Met Office ‘threat to life’ warning blunder as forecasters admit huge mistake

Urgent notifications from the Met Office warning of “severe weather” were accidentally sent to phones across the country.

The alert warned Brits of a “significant threat to life” due to “high temperatures” 11.59pm on Friday, November 29.

For some, this warning was then followed by and in tandem with another alert, for a very different kind of weather event, LancsLive reports.

This second alert reads: “Severe snow or ice warning until 23.59.”

One of the users who received the notification took to Twitter to say: “Severe high temperature warning when currently 4C in the #Lakedistrict.”

The Met Office has now said users received it because of a testing error.

The test notifications are sent around by a third-party aggregator and are not supposed to be made public, the BBC reports.

A spokesperson for the Met Office said: “We are aware of an issue where some test weather warnings were displaying on some websites and apps, we’ve worked with partners to ensure these test warnings have now been removed.

“We’re sorry for any inconvenience, there are currently no Met Office Severe Weather Warnings in force as of 2pm on Thursday, November 28.”

Ironically the Met Office forecast “milder temperatures” for today.

Its five-day weather forecast reads: “This evening and tonight: Dry weather forecast for eastern regions with frost and fog overnight. Milder temperatures with some wind in the west and stronger, coastal gales in the northwest alongside some rainfall.

“Friday: Heavy rain and cloud in the north and west of the UK, spreading eastwards throughout the day. Sunny and dry in the southeast with temperatures growing milder.

“Outlook for Saturday to Monday: Milder temperatures with cloud weather and some rain and drizzle. Strong winds in the north and west with all areas turning colder and drier moving into Monday.”