Public Weather Service Outputs - Met Office Public Task
It is the Met Office’s Public Task to produce the outputs which are agreed with and paid for by the Public Weather Service Customer Group from time to time.
Met Office Pricing Policy
Public Weather Service Outputs (1 April 2010)
1a - High Impact weather forecast service - UK
Requirement - To enable the UK public and emergency responders to take appropriate mitigating action to minimise the adverse impact of
weather events.
Product/Service
National Severe
Weather Warning
Service - Early
Warnings
Delivery Method
A text and graphical based service highlighting percentage probability of severe
weather occurring:
• Normally issued up to several days in advance of an event when severe weather
risk > 60%
• Based upon widespread disruption caused by severe gales, heavy snow,
blizzards/drifting, heavy rain, freezing rain (glazed frost or widespread icy roads),
dense fog and prolonged cold
• Updated normally on a daily basis until commencement of event
• Amendment required when a designated region is no longer expected to be
affected, or an area previously forecast not to be affected is now forecast to be
affected
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Web
E-mail
Fax
Media
RSS
E-mail alert
Twitter
Weather
widget
Weather
Gadgets
Principal Users
• General public
• Blue light services (Home
Office)
• Emergency planners (Dept.
Communities and Local
Gov.)
• Resilience fora (Cabinet
Office)
• Environment Agency
• Highways Agency
• Department of Health
• MOD
• Scottish Government
• Welsh Assembly
• Northern Ireland Office
An up-to date list of recipients is
available.
National Severe
Weather Warning
Service - Flash
Warnings
A text based service issued when 80% confidence in the occurrence of severe gales,
heavy snow, blizzards/drifting, heavy rain, freezing rain (glazed frost or widespread icy
roads), dense fog are expected to reach the agreed thresholds:
• Issued 2 to 6 hours in advance of an event
• Amended when a county or unitary authority is no longer expected to be affected,
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Web
E-mail
Fax
Media
RSS
As above
or an area previously forecast to be not affected is now forecast to be affected
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National Severe
Weather Warning
Service - Advisories
A 5-day web based alert of severe/extreme weather issued daily highlighting
percentage probability of severe or extreme weather occurring
• Based upon widespread disruption caused by severe gales, heavy snow,
blizzards/drifting, heavy rain, freezing rain (glazed frost or widespread icy roads),
dense fog and prolonged cold
• Early warnings and Flash Warnings supersede advisories when confidence levels
are 60% or greater
E-mail alert
Twitter
Weather
widget
Weather
Gadgets
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Web
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Web
E-mail
Media
As above
General weather forecast, of length 65 to 140 words depending on the weather
situation, for the following regions of the UK:
• UK
• 6 × Scottish regions
• Northern Ireland
• Wales
• 8 × English regions
PWS Script
Forecasts
For each area the forecast should:
• Provide a general forecast
• Out to 2359 on day-2, with a TREND for day-3 to day-5
• Contain a headline
• Include maximum and minimum temperatures for first 36 hours (except UK
Forecast)
• Include max gust speed where significant (in mph, but descriptive in TREND
period)
• Weather ‘detail’ to include county/topographic variation where meaningful
• Script(s) to be consistent with detail of any warnings in force
Forecasts issued twice per day (0400 & 1600 local time), but updated when and as
often as required – against a set of criteria (these are to be agreed)
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General public
Media
An up-to date list of recipients is
available
Separate 100-word forecasts are required for UK only issued daily at 0700 and 1945
local time
Weather forecast information for the UK mountain areas of Peak District, Lake District,
Snowdonia, Yorkshire Dales and Brecon Beacons and the West and East Highlands
issued twice daily
For each area the forecast should cover:
For day one:
• Overview
• Risk of occurrence of a selection of hazards
• Weather symbol summary for 3 hourly slots
• Probability of precipitation
Mountain Weather
Forecasts
For day 1 and day two a detailed forecast covering:
• Weather
• Visibility
• Hill Fog
• Maximum winds above 600m East and West Highlands, 500m Lake District
and Snowdonia and 400m Brecon Beacons and Peak District (800m Brecon
Beacons) Yorkshire Dales
• Temperature at valley and 900m levels (800m Brecon Beacons)
• Freezing level
• The latest pressure chart
• An ‘NPA information’ freeform text box containing (optional) information added
by the NPA
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Web
Weather
Widget
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General public
Media
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Web
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General public
Media
Outlook text for days three to five
National Parks
Forecasts
For Snowdonia and the Brecon Beacons the basic PWS forecast is currently enhanced
by funded services by the Welsh Assembly.
