Meteoalarm.eu extends more to the East

Meteoalarm is now fully operational since more than 1 year. According to the great number of hits and the positive reactions we seem to comply with the need of many users. The website offers the overview and also many details on the weather awareness situation within Europe.

Meteoalarm.eu is the official website to warn the public for severe weather across Europe. This year Meteoalarm has extended more to the East so nearly 30 European countries combine to develop Meteoalarm. A unique initiative from Eumetnet, the public European weather services network within the World Meteorological Organization.

More countries
The success of the website did trigger the desire from many other National Weather Services to join the Meteoalarm community. This is why already the Czech republic and Slovakia joined Meteoalarm at the beginning of 2008. From 18^th till 20^th of March a meeting was held in Salzburg to welcome them, together with other countries on the threshold of entering, in a more official way. During this year (2008) Meteoalarm extended even more to the East. In Salzburg final arrangements were made with: Estonia , Latvia , Poland , Croatia , Romania , and Slovenia to enter the Meteoalarm website.

What does Meteoalarm.eu offer
A universally understood system using symbols and color-coded maps provides the latest warnings of expected severe weather for the next 48 hours over most of Europe. Wherever you are in Europe, clear, concise information will help you plan your travel, or any activity affected by severe weather. Where, for example, might heavy rain cause flooding; what is the risk of avalanche; might fog delay my flight; and will hot, dry weather increase the risk of forest fires? Each country is color-coded on the map to represent four levels of warning: red to indicate exceptional risk from dangerous weather conditions, down through orange and yellow to green, indicating that severe weather is not expected. The site offers also a greyscale map for color blind people.

The alert levels are published in a unified system with a clear relationship between the meteorological feature towards possible damage and proposed behavior, this to avoid damages.The thresholds for these levels differ from region to region because for instance intense snowfall in the Alpine region causes less disruption and damage then in Lisbon. Meteoalarm is also a portal to the national warning systems: click on the logo of individual weather services to visit websites of the respective national meteorological services for regional information.

Who will benefit from Meteoalarm.eu
http://www.meteoalarm.eu/The service concerns Europe but is meant for everyone in the world and available in different languages. Not only will business and holiday travelers benefit, so will official organizations such as marine and mountain rescue services. People can use meteoalarm.eu to plan more effectively, businesses can prepare for how severe weather could affect their operations and emergency services will have up-to-date information close to hand. TV weather presenters in Europe may use the colored map to enhance extreme weather.

Why Meteoalarm.eu
Our climate is changing and extreme weather is likely to occur more frequently, increasing danger to life and damage to property. Time after time storms, floods, or avalanches somewhere in Europe have lead to a disaster and heat waves over recent years have cost many thousands of lives. Meteoalarm.eu provides a single source of comprehensive weather conditions anywhere in Europe.

The following countries participate
Austria, Belgium, Croatia , Cyprus, Denmark, Czech Republic, Estonia , Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland , Portugal, Romania , Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom.