Heat health alert risk score

Last updated on Monday, 2 September 2024 at 04:43pm

Summary

• Topic: Heat-alert
• Category: headline
• API name: heat-alert_headline_matrixNumber

Rationale

Weather health alerts provide an early warning when adverse temperatures may affect the health and wellbeing of the population.

Methodology

We issue heat-health alerts when adverse temperatures may affect people’s health and wellbeing.

During the summer, the UKHSA Extreme Events and Health Protection Team (EEHPT) and the Met Office Environment Monitoring and Response Centre (EMARC) monitor weather forecasts. If we identify an episode of hot weather, we carry out a joint dynamic risk assessment (JDRA) with EMARC or Met Office senior advisers. Sometimes we involve other government departments, as part of the common responsibilities under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

The JDRA is based on weather forecasts provided by the Met Office to the UKHSA. It determines the expected impacts and chance of them occurring. Each alert is either yellow, amber or red and has a heat-health risk score of 1 to 16. These are based on the impacts the weather may have and chance of these happening.

The heat-health alerting season operates from 1 June to 30 September. We may still issue a heat-health alert out of season if we expect adverse weather outside of this period.

Caveats

In England there are 2 high temperature early warning systems. These are heat-health alerts and the extreme heat warnings, part of the National Severe Weather Warning Service (NSWWS).

Since summer 2021 the UKHSA and the Met Office have worked to align heat-health alerts and extreme heat warnings. This is to minimise the potential impact of adverse weather.

Each system targets different audiences yet work together to help focus the messages being transmitted.

Heat-health alerts target the health and social care sector and responder community. Extreme heat warnings target a wider audience including the responder community and the public.

The NSWWS only issues either amber or red alerts for extreme heat. In contrast, we can issue yellow, amber or red heat health alerts. This is because the health sector is likely to see the impact of hot weather before other sectors.

Data source

Weather forecasts are provided by the Met Office. Heat-health risk scores are determined by the UKHSA Extreme Events and Health Protection Team.