What alerts are affected: All land-based Environment & Climate Change Canada alert banners that are “warnings” or “watch” may appear as red, orange or yellow.
“Advisory” will appear as yellow.
Special weather statements will have no colour (displayed as grey/white).
The alert colour represents risk, based on potential impact and forecast confidence of the expected severe weather event.
Red - Act now to stay safe from destructive weather.
• Very dangerous and possibly life-threatening weather.
• Expect prolonged and extensive disruption.
Orange - Protect yourself from dangerous weather.
• Severe weather is likely to cause widespread and/or significant
damage, disruption or health impacts.
• Take action to protect yourself and your property.
Yellow - Act now to stay safe from destructive weather.
• Very dangerous and possibly life-threatening weather.
• Expect prolonged and extensive disruption.
Weather Statements: In addition to weather alerts, Environment and Climate Change Canada also issues weather statements which provide extra information about weather conditions. These statements have no colour code. When a weather statement is issued for your area, you’ll see a dark grey/black or white icon on The Weather Network platforms. Special weather statements are free-form statements that are typically used to describe weather hazards that cannot be described by another watch, warning, or advisory; are not hazardous enough to warrant issuing a watch or warning; or to warn the public of a potentially hazardous weather event in the long-term forecast.
Read our article about the changes here.
Who determines the colour?
ECCC will dictate the colour of EC alerts only.
Will all alerts have colour codes?
All land-based ECCC alert banners that are “warnings” or “watch” may appear as red, orange or yellow. “advisory” will appear as yellow. Special weather statements will have no colour (displayed as dark grey/white).
What about accessibility/ people who cannot see colours?
The words "yellow," "red," and "orange" will be in the alert titles. The coloured icons will always have the words next to them in the alert.
Why did we make these changes?
These changes are made by Environment & Climate Change Canada (ECCC) to place more emphasis on the potential impact severe weather events may have on the lives of Canadians.
We want to represent alerts as accurately as disseminated by ECCC on our platforms to convey potential impact to all our users.