The Portuguese Sea and Atmosphere Institute (IPMA) today raised to orange the warnings issued on Tuesday for the Western and Central groups of the Azores and put the Eastern group in yellow, due to the forecast of heavy rain.
“The passage of a cold frontal surface with waves, with moderate to strong activity, will cause the weather to worsen throughout the archipelago,” the IPMA said in a statement today.
In this context, “heavy rain, which may be accompanied by thunderstorms, is expected from tomorrow (October 5) on the islands of the Western and Central groups and from Friday (October 6) on the islands of the Eastern group”.
“A significant increase in wind intensity is also expected, especially on the islands of the Central group, with gusts of around 90 kilometers per hour,” he adds.
The IPMA had already informed us that the islands of the Western group (Corvo and Flores) would be under a yellow warning from 15:00 today until 12:00 on Thursday, due to “sometimes heavy rainfall, which may be accompanied by thunderstorms”.
For the Central group (Terceira, Pico, São Jorge, Graciosa and Faial) the yellow warning was valid between 09:00 on Thursday and 09:00 on Friday.
Today, for the Western group, an orange warning was issued (to be in force between 00:00 and 15:00 on Thursday) and a yellow warning (between 15:00 and 24:00 today and between 15:00 and 18:00 on Thursday).
For the Central group, an orange warning has been issued for the period between 15:00 on Thursday and 06:00 on Friday, and a yellow warning from 09:00 to 15:00 on Thursday and from 06:00 to 09:00 on Friday. The wind is the cause of another yellow warning, from 06:00 to 24:00 on Friday.
The IPMA has also placed the eastern group of the Azores (São Miguel and Santa Maria) under a yellow warning, between 09:00 and 24:00 on Friday, due to “sometimes heavy rainfall, which may be accompanied by thunderstorms”.
The orange warning is the second most serious on a scale of three and is issued in a “moderate to high risk meteorological situation”, according to the IPMA.
The yellow warning, the least serious, is issued whenever there is a risk situation for certain activities depending on the weather situation.