The cold snap across the UK is biting hard, with rare amber alert issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), indicating a threat to health.
A UKHSA statement issued today explained: “The alerting system provides an early warning when adverse temperatures are likely to impact on the health and wellbeing of the population.
“The Weather health alerting system is provided by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) in partnership with the Met Office. It’s intended to provide early warning to the health and social care sector, the responder community, the voluntary and community sector and government departments when adverse temperatures are likely to impact on the health and wellbeing of the population”
The Weather health alerting system consists of Heat-Health Alerts (HHA) and Cold-Health Alerts (CHA). It underpins the Adverse Weather and Health Plan.
The statement added: “The Cold-health alerting systems core alerting seasons runs from 1 November to 31 March each year. However should an episode of cold occur outside of this core period, an extraordinary alert will be issued. Make sure you are registered to receive the alerts directly by email by completing the registration form.”
The news comes amid heavy snow forecast by the Met Office this weekend with a yellow weather warning covering much of England.
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