Author: Gytis Valaika

We are pleased to announce that Latvian Centre for Environment, Geology and Meteorology, together with Lithuanian Energy Institute and Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service at the Ministry of Environment have started the implementation of a new project “Ice-jam flood risk management in Latvian and Lithuanian regions with respect to climate change” (acronym – ICEREG).

Ice jams in rivers are very dangerous – rising water levels can flood large areas and cause significant damage to communities and the economy of the border regions between Lithuania and Latvia. The specific dynamics of ice accumulation are still poorly understood, making it difficult to predict flooding from ice jams. Without accurate forecasts, there is no way to warn the population in advance of potential hazards. This can lead not only to increased property damage, but also to damage to health or even loss of life.

Ice jam in Neris near Vilnius in the spring of 2021.

The aim of the ICEREG project is to model and map floods caused by ice jams in the vulnerable areas of Lithuania-Latvia. The developed model will be used to improve the existing early warning system by using information on ice drift floods. The project will increase the security and resilience of the Latvian-Lithuanian border regions to the challenges related to the risk of flooding caused by ice jams, which is increasing in frequency due to climate change.

Planned activities – based on the analysis of historical data, a conceptual model of the formation of ice jams and the inundation caused by this phenomenon will be developed. It will also assess changes in the formation of ice jams due to the effects of climate change. Ice flood hazard and risk maps will then be produced with 0.5%, 1%, 10% probabilities for 2030, 2070 and 2100. Based on the results of the project, Latvia’s flood risk information system and Lithuania’s warning system will be upgraded to include information on ice jams and potential floods. National and local authorities and target groups will be able to use flood maps marking the affected areas and integrate the data into the warning systems of both countries (Lithuania and Latvia).

The project is supported by the Interreg VI-A Latvia-Lithuania Programme (2021-2027).

The total project budget is EUR 654 082.50, including 80% of the total budget ERDF co-financing.

The duration of the project is from February 1st of 2024 to December 31th of 2025.

Project number – LL-00136

Please be informed that from now on you can access even more hydrometeorological data via meteo.lt API. Recently, 30 days of hourly water level and temperature data from as many as 95 water measurement stations (WMS) have been made available. Until now, you could only view the graphs with this information on our website, but now you will be able to download and/or use the VMS data e.g. in the programmes you develop.

Please note that in addition to hydrological data, Meteo.lt API is also open for weather forecasts (for 7 days). You will also find 10 years of actual weather history from 18 of Lithuania’s main meteorological stations, with hourly hourly data for each day on air temperature, wind speed, gusts, gusts, gusts and gusts direction, clouds and cumulative clouds, atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, precipitation and weather conditions.

If the data is still not enough for you, then we would like to remind you that on the meteo.lt website you can find the most important hydrometeorological datasets: temperature, precipitation, snow, wind, thunderstorms, sunshine, hydrometeorological chronicles, temperature records, maps and more.

FOR THOSE WHO DON’T KNOW WHAT API IS: meteo.lt API (Application programming interface) enables access to and use of publicly available data measured at the meteorological and water measurement stations of the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service, as well as to the weather forecasts produced by the Lithuanian Hydrometeorological Service (Harmonie/ECMWF weather models). Using the meteo.lt API, you can integrate the meteorological data provided by LHMT into your own applications. More detailed instructions on how to use the Meteo.lt API can be found here (in Lithuanian).