A twenty word forecast will be issued for each National Park and the Mourne
mountains in Northern Ireland
The forecast will cover wind, weather and temperature
Issued twice daily
Forecast of specific weather parameters to support assessment of avalanche risk by
Scottish Avalanche Information Service across winter climbing and skiing areas in the
Scottish mountains.
Avalanche Weather
Service Forecast
A forecast for “tonight” and “tomorrow” relative to the day of issue is prepared daily.
The forecast specifically assesses precipitation (type and amount); wind speed and
direction; height of freezing level; height of wet bulb freezing level. For “tomorrow” only
forecast of temperature at summit height at 1200UTC and also maximum temperature
at summit is required. A brief general situation is required.
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SAIS
The avalanche forecasts
generated by SAIS are made
available to the general
public
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Fax
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Web
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General public
Media
CO (Cabinet Office)
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Web
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General public
Media
CO (Cabinet Office)
Forecast is required for each of five mountain areas
Actual temperatures; maximum, minimum and midday temperature are required for
three locations.
Weather Report
UK Further
Outlooks
Transmission by fax to a distribution list supplied by the customer prior to the start of
each winter season (season is normally mid-December to mid-April each year)
Used to provide a statement or commentary about the present or expected weather for
the public and media:
• Used when significant weather is present or expected imminently over the UK
• If a UK flash warning is in force this would be classed as significant but does not
automatically require a Weather Report statement to be made
• May be used to highlight a significant change to the weather even though it is not
severe such as the onset of a cold spell when mild or a wet spell
• Nowcasting is updated as required by the weather situation and is at the discretion
of the Operations Centre or Press Officer
• The message is actively managed at all times to ensure relevance
UK area forecasts for days 6 to 15 and days 16 to 30. The forecasts are based on
weather types, such as windy, mild, wet, rather than on specific values. They also
highlight extreme or severe weather events for specific regions of the UK if expected.
PWS Advisors
Hazard Manager
The regionally based PWS Advisors provide advice to appropriate public authorities, in
cases presenting significant risk to life, property or infrastructure. They have a role in
the following areas:
• Giving meteorological guidance on impacts with emergency responders when a
weather event is severe enough `that the weather itself is the hazard to be
managed, for example extensive strong winds causing transport and energy supply
disruption or heavy rainfall causing flooding
• Giving meteorological guidance on impacts with emergency responders when the
hazard to be managed is not directly weather-initiated but weather plays a part in
the management of the incident, for example management of a Chemical,
Biological, Radiological or Nuclear (CBRN) incident
• Developing and regionalising risk assessments by inputting meteorological data
and assessing other risks, where weather has an influence
• Involvement in exercises – creating severe weather scenarios, providing advice,
role playing
• Providing meteorological input to meetings involving the emergency planning
community
• Raising awareness of the capabilities of the Met Office and this includes involving
Senior Staff during high impact weather events in portraying the message and
involving other Met Office scientist and Press Office staff as required
A set of products are made available on the Met Office web portal Hazard Manager for
the exclusive use of the response community during periods impacted by severe
weather or environmental hazards. The products currently made available are:
• Graphical visualisations on a zoom-able map of the UK showing the following
layers:
o Precipitation type
o Rate of rainfall
o Temperature
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In person
Telephone
Fax
E-mail
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Web
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Local Government
Central Government
Emergency Services
An up-to-date list of PWS Advisor
contacts is available at the Met
Office
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Emergency Services
o Pressure
o Wind speed and direction
o Satellite (Infra-red and visual)
o Rainfall radar
o Lightning
o Rainfall totals
• NSWWS
• Event specific content provided on request
Customer Enquiry
Service
Customer
Feedback Service
Current Weather
data
The Met Office Customer Enquiry Service is delivered through a customer centre which
