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Rain Alert: What is ‘Red’, ‘Orange’, ‘Green’ alerts mean?

The weather forecasting agencies uses various colour codes for issuing warning. We had heard about ‘Red’, ‘Orange’, ‘Green’ and ‘yellow’ alerts. But what does this really mean? How are colours associated with the magnitude of impending danger, and who catalogues this?

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) or the Met department, uses four colour codes to indicate various categories of alerts. Alerts by the IMD are colour-coded from Green to Red.

1.Green (All is well): No advisory is issued.

‘Green’ stands for ‘No warning’: no action needs to be taken by the authorities, and the forecast is of light to moderate rain.

2. Yellow (Be aware): Severely bad weather is possible over the next few days.

A ‘Yellow’ alert signifies “Watch”, and authorities are advised to “Be updated” on the situation.

3.Amber (Be prepared): There is an increased likelihood of extremely bad weather,. There could be risk to life and property.

An ‘Orange’ warning stands for “Alert”, and authorities are expected to “Be prepared”. The forecast during an Orange warning is of heavy to very heavy rainfall.

4. Red Alert(Take action): Extremely bad weather is expected.

A ‘Red’ alert stands for “Warning”, and asks authorities to “Take action”. The forecast is for extremely heavy rainfall.

A ‘Red’ warning denotes the likelihood of extremely heavy rainfall. Over 200 mm of rain is expected over the next 24 hours. The warning means that the authorities must take action.

Rainfall levels:

According to the weather department, 15.6 mm to 64.4 mm rain is considered “moderate”, 64.5 mm to 115.5 mm is considered “heavy”, 115.6 mm to 204.4 mm “very heavy”, and more than 204.5 mm “extremely heavy” rain.

 

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