The Dutch national weather service KNMI has changed how it issues its colour-coded weather warnings, moving from one alert per province to warnings covering smaller local areas, according to AD.nl. The change means a single province will no longer automatically fall under the same code, with RTV Drenthe reporting that Drenthe is among the regions affected.
Under the revised system, the KNMI still uses the familiar yellow, orange and red codes, but applies them more precisely to the areas actually at risk. AD.nl reports that the warnings are now issued at a more local level rather than province-wide.
The change has been widely covered in the Dutch press. NOS described it as the end of yellow, orange and red codes issued per province, while de Stentor focused on how the shift works in practice during severe weather, including cases that move straight from no warning to code orange.
According to Noordhollands Dagblad, a weather expert said the new approach should mean unnecessary warnings become less frequent. RTV Drenthe framed the change as the KNMI warning more precisely about dangerous weather from today, rather than applying a single code to an entire province.
The KNMI has not been quoted directly in the reporting summarised here, and further details of how the local boundaries are drawn were not included in the available coverage.
What to watch next: how the finer-grained warnings perform during the first major autumn or winter storm, and whether residents find the localised codes clearer than the old provincial system.