is available to all members of the general public
• This centre operates on a 24x7 basis through the year
• When National Severe Weather Warnings are issued the customer centre respond
to enquiries on this service as requested
• The customer centre advises the public on current weather forecasts and other
enquiries about the weather, climate or Met Office
Access by
• Telephone
• Fax
• E-mail
• Web
The Met Office receives feedback, which may be in the form of a complaint, a
compliment or a comment on a service provided by the Met Office. A dedicated
Customer Feedback Manager (CFM) responds to this feedback where appropriate. The
outputs for the CFM are:
• Appropriate response to feedback addressed to the Met Office Customer Centre
and other areas of the business
• Statistical reports on feedback
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In person
Telephone
Fax
E-mail
Letter
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Web
Weather
Gadgets
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In support of the UK weather forecast information a selection of current weather
data is supplied, enabling users to be informed on actual current weather
conditions and to verify a snapshot of the current forecast. This data are in various
forms including: pictorial, graphical, numerical & text
Data content may vary but will include:
 Satellite data
 Radar data
 Land Observations
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General public
Media
All PWS customers including
• General public
• Media
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General public
1b - High impact weather forecast service – global
Requirement - To provide advice where high impact weather events are expected to affect a large number of UK citizens, and in the aftermath
of global environmental disasters where weather is a significant factor for UK citizens engaged in relief operations
Product/Service
Global Incident
Forecasts
Meteoalarm
These are incident-driven global forecasts, issued in advance of, and/or aftermath of
very high impact environmental events (e.g. hurricane, earthquake, tsunami etc.)
covering the period 0–5 days
• A key element of this service is global monitoring. The Duty Chief Forecaster
(Operations Centre) maintains a watching brief for weather events that may be a
factor in major occurrences or disasters
• The Duty Chief Forecaster decides if a forecast event is significant enough to
require further action. (e.g. to provide advice where high impact weather events
are expected to affect a large number of UK citizens and in the aftermath of
environmental disasters where weather is a significant factor for UK citizens
engaged in relief operations)
• Forecasts are issued to and in conjunction with the FCO & DfID.
• Requests for assistance from other National Meteorological and Hydrological
Services following a high impact weather event are passed to and considered by
the Duty Deputy Chief Forecaster, with advice from Manager International
Relations, and action plan triggered as appropriate
In collaboration with other European Met. Services, the Met Office contributes to a
EUMETNET Weather Warning Service. This service delivers a series of country- and
area-specific warning alerts, using the "traffic light" principal. Each country supplies
warnings for a set of weather element thresholds for the following elements as
appropriate:
• Wind
• Rain
• Thunderstorm
• Snow/ice
• High / Low Temperatures
• Fog
• Coastal flood
• Forest Fire
• Avalanche
Delivery Method
Principal Users
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Fax
E-mail
Web
In person
Telephone
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Web
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General public
FCO (Foreign and
Commonwealth Office)
DFID (Department For
International Development)
As above
Weather Report
Support for Local
Warning Delivery
Customer Enquiry
Service
Customer
Feedback Service
Current Weather
Data
Used to provide a statement or commentary about the present or expected weather for
the public and media:
• Used when significant weather is present or expected imminently over a world
event of special interest to the UK public is occurring such as a Caribbean
Hurricane
• Weather Reports are updated as required by the weather situation, updates are at
the discretion of the Operations Centre Nowcasting Forecaster or Press Officer
Support given to support National Met. Services in developing countries where there
are a high number of British visitors and /or of high UK strategic significance (as
advised by FCO) to ensure warnings of severe weather are available and
communicated locally:
• Support provided in many countries including Commonwealth countries, Africa and
small island states
• Support includes Severe Weather Forecasting, African Limited Area Model,
training, communication and media systems
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Web
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In person
See ref 1a above
•
See ref 1a above.
