Green, yellow, orange and red: what each weather warning colour asks of a district

Background

The India Meteorological Department uses a colour code with its warnings to bring out the impact of the severe weather expected and to signal disaster managers about the course of action to be taken. Green corresponds to no warning, so no action is needed. Yellow corresponds to be watchful and get updated information. Orange means to be alert and be prepared to take action, while red signals to take action. Short to medium range forecasts and warnings are issued at 36 meteorological sub-divisions levels daily four times by the National Weather Forecasting Centre, New Delhi. District and station level forecasts are issued by the state level Meteorological Centres and Regional Meteorological Centres and are updated twice a day. Nowcasts of severe weather up to three hours are issued for all the districts and 1085 cities and towns, updated every three hours. Impact Based Forecast guidelines are finalised in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority.