surges in the Black Sea is lower than that in other regions of the World Ocean but they cause significant damages as the magnitude of the sea level set-up is up to 7-8 times greater than that of other sea level variations. New methods and systems for storm surge forecasting and studying their statistical characteristics are absolutely necessary for the purposes of the coastal zone management. The operational forecasting storm surge model of Meteo-France was adopted for the Black Sea in accor- dance with the bilateral agreement between Meteo-France and NINMH. The model was verified using tide-gauge observations for the strongest storms observed along the Bulgarian coast over the last 10 years. Keywords: Storm Surge Model, Verification, Forecasting, Black Sea. Mediterranean Marine Science Vol. 1/1, 2000, 45-50