The Portuguese Institute for the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) today raised to orange the warning issued for the central group of the Azores due to wind, with gusts that could reach 110 kilometers per hour, due to depression Olivia.
On Tuesday, the IPMA placed the Central group (Terceira, São Jorge, Pico, Graciosa and Faial) of the archipelago under a yellow warning (the least serious on a scale of three) due to wind, and has now raised it to orange (the intermediate level) for those five islands between 14:00 and 20:00 local time today (15:00 and 21:00 in Lisbon).
Also due to wind forecasts, an orange warning had already been issued for the islands of the Western group (Flores and Corvo) between 11:00 and 17:00 local time today.
In a statement, the IPMA office in the Azores explains that “the influence of depression Olivia is already being felt in the Western group with the occurrence of precipitation”.
According to the IPMA, depression Olivia is expected to “cause a significant increase in wind intensity, with gusts that could reach 110 kilometers per hour in the Western and Central groups”.
“Associated with this meteorological situation, there is likely to be heavy rainfall at times, more frequent on the islands of the Western and Central groups,” reads the press release issued this morning. During the day today, the precipitation will result in a yellow warning for these seven islands.
Sea turbulence is also expected, with waves of significant height that could reach seven meters in the Western group and six meters in the Central group.
The IPMA has also issued yellow warnings for the islands in both groups due to sea turbulence, between 11:00 local time today and 05:00 on Thursday.
The institute also said that “the cold frontal surface associated with this depression will also cause an increase in wind intensity in the eastern group” (São Miguel and Santa Maria), “with gusts that could reach 85 kilometers per hour, periods of rain and waves with a significant height of up to five meters”.
The orange warning is the second most serious on the scale and is issued in a “moderate to high risk meteorological situation”, according to the IPMA.
The yellow warning is issued whenever there is a risk situation for certain activities depending on the weather situation.
