MeteoRisk Sàrl

Meteorisk is a Sion-based consultancy company formed in 1999 by Robert Bolognesi. It employs between 4 and 10 staff, depending on the time of year.
 

Areas of activity and client base

The design of mathematical models to help forecast weather-related disasters is one of Meteorisk's special areas of expertise. This expertise has been acquired as a result of research conducted since 1985, in conjunction with various bodies including CEMAGREF (now IRSTEA, the French National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture), IFENA (now the WSL-Institute for snow and avalanche research) and EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne). 
Meteorisk offers several software packages for safety professionals, particularly in the fields of avalanche forecasting (NivoLog system) and icefall monitoring (GlacioLog system).

Its latest software package is NivoTest, a mobile application that provides improved determination of the avalanche risk, on the basis of a checklist. This application has been developed in partnership with the Icare Institute in Sierre and with support from The Ark Foundation. 

In addition to the general forecasts made by national organisations, Meteorisk produces local short-term snow and weather forecasts, using its own readings and analysis models, and taking features of the regional climate into consideration. 

Protection against natural disasters is not restricted to forecasting weather phenomena. Meteorisk is also involved in devising preventive and protective measures: risk mapping, producing action plans for triggering avalanches, expert reports for drawing up risk management plans, positioning and sizing avalanche protection structures, siting snow fences, installing avalanche cannons, etc.

Meteorisk regularly publishes various documents which provide a better understanding of weather and climate. These include books, technical manuals and a half-yearly periodical, meteo magazine. The company, and in particular its founder, Robert Bolognesi, also contributes regularly to vocational and academic training courses.