Skip to main content

DS Risk Warning: Weather; Freezing conditions to last into spring

Hello all,

You will want to factor this warning information in when planning for and thinking about:

* emergency drills, but also for alarm activations where you don't know how long you will be outside and will need to make a decision sooner rather than later to seek warm shelter at your fall back points while the problem is addressed

* for break and lunchtime as well as any off-site visits, and

* when considering staff and/or pupil medical conditions.

All the best.

Bill

Conditions over the weekend and into the early part of next week will become increasingly cold, possibly exceptionally cold.

A Yellow National Severe Weather Warning for snow is in force for parts of eastern and southeast England from 4pm on Monday and through Tuesday. Snow showers are expected to develop widely, with some locations likely to see accumulations of 5 to 10 cm. Although other sites may see less frequent showers leading to much smaller accumulations up to 2 cm.
The very cold conditions, which are likely to be the coldest spell of weather for several years, are likely to remain in place for the remainder of next week. The cold easterly wind will persist bringing a significant wind chill  which will make it feel several degrees colder than thermometers indicate. Even without the wind chill some locations will struggle to get above 0 °C by day, with night-time temperatures ranging down to -8 °C quite widely.

Paul Gundersen, a Met Office Chief Forecaster, said: “Parts of southern England and Wales are likely to the coldest spell of weather for several years. Many places will be dry, but snow showers are expected to develop from Monday. There is the potential for some disruptive snowfall on Monday evening and through Tuesday. The regions most at risk of disruptive snow are parts of southeast England and East Anglia, although parts of northern England and eastern Scotland are also at risk. Transport disruption is likely in areas with significant snowfall.
“With such low temperatures, snowfall is likely to be powdery, bringing the risk of drifting in the strong easterly winds. However, the majority of the air is so dry that hoar frost and ice will be less likely to form.”

Although the cold spell is forecast to remain in place for some time, there is a large uncertainty in the potential for further snowfall.

Thursday is the first day of meteorological spring, but the high pressure over Scandinavia bringing the cold easterly flow is expected to remain in place for several days and there are signs that the cold spell in the UK is likely to last well into next week and perhaps into the following week.

The Met Office is working with partners in road, rail and air transport to help minimize the impacts on the public.

Dr Thomas Waite, of Public Health England’s Extreme Events team, said: “With the days feeling a little longer and lighter it can be easy to forget that cold weather can still kill.

“Over 65s, those with conditions like heart and lung diseases and young children, are all at particular risk in cold weather as their bodies struggle to cope when temperatures fall. So before it gets cold check on friends, family and neighbours, who may be at risk and make sure they’re heating homes to at least 18C, see if they need any particular help or just someone to talk to and keep an eye on the Met Office’s forecasts and warnings. Remember keeping warm will help keep you well.”
-- 
Bill Crocker

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

DS Risk Warning: Cyber Critical Update

  Critical Update With thanks to our NPs the S W Cyber Resilience Centre, we bring you their updated advice. Please pay close attention to it, regardless that it flows from the attacks on the retail sector. The approach taken can be applied anywhere! The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has issued a critical warning following a wave of cyber attacks on major UK retailers including M&S, Co-op and Harrods. These incidents appear to involve criminals impersonating IT help desks to trick staff into revealing login credentials, a technique known as social engineering.   We’re issuing this urgent message to all SWCRC members to raise awareness and encourage immediate action.   What’s happening?   A group calling itself DragonForce has contacted the BBC to claim responsibility for recent breaches. Their tactics include:        •     Phoning IT staff pretending to be locked-out employees       •     Calling or messaging staff pretending to be from internal IT h...

Delegated Services Risk Warning: Whirlpool dryers recall

Hello all, If you have one of these you will have probably already spotted the warnings and concerns, but just in case the BBC are reporting today: The government is to issue an "unprecedented" recall notice of up to 500,000 Whirlpool tumble dryers which pose a fire safety risk. It comes four years after Whirlpool issued a warning after it found its Hotpoint, Creda and Indesit dryers had a fault which needed fixing. The fault was blamed for at least 750 fires over an 11-year period, according to the government. Whirlpool said safety was its "number one priority". It urged anyone still owning an affected to dryer to contact the company immediately on 0800 151 0905. A spokeswoman added: "In the meantime, anyone with an affected dryer that has not been modified  should unplug it and not use it  until the modification has been completed." An estimated 5.3 million dryers were sold in the UK, but it is thought up to 500,000 could still be in use. ...

DS Risk Warning: UK raises terror threat level to ‘severe’ following Vienna attack

  Home Secretary Priti Patel has confirmed the escalation of the UK terror threat level from "substantial" to "severe" following an attack in Vienna that left at least three dead. The change means that an attack on UK soil is now deemed "highly likely". The Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre has changed the UK terror threat level from substantial to severe. This is a precautionary measure and is not based on any specific threat. The potential is for UK based 'lone wolfs' to be emboldened to take action themselves which could take place anywhere in the UK. We are asked to continue to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the police on 999 or the anti-terrorist hotline: 0800 789 321. If your information does not relate to an imminent threat, you can also contact MI5 . What the threat levels mean: Threat levels are designed to give a broad indication of the likelihood of a terrorist attack. LOW means an attack is highly unlikely MODERATE ...