Together Make a difference with a coordinated response to emergency management ENGLAND The Met Office’s role in emergency preparedness and response Executive summary The Met Office is a Trading Fund within the Department meteorological information to deal with a range for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and of environmental incidents, from chemical or the official source of meteorological information in the radiological releases to biological hazards such as UK. Legislation supporting the Civil Contingencies Act foot-and-mouth disease. 2004 states that Category 1 responders must have The Flood Forecasting Centre (FFC) provides daily regard to the Met Office’s duty to warn the public and guidance on all forms of flood risk across England and provide information and advice, if an emergency is likely Wales, whilst the Scottish Flood Forecasting Service to occur or has taken place. (SFFS) performs the same function across Scotland. The The Met Office provides a number of services that help FFC and SFFS assist the Environment Agency, Scottish authorities prepare for and respond to emergencies that Envrionment Protection Agency and Natural Resources are caused or influenced by the weather. These include Wales in issuing tidal flood alerts/warnings for the UK severe weather warnings and plume dispersion mainland. Separate co-operative arrangements for flood predictions. Linked to these services is the ready risk assessment apply in Northern Ireland. availability of advice from teams of Met Office The Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre forecasters, advisors and specialist scientists on the (MOSWOC) supplies daily detailed space weather interpretation and impact of the weather during an forecasts to both the public and emergency responders. emergency. If required, Met Office experts are ready to This helps fulfil its commitment to protect those parts of attend or teleconference into tactical/strategic our infrastructure that are at greatest risk from severe command and control centres. space weather events. The Met Office’s Public Weather Service provides a Many of these services are ‘free at the point of use’ by range of basic weather data and related warnings to Category 1 and 2 responders, as defined in the Civil help the UK public (and public sector partners, when Contingencies Act 2004. Occasionally, incidents may appropriate) make informed decisions concerning the require the help of other specialised services that need impact of the weather on their daily activities. The additional funding. These services include the Met Office service makes a vital contribution to the protection Civil Contingencies Aircraft (MOCCA), which is on of life, property and basic infrastructure. permanent standby, and the jointly managed Facility for The National Severe Weather Warning Service (NSWWS) Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) research provides severe weather warnings to the general public aircraft, which can be deployed when available and and emergency responders, giving up to seven days which has appropriate onboard instrumentation for advance notice of disruptive weather conditions. These monitoring particulates and pollutants in the are updated regularly in the run up to the weather event. atmosphere, as well as for measuring the local meteorology. The Environment Monitoring and Response Centre (EMARC) is one of the forecast production units at the This document describes the range of services Met Office. It provides specialist forecasts to the UK provided by the Met Office to help authorities prepare emergency services, relevant government departments, for and respond to emergencies. It also acts as a guide and the international community. It has continuous to help readers interpret the information generated operational capability, which enables the Met Office to by these services. respond immediately to customers requiring Contents 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Public Weather Service 2. SEVERE WEATHER 2.1 National Severe Weather Warning Service 2.2 Impact tables 2.3 Examples of warnings 2.4 Heatwave/cold weather planning 3. COOPERATIVE ARRANGEMENTS FOR FLOOD RISK ASSESSMENT 3.1 Flood Forecasting Centre services 3.2 UK coastal monitoring and forecasting 4. ENVIRONMENTAL INCIDENTS 4.1 Environment Monitoring and Response Centre/Hazard Centre 4.2 FireMet 4.3 Chemical Incidents 4.4 CHEMET 4.5 Biological incidents and animal health 4.6 Nuclear incidents/RIMNET 4.7 Source identification 4.8 Fire Severity Index 4.9 Volcanic eruptions 4.10 Space Weather Events 5. CIVIL CONTINGENCIES ADVISORS 6. SEVERE WEATHER RISK ASSESSMENTS 7. ADDITIONAL SUPPORT AND ADVICE 7.1 Hazard Manager 7.2 Specialised weather forecasts 7.3 Airborne support 7.4 Calling on Met Office resources for Command and Control Centres or Science and Technical Advice Cells 8. CONTACT DETAILS 9. LIST OF ACRONYMS 10. CONVERSION TABLES APPENDIX 1 - SEVERE WEATHER IMPACT TABLES 1. INTRODUCTION The Met Office is a Trading Fund within the Department 1.1 Public Weather Service for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and The Met Office’s Public Weather Service (PWS) provides is the official source of meteorological information in a range of basic weather data and related warnings to the UK. It provides a number of services to help the help the UK public (and public sector partners, when authorities prepare for and respond to emergencies. appropriate) make informed decisions concerning the The weather not only can cause an emergency, for impact of the weather on their daily activities. The example, flooding, but may exacerbate the impact of a service, which is vital in its contribution to the range of emergencies, such as chemical releases, protection of life, property and basic infrastructure, nuclear incidents, large fires or biological hazards, comprises: including foot and mouth disease. Legislation supporting • National Severe Weather Warning Service the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 states that Category 1 responders must have regard to the Met Office’s duty to • A range of forecasts available via the give warning, and provide information and advice, to the Met Office website public if an emergency is likely to occur, is underway or • National Meteorological Library and has already taken place. Climatological Archive This duty includes the issuing of severe weather • UK and global response services warnings and plume dispersion predictions. In line with these services, teams of Met Office forecasters and • Civil Contingencies Advisors specialist scientists will advise on the interpretation and • Forecasting guidance from the Met Office impact of the weather during an emergency. A UK-wide Operations Centre team of Civil Contingencies advisors from the Met Office helps in the development and maintenance of • General help and advice from the Met Office severe weather risk registers. This team also handles Customer Centre. the input to exercise and planning processes, and The Public Weather Service Customer Group (PWSCG) attends either in person or via teleconference incident acts as the customer on behalf of the public for free at command and control centres during weather-related the point of use weather services and on behalf of emergencies. Public Sector users of PWS outputs. It is responsible for In addition, the Met Office provides dedicated forecasts setting the requirement and specifying the outputs, and warnings to Category 1 responders. For example, supporting research and development to meet future the Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and requirements, meeting international commitments on the Scottish Environment Protection Agency receive behalf of UK Government, providing underpinning data detailed rainfall forecasts and warnings for assessing for stakeholders and authorising payment for the PWS the risk of flooding, on top of the National Severe from BEIS. Weather Warning Service described in this document. The PWSCG ensures that PWS services are aligned to The Maritime and Coastguard Agency receives the the operational needs of the Met Office’s public sector Shipping and Inshore Waters Forecasts and warnings customers, and acts as these customers’ guardian by provided by the public marine forecasting team at the determining the Met Office’s underpinning operational Met Office. capability. Further information on these latter services can be Other services, such as those provided during found at https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/ environmental incidents (for example, the Volcanic Ash weather/marine Advisory Centre and animal health services), are funded by the relevant leading agencies or government This document focuses on the services available to UK departments. emergency planners and responders, and aims to: The vast majority of the services referred to in this • explain the role of the Met Office in helping others document are ‘free at the point of use’ by Category prepare for and respond to emergencies 1 and 2 responders. Where additional funding may be • describe the range of services available to required, this is stated in the document. emergency planners and responders • provide guidance on interpreting the products. 2. SEVERE WEATHER 2.1 National Severe Weather Warning Service In spring 2018 the next generation of NSWWS was launched. Amongst the new features brought in was a The Met Office provides the National Severe Weather simplified structure to the text, allied to new web Warning Service (NSWWS) to alert the public, civil graphics that were introduced in April 2017. The revised emergency authorities and the Ministry