•
See ref 1a
above
See ref 1a
above
Web

In support of the global weather forecast information a selection of current weather
data is supplied, enabling users to be informed on actual current weather
conditions and to verify a snapshot of the current forecast. This data are in various
forms including pictorial, graphical, numerical & text
Data content may vary but will include:
 Satellite data
 Radar data
 Land Observations
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General public
FCO (Foreign and
Commonwealth Office)
DFID (Department For
International Development)
CO (Cabinet Office)
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General public
FCO
DFID
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As above
As above
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General public
2a - Site-specific weather forecast service – UK
Requirement - To enable the general public to take informed decisions regarding what to do and when and how to do it. Information provided
may be related to the public sector business planning process to ensure safe environment for the general pubic for work and for specific public
events
Product/Service
Delivery Method
Principal Users
A general weather forecast for agreed period in text format.
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The forecast will be triggered by a UK planned event that has a significant impact for
the UK public. Planned events are generally determined in advance with the list of
events for which a forecast is required being drawn up by Met Office PWS Team.
UK Event Forecasts
Single Site
Forecasts
Forecast
Verification
The forecast should include weather elements appropriate to said event, including:
• Wind (surface and at height if required)
• Precipitation
• Cloud cover
• Visibility (if appropriate)
• Temperature
A quality controlled datafeed of site 5-day forecasts for approximately 350 locations
around the UK that represent the major urban centres, optionally available in Welsh,
providing forecasts of:
• 3 hourly wind direction for first 36 hours
• 3 hourly wind speed for first 36 hours
• 3 hourly visibility for first 36 hours
• 3 hourly temperature for first 36 hours
• 3 hourly weather (code) for first 36 hours
• Days 3 to 5 midday and midnight wind speed
• Days 3 to 5 midday and midnight wind direction
• Days 3 to 5 midday and midnight weather (code)
• Days 3 to 5 midday and midnight visibility
• Days 1 to 5 probabilistic temperature forecasts (subset of sites)
The Met Office produces verification statistics on forecasts issued for 11 places around
the UK for the next five days. These are made available to the public together with
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Web
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Web
Ftp (file
transport
protocol)
E-mail
Weather
Widget
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Web
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General public
DCLG (Dept. Communities
Local Gov.)
DCMS (Department for
Culture, Media and Sport)
Scottish Government
Welsh Assembly
Northern Ireland Office
General public.
As above
targets for forecast accuracy.
Forecast elements measured are:
• maximum temperature
• minimum temperature
• probability of precipitation
Customer Enquiry
Service
Customer
Feedback Service
See ref 1a above
See ref 1a above
See ref 1a
above
See ref 1a
above
As above
As above
2b - Site-specific weather forecast service – global
Requirement - To enable the general public and Public Sector Partners to take informed decisions regarding what to do, and when and how to
do it. Decisions may be related to public sector business planning process to ensure safe environment for the general pubic for overseas
journeys and specific events.
Product/Service
Delivery Method
Principal Users
An automated data feed of site 5-day forecasts for a minimum of 100 locations around
the world that represent the major destinations for UK citizens travelling overseas on
the Met Office web site. This provides a forecast of:
Single Site
Forecasts
Customer Enquiry
Service
Customer
Feedback Service
Weather – daytime and night time
Maximum and minimum temperature
Wind speed and direction – day time
Pressure – day time
Relative Humidity – day time
Visibility – day time
In addition a link to WMO web site provides site specific forecast for towns and cities
across the globe. The forecasts are produced by the local National Met. Services and
made available through the World Meteorological Organisation
See ref 1a above
See ref 1a above
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Web
Ftp
Email
See ref 1a
above
See ref 1a
above
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General public
FCO (Foreign and
Commonwealth Office)
DFID (Department For
International Development)
As above
As above
3 - Pollution forecast service – Global
Requirement - To enable public sector partners to provide information to UK citizens in the UK and abroad following the event of a pollution
incident.
