Outreach: who could give an official view, and what we would ask
Drafts only. Nothing here has been sent. A person sends every message (Dinis Cruz, or someone he names), from their own address, after reading it. No contact details are kept in this repository: each body is reached through the public contact or press page on its own website, which the sender looks up. No private individuals; bodies and public roles only. Kept by incident.media@web-summit.dinis.
Not a warning service. These are questions for the record after and around the event. None of them should take a minute from anyone's operational work during the storm: the drafts say so, and the suggested time to send is after the warnings end (Thursday 12 November or later), unless Dinis decides otherwise.
The questions as data: questions.json. The draft messages: drafts.md.
Two more drafts, kept by incident.weatherwatch@ where they belong (also unsent; a person sends): IPMA: use of the radar imagery and EUMETSAT: registration for the satellite imagery. Their index: research/weather-sites/outreach/.
Why ask at all
This site labels every item fact, evidence or hypothesis. Several things we most want to state are still evidence (reported by the press) or hypothesis (our analysis). The only way to turn them into facts is the body's own word, in public or on the record. Each question below names the item it would settle.
Who, by field
| Field | Body or kind of expert | Why them | Status of what we have |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meteorology | IPMA (the national meteorological service: issues the warnings and the special communiqués) | the only primary source for the warnings | warnings and communiqués read as facts; issue times missing from the open data |
| Meteorology | University atmospheric science groups (for example Instituto Dom Luiz at the University of Lisbon), independent of the forecast | an expert reading of the track, the sting-jet risk, and how unusual the storm is | our analysis only (hypothesis) |
| Meteorology | The south-west Europe storm naming group (the national services that share the list) and EUMETSAT / ECMWF (satellite and model providers) | who named Charles and when; licences for imagery | not read |
| Civil protection | ANEPC (national authority) | the public warning (Aviso), the readiness level, the count of incidents | read as facts where on its site; counts only via press |
| Civil protection | Câmara Municipal de Lisboa: municipal civil protection and the fire brigade (Sapadores) | closures of tunnels, parks, riverside; local incidents | via press (the city's site refuses automated reading) |
| Government | Ministry of Internal Administration / the government's press office | the alert declaration; the recommendation to suspend Web Summit | declaration read as fact; the recommendation only via press |
| Transport | Metropolitano de Lisboa, Carris, CP, Fertagus, Transtejo Soflusa, Lusoponte, Infraestruturas de Portugal | service on Wednesday and the plan for Thursday morning | notices read where published; thresholds unknown |
| Transport | ANA (the airport) and NAV Portugal (air navigation) | cancellations, diversions, the reopening pattern | airport forecast read; operations not |
| Energy and networks | E-REDES, the telecom operators | customers without power; restoration times | via press |
| Event safety | Web Summit (the organiser) | the decision, its timing, what happens to Wednesday's programme, tickets, Thursday | decision read as fact (their page, 19:09); the rest unannounced |
| Event safety | The venues (FIL, MEO Arena) | wind limits of temporary structures; water ingress on Tuesday | via press |
| Event safety | Event-safety practitioners and structural engineers (for example a national civil engineering laboratory such as LNEC; crowd-safety professionals) | what wind speeds close temporary structures; how such decisions are normally made and how early | none: a gap |
| The record | Journalists whose by-lines are in the coverage list | corrections to times and attributions; what they could not publish for lack of a source | their published work |
The questions, by field
Each is written to be answerable in a sentence or two, and says what it would change here.
Meteorology (IPMA; independent atmospheric scientists)
- At what times (UTC) were Lisbon's red warnings for wind and for rain issued? The open data gives the period each covers, not when it was issued. (Settles: the lead-time table, now part press, part two reads.)
- Was the track ("between Sines and Cabo Carvoeiro") the main uncertainty on Tuesday, and when did the models agree? (Settles: why the rain warning went red about nine hours after the wind.)
- The government's statement cites a possible sting jet with gusts above 150 km/h. What probability did IPMA attach to it, and was it observed? (Now: quoted via the government; our analysis only.)
- The airport forecast (TAF) weakened at 23:00 on Tuesday while the red warnings stood. How should the public read a point forecast for pilots against a district warning? (Now: our own explanation, labelled analysis.)
- How does Charles compare with Kristin, in measured gusts and rainfall, once the stations are in? (Now: press comparisons only.)
- Who named the storm, on what date, and under which criterion? (Now: not read.)
- For independent scientists: is there anything in our analysis that is wrong or overstated?
Civil protection (ANEPC; Lisbon's municipal civil protection)
- When was the decision taken to recommend that large events be suspended on Wednesday, and on what criteria (the warning level, the tide, the wind on structures)?
- Is there a written threshold at which an indoor event with outdoor structures and tens of thousands of people is advised to close, or is it case by case?
- How many incidents were recorded in the Lisbon district between Tuesday 00:00 and Thursday 00:00, by type? (Now: partial counts via press.)
- Which public warning channels were used (cell broadcast, SMS, the site), in which languages, and at what times? Did visitors on foreign SIM cards receive them?
- What would you want an aggregator like this site to do, and not do, during an alert?
Government (Ministry of Internal Administration)
- At what time was the recommendation to suspend Web Summit on Wednesday communicated to the organisers, and in what form? (Now: press at 17:53; the organisers' page says the government "formally advised".)
- Does an "alert situation" oblige the suspension of an event in a private venue, or only recommend it? Who decides?
Transport (Metro, Carris, CP, Fertagus, Transtejo Soflusa, Lusoponte, IP, ANA, NAV)
- What service ran on Wednesday between 12:00 and 21:00, and what was suspended, at what times?
- What wind or water thresholds close a line, a bridge, a ferry crossing or a runway, and are they published?
- When was Thursday morning's service confirmed, and through which channel first?
- For the airport: how many flights were cancelled or diverted on Wednesday, and when did operations return to normal?
Event safety (Web Summit; the venues; practitioners)
- At what time did the organisers decide, and what was the last piece of information that settled it? (Now: the page was published 19:09; press reported the government's recommendation at 17:53.)
- What happens to Wednesday's programme (talks, the PITCH semi-final, Night Summit, side events), and to Wednesday-only tickets? (Now: unannounced; PITCH timing in conflict between two sources.)
- Through which channels, in what order, was the decision communicated (email, app, the website, social)? We read the page at its source 109 minutes after it was published: it sat outside the paths our watch read.
- For the venues: what is the rated wind limit of the temporary structures between the halls, and what caused the water ingress reported on Tuesday afternoon? (Now: press only.)
- For practitioners: for an event of this size, what lead time is normal between a red warning and a decision to close a day, and what does good practice say about announcing it?
Journalists who covered it
- Is your article's time and by-line right in our list? (Copied from each page's own metadata.)
- What did you want to confirm and could not, for lack of a primary source? (That list is our research list too.)
- Would a single public timeline of decisions, each with its primary source and time, have been useful on Tuesday evening, and in what form?
How a reply is used
- A reply is published only if the sender of the reply agrees, and as they agree: attributed to the body, to a named role, or as background that informs a label without being quoted.
- An on-the-record answer from the body that decides or warns can move an item from evidence to fact; the item then cites the reply with its date.
- Replies themselves are not stored in this repository unless public. A summary, the date, and who agreed to what, are.