Spotlight on Civil Contingencies at the Met Office
The Met Office, based in Exeter, is the national meteorological service for the UK. We provide critical weather services and world-leading climate science, helping people and organisations make better decisions to stay safe and thrive. One of our key duties is to warn and inform the public and emergency responders ahead of severe weather. The Met Office Civil Contingency Advisor Team was formed in 2005 on the back of the Civil Contingency Act (CCA) 2004. We have grown from a team of 6 to a team of 22 and following a review of the CCA 2004, the Met Office became a Category 2 responder on 27th February 2023. There is a member of the team on-call 24/7 to ensure we can respond to all incidents and keep the emergency response community informed of any upcoming severe weather.
During business as usual the role of the Civil Contingencies Advisor is to:
- Build relationships with responders
- Help assess weather related risks and develop severe weather plans alongside other agencies in the local resilience forum (LRF)
- Support exercises by helping to develop weather scenarios, providing mock weather forecasts and warnings and attending as subject matter experts (SMEs)
During severe weather the role of the Civil Contingencies Advisor is to:
- Understand the potential impacts of the expected severe weather for their local area
- Communicate the weather forecast, what weather warnings have been issued and the potential impacts to emergency responders
- Participate in multi-agency teleconferences
The Met Office also provides other scientific advice communicated by the Civil Contingency Advisors, including from EMARC (the Environment Monitoring and Response Centre) who provide meteorological information to deal with a variety of environmental incidents including chemical releases, radiological incidents, large fires or biological hazards such as foot and mouth disease. We also work closely with the Flood Forecasting Centre (FFC), which is a partnership between the Environment Agency and the Met Office. By combining meteorology and hydrology expertise into a specialised hydrometeorology service, the centre forecasts for all natural forms of flooding - river, surface water, tidal/coastal and groundwater giving valuable lead time for the responder community to prepare and take action in England and Wales.
Responding to Storm Eunice
Back in February 2022, three named storms affected the UK within the space of a week, the first time this has occurred since storm naming was introduced in 2015/2016. It was a busy week for the Met Office Civil Contingency team with multiple teleconferences often occurring at the same time, requiring a big team effort to ensure the forecast was communicated clearly and consistently to all emergency responders across the UK. Two rare red warnings were issued for storm Eunice, the most severe and damaging storm to affect England and Wales since February 2014. Winds gusted at over 80mph in exposed coastal locations and a gust of 122mph was recorded at Needles Old Battery, Isle of Wight, setting a new England gust speed record. Winds gusted widely over 70mph over southern England reaching 77mph at Boscombe Down.
On the 17th February, a Met Office advisor attended a Wiltshire and Swindon Local Resilience Forum (WSLRF) Pre-Event Assessment Teleconference (PEAT), communicating the forecast for Storm Eunice and the amber wind warning in place across the area. By sharing the wind speeds expected and the likely impact of these wind speeds including danger to life from flying debris and falling trees, disruption to transport and utilities with long travel delays and power cuts likely, we were able to prepare responders for the busy days that would follow. On the day of the storm, 18th February, Wiltshire Council reported over 600 incidents with Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service receiving over 300 emergency calls. The storm caused widespread damage to buildings across Wiltshire with some reported injuries, many road closures, fallen trees and power lines pulled down.
The Met Office Advisor attended 5 more WSLRF teleconferences for Storm Eunice, providing regular weather updates and supporting responders to manage the recovery process which was made difficult as Storm Franklin brought heavy rainfall across England just a few days later. Following this extremely stormy period, we attended the debrief and were pleased with the positive feedback we received, confirming the weather forecast was consistent, accurate, of high confidence and provided warnings from 5 days out which all helped with response planning activities. It was a challenging period for the Met Office Civil Contingency Advisors all the way across the UK, however we were all extremely pleased to be able to provide essential information and support to the emergency response community in a time of need.
Going Forward
As the UK climate changes, there is medium confidence that winter windstorms will increase slightly in number and intensity over the UK, including disproportionately more severe storms. The Met Office is involved and leading on the research and development of UK climate projections and UK numerical weather prediction models which will only improve our forecasting ability and help us to prepare communities for the weather of the future. We are always looking to evolve the way we warn and inform responders and the public of severe weather, and one of the best ways to do this is through our surveys and our Met Office Responder Workshops so keep an eye out for these in the new year.