Product/Service
Global Pollution
Response Service monitoring and
advice
These are incident-driven global forecasts, issued in advance of, and/or aftermath of
high impact pollution events when demand from public sector partners to provide
information to the public is anticipated.
• A key element of this service is global monitoring. The Duty Chief Forecaster
(Operations Centre) maintains a watching brief for weather events that may be a
factor in major occurrences or disasters
• The Duty Chief Forecaster decides if a forecast event is significant enough to
require further action. (e.g. to provide advice where there has been a volcanic or
super-volcanic eruption)
• Forecasts are issued to and in conjunction with public sector partners including the
FCO
• Requests for assistance from other National Meteorological and Hydrological
Services following an incident are passed to and considered by the Duty Deputy
Chief Forecaster , with advice from Manager International Relations, and action
plan triggered as appropriate
Delivery Method
Principal Users
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E-mail
Web
Fax
Telephone
PWS Advisors
See ref 1a above
See ref 1a
above
Customer Enquiry
Service
See ref 1a above
See ref 1a
above
Customer
Feedback Service
See ref 1a above
See ref 1a
above
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Central Government
including FCO (Foreign and
Commonwealth Office)
Emergency Services
• Local Government
• Central Government
• Emergency Services
As above and
• General public
As above
4a - Long term forecast service – Europe (including UK)
Requirement - To help the public, and public sector users on behalf of the public, anticipate and plan for variations of the weather from the
seasonal norms
Product/Service
Delivery Method
Principal Users
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A forecast for Europe (including the UK) will be produced monthly and published within
the science domain of the Met Office website. Each forecast will contain:
Long term forecast
for Europe
(including UK)
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A guide on how to use seasonal forecasting
Global and European temperature and rainfall maps for the next 3 months,
updated at the end of each month.
An assessment/view of the Global and European forecast. This may include
probability information for the UK when relevant, accepting that there will be
cases when it is not possible to provide information above the European scale.
Climatology information
PWS Advisors
See ref 1a above
Forecast
Verification
Customer Enquiry
Service
Customer
Feedback
A qualitative analysis of long term forecasts will be made available to the general public
See ref 1a above
See ref 1a above
Web
Department of Health
Cabinet Office
Defra
See ref 1a
above
As above
•
As above
Web
See ref 1a
above
See ref 1a
above
As above
As above
4b - Long term forecast service – Global
Requirement – To provide advice to support activities for UK citizens overseas and involved in humanitarian activities and relief
Product/Service
Global long term
Forecasts - general
Text and graphics based forecast on a regional basis, including information on
temperature and precipitation trends, covering the period 0–6 months
Hurricane season
forecast
Text forecast issued annually around the start of the Atlantic hurricane season,
providing information on the frequency of hurricanes anticipated in the coming season
PWS Advisors
See ref 1a above
Customer Enquiry
See ref 1a above
Delivery Method
• Web
• E-mail
• Fax
• Telephone
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Web
E-mail
News
release
See ref 1a
above
See ref 1a
Principal Users
•
As above
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General public
FCO (Foreign and
Commonwealth Office)
DFID (Department For
International Development)
•
As above
As above
Service
Customer
Feedback
See ref 1a above
above
See ref 1a
above
As above
5 - Climatological record service – UK
Requirement - To provide the general public and Public Sector Partners with access to an up-to-date and authoritative source of weather
observations and basic climate information for the UK. This should include climate information relating to current weather events (e.g. weather
extremes at a given location or record-breaking monthly/seasonal/ annual values or new evidence of a change in climate).
