RAIFoS: Regional Avalanche Information and Forecasting System

Besides the text-based Swiss national avalanche forecasts, regional avalanche forecasts have been introduced in Switzerland in 1996. Each regional forecast covers an area of about 3000 km 2, and shows the avalanche hazard in graphical form. The regional bulletins are published at 8:00 a.m. The Regional Avalanche Information and Forecasting System (RAIFoS) is a computer-based system that contains the following. ⋅ A statistical model (Next-X-Days-Regional, NXD-REG) that forecasts the avalanche hazard for Switzerland. The model is based on the nearest neighbor approach, which is applied for 60 manual weather stations. The results of each station are then compiled into a map of the current and future avalanche hazard. The model's results are an additional information for constructing avalanche hazard estimations, and are fully integrated with bulletin-graph-editor (BULLED). ⋅ A GIS-based editor (BULLED) for constructing an estimation of the past or current avalanche hazard for Switzerland. The maps can be edited, copied, printed, exported in all important graphic formats, and saved in a relational database. ⋅ A text-based editor (regional bulletin editor, REGBUL) for writing the forecasts for each individual region. The data of automatic stations and the official weather forecast of Switzerland are included automatically. Furthermore, a set of structured sentences allows the avalanche warner to quickly compile a few sentences about the current situation. The structure of the sentences allows us to translate fully automatically into French. The hazard estimation created with BULLED is used for the region edited. These three complementary approaches are the basis of computer-aided regional avalanche forecasts. The data of automatic stations and model calculations of SNOWPACK are further important prerequisites but are not presented here.