[Infowarrior] - EU Site to Offer Extreme Weather Data

[Richard Forno]

EU Site to Offer Extreme Weather Data
Sunday March 18, 9:26 pm ET
By William J. Kole, Associated Press Writer

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/070318/eu_extreme_weather.html?.v=5

New Web Site to Pool Up-to-the-Minute Information on Dangerous 'Extreme
Weather' Across Europe

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- It looks like a color-coded terror alert scale --
and meteorologically speaking, that's exactly what it is. With climate
change making conditions more unpredictable, national weather services from
across the European Union have joined forces to create
http://www.meteoalarm.eu -- a new Web site providing up-to-the-minute
information on "extreme weather" across the continent.

The initiative, managed by Austria's Central Institute for Meteorology and
Geodynamics, is designed to give Europeans a single source for details on
flash floods, severe thunderstorms, gale-force winds, heat waves, blizzards
and other violent weather that poses a threat to life or property.

It also issues 24- and 48-hour warnings for heavy fog, extreme cold, forest
fires and "coastal events" such as high waves or severe tides.

"In one glance you will be able to see where in Europe the weather might
become dangerous," organizers said Saturday in a statement.

The service is similar to the United States' National Weather Service, which
posts on its Web site conditions, warnings and forecasts for all 50 states.

Although the European site officially will launch in Madrid, Spain, on March
23 -- World Meteorological Day -- it is already live on the Web in test
form.

Under the new pan-European warning system, white means missing or
insufficient data; green means no imminent threat; yellow signifies
potentially dangerous weather; orange warns of dangerous conditions; and red
means very dangerous, "exceptionally intense" weather.

Pictograms and photographs showing lightning bolts, churning floodwaters and
other catastrophic scenes also pop up "to make the general public more
conscious or aware" of a particular threat, the organizers said.

Users click on maps to get details on current conditions or forecasts of
violent weather for the next day. There are also links to a country's
national weather service.

The Network of European Meteorological Services includes 20 countries and
covers land stretching from Portugal to Sweden. Not every nation in the
region is contributing, but the site hopes to bring others online
eventually.

The Web site "pulls together all the warnings from the official national
weather services," said Michael Staudinger of the Vienna weather institute.

It seemed to be accurate on Saturday, at least for Vienna, which was
buffeted by gale-force winds gusting to 50 mph. The system churned out a
yellow high-wind warning for the area and provided details in German and
English.

http://www.meteoalarm.eu