HOW DOES SAWS CATEGORIZE SEVERE WEATHER WARNINGS?
1. Severe weather is an extreme meteorological event or phenomenon, which represents a real hazard to human life and property and has the potential to cause damage, serious social disruption, or loss of human life.
2. Special Weather Advisory: an alert raising awareness up to 5 days in advance to either expected large scale potential disruptive weather systems that could later lead to specific watches/warnings with time, or to less urgent alerts of uncommon conditions.
3. Severe Weather Watch: an alert calling for preparedness to weather hazards that most likely will occur within 1 to 3 days and that could lead to disruptive and disastrous conditions.
4. Severe Weather Warning: an alert calling for reaction due to a very high certainty of a severe weather hazard that is already occurringor imminent within 24 hours and that could lead to disruptive and disastrous conditions.
Severe Weather Watches/ Warnings (Watch: Amber - be prepared)(Warning: Red - Take action) 1-3 days in advance, Could be the consequences of Intense large weather systems |
1. Disruptive Snowfalls |
2. Heavy Rain |
3. Flash Flooding |
• Heavy Rain leading to Flash flooding (non thunder storm) |
• Localised Flooding (non thunder storm) . |
4. Severe Thunderstorms |
• Hail, gusts, tornadoes, local flooding |
5. Sea State (High swell > 6 m) |
6. Strong winds (Gale force) |
7. Veld fire conditions (in collaboration with Forestry) |
Special Weather Advisories (Advisory: Yellow - Be aware) (Up to 5 days in advance, do NOT escalate to warnings as such) |
· Intense large weather systems (whose consequences could lead to warnings later): |
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· Less urgent types of alert: |
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