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The full -screen nest one hundred vehicles, both cars and trucks, were involved in a mass crash on the E18 between Enköping and Bålsta on Saturday. Photo: Police/TT
This weekend’s snow slippery caused two severe mass coats in Uppsala county.
In the area at the crash on the E18 – where 95 cars were involved – there was no weather warning issued.
On Saturday, SMHI warned of heavy snow villages in northern Uppland and around Gävle Bay. The warning was classified as yellow, the lowest of the three warning levels. In the area around Enköping, where one of the two mass crashs occurred, there was no weather alert at all.
Why was no warning issued there too?
– In that area, the criteria for a weather warning were not met. Overall, there was not much snow, but it was very intense snow villages for a short period. But not large enough to issue a warning from our direction, says Lisa Lind, unit manager at SMHI.
Was this snowy weather especially hard to predict?
– What is difficult is to predict is exactly where and when these intense periods occur. But the weather this weekend was not really unusual, but quite common.
Why did this snowy weather have such great consequences?
– It can be a number of unfortunate circumstances that occur at the same time. Hidden visibility due to intense snow villages, cumbersome road conditions and crowded with cars on the road that do not keep away. This may be due to several different factors that we at SMHI do not know.
Seen afterwards, was a yellow warning correct?
– Yes, purely meteorologically it was correct. However, we are evaluating this, which we do after all the weather warnings issued. But according to the rapid evaluation we made, the yellow warning was correct in that area.
Bengt Ohlsson, press manager at the Swedish Transport Administration, also lifts the local, intense snow villages as problematic.
– If you do not know exactly where and when the intense snowfall occurs, it is difficult to do something, he says and continues:
– The weather warnings are of course important to us, but when people are already on the roads, they do not make much difference. They work at their best when they come out far enough in advance, but it is not always possible to predict.
Factsmhi’s weather warnings
The weather alerts are issued when the weather is expected to have consequences or disruptions in society.
The three warning levels are based on how large the consequences the weather can cause.
Yellow Warning: Consequences for society, some risks to the public.
Orange warning: serious consequences for society, danger to the public.
Red warning: Very serious consequences for society, great danger to the public.
Source: SMHI.
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