Red Weather Alert for Northwest Iceland
No travel is advised anywhere in the country tomorrow, starting in the afternoon, while the weather warnings are in effect.
A violent storm, 25 to 33 m/sec and a severe blizzard are forecast for Northwest Iceland for tomorrow. There is a red weather alert for the region from 5 pm tomorrow until 1 am Wednesday. Very poor visibility and dangerous road conditions.
The weather is likely to cause transportation disturbances and travel is not advised while the weather warning is in effect. Higher sea levels, with wave height up to 10 meters, are anticipated due to a storm surge, with the possibility of small boats being damaged or detached from the dock. People are advised to show caution and monitor weather forecasts. All travel should be avoided.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the Icelandic Met Office modified its warning to a red one,” Jónas Guðmundsson, project manager for ICE-SAR, the Icelandic Association for Search and Rescue, stated earlier today. “That would be a first for Iceland,” he tells mbl.is.
See our report about weather warnings that have been issued for tomorrow for the whole country:
Aside from the red warning in Northeast Iceland, the latest weather warnings are orange for the rest of the country.
Please stay updated by checking en.vedur.is.
“We’ve issued warnings on our website, safetravel.is. These are posted on all our screens – 104 of them , located at all gas stations on the Ring Road, at car rentals and elsewhere,” Jónas states. “In addition, we stream these warnings geographically to several thousands of rental cars, so that they pop up when they are on the road.”
“There is some uncertainty in the forecast in places, regarding whether the precipitation will be in the form of rain or snow, since the temperature is close to freezing,” Jónas explains.
He points out that now, for the first time in Iceland, there is a map on safetravel.is, showing all travel conditions in one place: weather, road conditions, conditions at tourist attractions, avalanche forecast, web cams, and more. You can check it out here.
Through safetravel.is, ICE-SAR sends out emails to close to 5,000 companies in the travel industry.
“We ask them to print out the warning, post it in the reception area, alert travelers and inform them of the map.” This, he states, is very effective. ICE-SAR does all in its power to prevent people from traveling in severe weather.
He reports that rescue teams will be on stand-by, due to the weather forecast. Everything is being done to discourage people from any travel while the warnings are in effect.
“We emphasize to our people the importance of being available. There is a meeting planned mid-day for operations control in the capital area, where we will evaluate the situation and coordinate operations,” he states. He expects tomorrow to be busy for rescue workers.
