Colour-Coded Weather Warning
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Context
- Amid heavy rainfall in Delhi-NCR on Saturday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an orange alert for three hours in the region.
About
- Colour codes are used in weather warnings for bringing out the severity of the weather phenomena expected as per the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).
- The main purpose is to forewarn disaster management authority and people to keep themselves ready for necessary action related to disaster risk reduction.
- These alerts are universal in nature and are also issued during floods, depending on the amount of water rising above land/in a river as a result of torrential rainfall.
The Colour Codes
- The IMD uses 4 colour codes:
- Green (All is well): No advisory is issued.
- Yellow (Be Aware): Yellow indicates severely bad weather spanning across several days. It also suggests that the weather could change for the worse, causing disruption in day-to-day activities.
- Orange/Amber (Be prepared): The orange alert is issued as a warning of extremely bad weather with the potential of disruption in commute with road and rail closures, and interruption of power supply.
- Red (Take Action): When the extremely bad weather conditions are certainly going to disrupt travel and power and have significant risk to life, the red alert is issued.