GFMC EARLY WARNING PORTAL: DAILY GLOBAL AND REGIONAL FIRE WEATHER AND CLIMATE FORECASTS & BACKGROUND MATERIALS
Portugal: Meteorological Support to Forest Fire Prevention
Since 1960, the Meteorological Institute (Instituto de Meteorologia – IM) of the Ministry for Science and Technology, Portugal, has been collaborating with other national entities in the field of forest fire prevention, namely with Forestry Service, the Institute for Nature Conservation, the Fire Service, the Civil Protection Service and university research teams. The collaboration with the operational entities, in real time (normally from June to September), includes the following daily general information:
- meteorological observations from the national station network
- weather charts
- national and regional weather forecast bulletins
- satellite imagery
- wind field forecast for 24 hours with 3 hours intervals
As specific information, the IM computes and delivers:
- forest fire danger index computed for about 60 meteorological stations
- charts with forest fire risk classes by regions
- charts with the forecast of forest fire danger indices tendency
- weather bulletin for 48-hours forecast, specific for fire prevention
This information is available, for those entities, through the Internet with password. Part of that information is generally available in this new IM Internet site:
English version: http://www.meteo.pt/en/ambiente/risco_incendio/
Portuguese version: http://www.meteo.pt/pt/ambiente/risco_incendio/
