Thunderstorms, gusts and hail; it can start haunting again on Tuesday from the end of the afternoon. Code yellow therefore applies in Brabant, among others. And that happens quite often. But how often do the more ominous codes orange and red actually apply? And what exactly do they mean? Everything you need to know at a glance.
We are in the middle of the storm season. In any case, the people in the east of Brabant will have noticed that: there on Thursday 19 May it was quite raging and trees were blown over like dominoes. The fire brigade had to work hard. That day was ‘only’ code yellow.
A day later, the heavier code orange applied. The heavens opened a long way, but there was not as much nuisance as the day before. Interpolis had its hands full during those two days: 250 damage reports were received.
But what exactly do those weather codes mean?
- Yellow: There may be ‘dangerous weather’. KNMI writes on its site: “The certainty is at least sixty percent.” No reason to panic, but the KNMI hopes that you are alert to dangerous situations, especially on the road. So in forty percent of the cases it will run smoothly, but you don’t want to run the risk, right?
- Orange: The chance of extreme weather causing nuisance, damage or even injury is then high, greater than sixty percent. That can be very local, the KNMI writes. Of course you have to be careful on the road. Rijkswaterstaat can advise you to postpone your trip if possible.
- Red: This is by no means the time to think: it will work out. With this most severe alarm code, the weather can throw our country or part of it completely on its ass. Or as the KNMI writes: it can have a ‘disruptive’ effect. Even if the chance of extreme weather is small, but the risks are high, the code can be issued. Entering the road is not recommended at code red.
The three weather codes do not only occur when there is a chance of thunder, such as Tuesday. But also with: rain, snow and slippery conditions, gusts of wind, extreme cold or heat, fog.
How often do the weather codes occur?
Orange:
- This code has so far been in force in Brabant once in 2022, as stated on Friday 20 May.
- In 2021, Brabant did not have to deal with code orange.
Red:
- In 2022, Brabant also suffered from code red once. Indeed, that was during storm Eunice. The weather warning turned out to be particularly appropriate, because it was haunted that day. In Dongen, for example, a number of people became literally homeless because the roof of a block of houses was blown.
- In 2021, Brabant was given code red twice. In both cases this applied to the whole country at the time. One time it was a snowdrift, more than a week later it was slippery due to sleet.
But it sometimes rains weather codes, right? That’s actually only true for code yellow. The KNMI does not even keep statistics on this. Spokesperson Josine Camps: “In the winter, due to slippery conditions, very often an hour of code yellow applies.”
“Again code yellow and I don’t notice it at all.” Camps understands this idea: “Slipperiness is often very local. The same applies to thunderstorms. So you can sit in your car and think: I don’t notice it at all. But elsewhere in the same region it can be very slippery, and therefore immediately also very dangerous.”
That is why in the winter months there is not only sprinkled with salt, but also with warnings. “Rijkswaterstaat shares code yellow very actively on social media. And that is how it reaches exactly the target group, the road user. Because that is where you will notice the most from code yellow.”
In 2021, the KNMI had flash polls carried out by Kantar Publik. This provided information about the range of the weather codes.
- 61 – 65 percent knew that code orange was valid
- 92-95 percent knew that code red was valid
Information from the KNMI has been used for this article. You will find more here. Is there an alarm code in your area? Be sure to check the Rijkswaterstaat site if you have to hit the road.
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