Meteorologic Warning System
2019-12-09 (IPMA)
Changes in Snow Weather Warning
Since December 9, 2019, the snow weather warning issued by IPMA for the Mainland, Madeira and the Azores, follows to the criteria presented in link 2 below; all warnings can be consulted in real time (see link 3 below).
These are the main changes comparing to the previous warning:
- Increased discrimination of affected regions, according to altitude, with the inclusion of the 1600m level (in addition to the 1000m level) which, for example, on the Continent allows restricting the warning to Serra da Estrela when issued to Guarda districts (affecting Gouveia, Manteigas and Seia counties) and Castelo Branco (affecting Covilhã county);
- Yellow warning from 1 cm of snow depth regardless the altitude, taking into account the consequent formation of ice on the roads and influence on road traffic;
- Inclusion of possible impacts.
The snow warning review process, now implemented by IPMA, resulted from a set of multidisciplinary activities in the area of civil protection, involving, in addition to IPMA, other national entities - the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC), the National Republican Guard (GNR) and Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP), which is responsible for road maintenance.
This review process also had important contributions from regional/local entities/units, in particular, the Civil Protection Special Force (FEPC) Mountain Group from ANEPC, the District Operations Command (CDOS) for the District of Guarda (from ANEPC), the Protection and Relief Emergency Unit (UEPS) Mountain Group from GNR, the Snow Removal Center in Serra da Estrela from IP, the Municipal Civil Protection Service from the city of Seia (SMPCS), the Voluntary Firefighters from the city of Seia (BVS) and, by IPMA, the Penhas Douradas Meteorological Observatory.
It should also be noted that this snow warning revision is in agreement with the guidelines of METEOALARM European program (responsible for harmonizing the emission of weather warnings in Europe) and of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), in order to include in warnings the possible impacts on society, promoting the influence of weather forecasts and warnings on population actions.
Finally, the snow warning for the Serra da Estrela region issued by IPMA is part of the Serra da Estrela National Operations Plan (PONSE), coordinated by ANEPC and also beginning on December 9, 2019. The recommendations of the ANEPC for extreme snow episodes can be consulted in link 1 below.
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