Workshop Extreme Precipitation
On September 20th, Weather Impact organised a workshop in our office in Amersfoort about the extreme precipitation project. In this project, Weather Impact and KNMI combine to develop a prototype of an improved warning system for extreme precipitation events. KNMI, the Dutch national meteorological institute, focusses in their part on improving the stochastic forecasts of the radar product (0 till +2 hours) and HARMONIE model output (0 till +48 hours). Next to an improved forecast of extreme precipitation, a warning system should also be user-friendly and flexible for various end-user groups. Therefore, Weather Impact conducts research into user needs for specific end-user groups (Dutch water boards, municipalities, and safety regions) to develop and test a prototype warning system.
During the workshop, the participants received un update on the project status and 5 were selected to present experiences with extreme precipitation within their organisation. The remainder of the day was filled with interactive discussions about the warning system. Topics like preventive measures and their timeline, acceptable number of false forecasts and/or missed events, forecast lead times, and implementation and visualization of the warning system were discussed. The outcomes of this workshop are used directly for the design of the warning system and will be documented in an end report.
It is planned that a first version of the prototype warning system is operational in spring 2020, after which a pilot study of one year will organised.
