Guidance

Early warning and weather forecasts

This page contains resources to help you stay aware of emerging weather risks and help the public to prepare for and respond to weather, and to stay safe and protect their homes.

Applies to England

Weather-Health Alerting System

The impact-based Weather-Health Alerting System operated by UKHSA and the Met Office provides an early warning when adverse temperatures are likely to impact on the health and wellbeing of the population

UKHSA Data Dashboard

The UKHSA data dashboard provides public health data across England.

UK weather warnings

Met Office weather warnings are also known as the National Severe Weather Warning Service (NSWWS).

UK weather warnings are issued when hazardous weather has the potential to impact society across sectors. Within the NSWWS webpages an interactive 5-day map of warnings are provided, which can be used to determine if there is a warning near you.

The NSWWS covers 8 types of weather: - rain - thunderstorms - wind - snow - lightning - ice - fog - extreme heat

UK weather forecast

The Met Office provide a 7-day forecast across the whole UK providing up to date weather information that can help you to understand if severe weather is expected, so that you can plan appropriately.

Weather forecasts provide information on a range of metrological conditions and also include pollen forecasts which can be useful for asthma and hay fever suffers

Flood forecasting centre

The Flood Forecasting Centre provides a national flood forecasting and guidance service to support government and category 1 and 2 responders planning and response.

Flood alerts and warnings

Flood alerts and warnings are issued by the Environment Agency. This page provides a location-based overview of any flood warnings or alerts in place in England.

Air quality forecasting

Air pollution forecasts are provided by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs and provides a detailed interactive view of the UK Air Pollution Forecast for up to 5 days ahead.

Local resilience forum - contact details

Local resilience forums (LRFs) are multi-agency partnerships made up of representatives from local public services, including the emergency services, local authorities, the NHS, the Environment Agency and others. These agencies are known as Category 1 Responders, as defined by the Civil Contingencies Act.

LRFs are supported by organisations, known as Category 2 responders, such as the Highways Agency and public utility companies. They have a responsibility to co-operate with Category 1 organisations and to share relevant information with the LRF. The geographical area the forums cover is based on police areas.

The LRFs aim to plan and prepare for localised incidents and catastrophic emergencies. They work to identify potential risks and produce emergency plans to either prevent or mitigate the impact of any incident on their local communities.

LRFs contact details

Emergency contact information for healthcare professionals

If you are a member of the public, you should call your GP or NHS 111 for about health issues.

If you are a healthcare professional, see the relevant emergency contact numbers (for example, for urgent out of hours support, or cases of infectious diseases).

Updates to this page

Published 19 December 2024

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