Apr. 23 – An ounce of prediction is worth a pound of cure. Especially when it comes to weather forecasts and activities that are particularly vulnerable to climate risks, such as water, energy, transport, tourism, agricultural, and forestry management. A new survey by the European project Euporias is now available online to better understand the needs of weather-climate users. Euporias (European provision of regional impacts assessments on seasonal and decadal timescales) seeks to develop a new generation of climate predictions on a seasonal-ten-year scale (from one month to ten years). Euporias is coordinated by the Met Office, the British weather service, and includes 24 European partners, including Italy’s ENEA. Within the project, ENEA has the responsibility for managing relationships with stakeholders, as well as defining the vulnerabilities and needs of different industries, and developing seasonal forecasts (from one to six months) in the renewable energy sector, with particular reference to the management of the national electricity grid. The survey was developed by the University of Leeds while ENEA contributed to the Italian version, and carried out preliminary interviews within its laboratories. “It is a short questionnaire – said ENEA in a statement – that seeks to improve the understanding of the weather forecast needs of European users, to allow those who provide weather and climate information to meet those needs, particularly in reference to those organizations whose activities are strongly influenced by weather and climate.” Euporias’ primary objective is to demonstrate the usefulness of climate information to support decision-making processes.
