Category Archives: Risk communication
The July Perthshire floods: hydrometeorological predictions
A major clean-up operation is underway following flooding that affected some Perthshire communities on the 17th July 2015. Villages such as Bankfoot were affected and surface water flooding was seen across much of the road network; however the flooding impacts were most … Continue reading
Grid-to-Grid performance during a hydrologically significant event in the North West
Following the West Highland heavy rainfall event of last October the forecasting service recently had to again respond to a forecast of potentially extreme rainfall in a similar area over the past few days. The rainfall event was well forecast with … Continue reading
#FRMis10: Future flood risk management strategies
When the inaugural SNIFFER Flood Risk Management conference was convened in 2005 many of the current approaches to flood risk management were very much in their infancy – if at all conceived. 10 years on and the ‘FRMis10’ conference agenda– … Continue reading
The December ‘weather bomb’ – over-warned or better prepared?
Recently the flood forecasting service had to contend with the potential impacts of the so called weather bomb. Explosive cyclogenesis – a weather phenomenon which results in rapidly deepening low pressure – occured to the south of Greenland and gave rise … Continue reading
Extreme(?) rainfall in the West Highlands – a flood forecasting challenge
Over the past few days the forecasting service has faced an interesting challenge. Large amounts of rain were forecast to fall in north west Scotland, caused by warm moist air being driven by gale force winds over the high ground … Continue reading
Hydrometeorological forecasting and ex-tropical storm Bertha
On Monday 11th August, the remnants of the ex-tropical storm Bertha brought heavy and very intense rain for many parts of northern Scotland. Early indications are that over 100 mm of rain was recorded over a 12 to 16 hour … Continue reading
Staying alert in rain or shine
Last summer our Met Office coordinator Pete Buchanan produced a couple of articles about surface water flooding. In the second article he explained how our Heavy Rainfall Alert (HRA) Tool works. Here he gives us an update on further development of … Continue reading
Forecasting from Sea to Shore (Part 1): Learning from the past
In a winter that witnessed a succession of storms that have affected many parts of the UK, calls are being made to understand what lessons should be learnt in order to be better prepared for future storms. Given the longevity … Continue reading
Forecasting with higher resolution rainfall forecasts; this winter’s first test
The flood forecasting service has been using Met Office ‘BestData’ rainfall forecasts in its hydrological forecasts since summer 2013. For deterministic forecasts this is a fairly straightforward amalgamation of gridded 1.5km UKV to 36 hours, and 4km Euro4 data out to 120 … Continue reading
High Impact Weather: the role of the forecaster and verification
Day 2 and our final contribution to this science session. The role of the forecaster dominated the morning session on applications of meteorology in warning of severe weather and other natural hazards. Automation of warnings was presented (Reichert) allowing for greater … Continue reading
Scottish Flood Forecasting Service 