Product/Service
UK Observation
Database
UK Climatological
Products
This provides data to other National Met. Services, private sector weather services and
academia as appropriate to fulfil WMO obligations, UK and EU legislation and in
support of research collaboration.
The UK Observational Database includes:
• Surface Synoptic - capturing data required for real time land/marine surface
• Climate - land/marine surface data received in both real/slow time
• Upper Air - data elements collected at any level above/below the land/sea surface
• Rainfall - specific data elements associated with precipitation
A detailed description of the requirements for the UK observations, which are input into
the database, can be found in the Observations Programme Operating Plan
These are routine, timely statistics for daily, monthly, seasonal, annual and long term
(e.g. 30 year) timescales for the UK, and for regions, counties and individual weather
stations. These statistics will be based on a stable principal climate network, to ensure
that changes in key parameters are a function of the climate changing and not the
changing location or form of measurement.
UK Climatological Products include:
• Monthly Diary of Weather
• Derived climate products – series & summaries
• Derived climate products – averages
• Noteworthy weather & extremes
• National and regional climate descriptions
• Climate data and charts for publication by The Royal Meteorological Society
PWS Advisors
See ref 1a above
Customer Enquiry
Service
Customer
Feedback Service
See ref 1a above
See ref 1a above
Delivery Method
Principal Users
As above
As above
As above
As above
See ref 1a
above
See ref 1a
above
See ref 1a
above
As above
As above
As above
6 – Meteorological Library and Archive Service
A comprehensive meteorological library and archive service available to anyone with an interest in the weather or climate and an approved
place of deposit for meteorological information under the public records Act (1958).
Requirement - To enable the general public to research the UK’s weather and climatology and to access information that helps the public to
understand the science and history of meteorology. There is also a legal requirement handed down to the Public Weather Service from the
Lord Chancellor’s office to archive meteorological data on behalf of the UK Public.
Product/Service
National Met.
Library
The Library holds material covering meteorology, climatology and related subjects such
as fluid dynamics, physical oceanography and hydrometeorology. The collection
includes:
• Journals
• Books
• Conference proceedings
• Reports and documents from international meteorological organisations
• Daily Weather Summaries from 01/07/1869 to the present and other published
weather data
• Images (digital images, slides and photographs, illustrating aspects of
meteorology)
• Artefacts relating to meteorology and the work of the Met Office
Delivery Method
Principal Users
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In person
Telephone
E-mail
Letter
Web
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General public
Office for Constitutional
Affairs
Scottish Government
Northern Ireland Office
The Library will be open to the public during opening hours as published on the Met
Office website
UK National
Meteorological
Archive
Archive holdings cover original paper records and include:
• Registers of meteorological observations
• Working charts from the Met Office’s Operations Centre
• Marine weather logbooks
• World-wide records from both merchant and some Royal Navy ships
• Climatological returns dating back to 1855, these cover temperature, wind, rainfall,
solar radiation, snow and sunshine for each site
• Autographic records - continuous records of temperature, wind, rainfall, etc., are
held for varying periods on some stations
• Upper-air data from radiosonde and pilot-balloon ascents
• Historic meteorological literature, held on behalf of the Royal Meteorological
Society
As above
As above
•
Library and Archive
Services
Customer Enquiry
Service
Customer
Feedback Service
Various non-technical documents such as private weather diaries, papers and
pictures relating to meteorology
Archive materials will be available to public visitors (subject to any Data Protection or
other legal restrictions) during opening hours as published on the Met Office website
and also available via email/letter/web
These will include:
• Access to the library’s collections via lending services and electronic provision
of information
• A prompt and responsive Library and Archive Enquiry Service for the general
public, providing information on matters relating to meteorology and
climatology, and provision and interpretation of charts and data
• Timely provision of Public Record archive data (from National Meteorological
Archive and UK Observations database) to the general public, as required by
Freedom of Information legislation
See ref 1a above
See ref 1a above
As above
As above
See ref 1a
above
See ref 1a
above
As above
As above