MeteoMuntanya.cat: a project on weather, mountaineering, and safety

There has been a continuous year-on-year increase in mountaineering injuries and fatalities in Catalonia, partly related to adverse weather conditions such as thunderstorms, mist, strong winds, blizzard, cold temperatures, among others. 

In this context, in November 2016, meteomuntanya.cat was launched, a specialized meteorological contents webpage resulting from the collaborative effort between the Meteorological Service of Catalonia (SMC) and the Catalan Mountain Clubs Federation (FEEC).  

MeteoMuntanya provides operational, informative and awareness-raising information and products aimed at reducing accidentality. 

Firstly, various tools are available for planning our route, climb or traverse in detail. 

• “Mountain conditions” offers a written weather forecast focused on weekends and holidays. Special symbology is used to highlighting forecasted occurrences such as strong winds, reduced visibility due to mist, heavy or persistent rain, thunderstorms and lightning activity, snowfalls and blizzard, iced snow surface, and thermal comfort (cold/hot). Safety comments and recommendations may also be included. 
• To complete the written forecast, the “peaks weather” provides daily semiautomated forecasts (3 km resolution WRF) for over 300 peaks over the Catalan massifs, with a 3-day window. 
• Furthermore, users can also find real time and daily anomaly snow depth data, forecast focused in mountain routes conditions, and detailed conditions for some official competitions (as trail-running or mountain skiing). 

To expand the “mountain culture” and reinforce awareness-raising, the “blog” section offers written content (2-5 minutes reading) on topics like climate change, Catalan massif climates, or mountain weather. Recent examples include “Forecasting mist”, “Winter anticyclone and snow” or “Climate change and mountains activities”, articles which are also permanently included in "Vèrtex," the FEEC review received by over 40,000 members (federates). 

Finally, the section “mountain and safety” serve as a reference place for individuals, mountain clubs, and schools seeking education resources. Examples include YouTube videos on weather hazards during mountaineering featuring recognized mountaineers such Araceli Segarra, Ferran Latorre or Claudia Sabata. There is also free access to online seminars on topics like mountain blizzard or thunderstorms and lightning.  

All MeteoMuntanya contents are consistently disseminated through the social networks of the Meteorological Service and the Mountain Federation, with more than 350.000 and 40.000 followers in X, respectively. 

With this presentation, we aim to showcase our 8 years of experience and explore opportunities for coordinating efforts with other meteorological services to provide consistent mountain weather safety information and products.