Scottish Flood Forecasting Service

Two widespread flood events affected Scotland in October. One affected a very large area of the West Highlands, and the other, related to Storm Callum, widely impacted England and Wales, but just clipped the south of Scotland. In both cases the flood risk matrix on the Flood Guidance Statement was put to good use to indicate the potential severity even when there was still uncertainty on where the impacts would be.

Mon 8^th, Tues 9^th October

There was widespread heavy rain over two days, predominantly in the West Highlands as far south as Ayrshire.

Extract from Flood Guidance Statement on Mon 8th Oct

The risk was highlighted at the end of the previous week, with FGS yellow (minor impacts likely) from Friday. Upgraded to significant impacts likely (amber) on Monday for area W of Glasgow due to rain fallen plus forecast. In the event this was downgraded the next day, but there was a widespread event with rainfall in excess of 200mm in some places. Mainly road flooding, landslides etc. The flow return period was probably <5yr in most places, though maybe locally more severe.

Flooding in Oban

This was well forecast with plenty of lead time, though there were few areas at risk and warning schemes in the area most impacted by rainfall and rivers. Amber was based on information available at the time, downgraded when forecasts came down.

Sat 13^th October – “Storm Callum”

Widespread heavy rain was forecast to hit northern UK several days in advance. On Tuesday we highlighted significant impacts possible (yellow) for south of Scotland on Saturday. In the event the bulk of the rain was across the border in England and Wales. Some gauges in Scotland recorded around 60-70mm in 36 hours. There were high flows in the south of the country with minor impacts, and Hawick approaching flood warning level.

Extract from Flood Guidance Statement on Thurs 11th Oct

This was well forecast in a UK context and we were correct to highlight possibility of significant impacts, which did occur elsewhere in the UK.

In both events, the Met Office had clear sight for several days that heavy rain was coming, allowing us to give Day 5 notification of potential impacts. We were then able to adjust the likelihood, location and expected level of impacts by using different parts of the matrix as we got closer to the event.

Happy World Meteorological Day!

Friday 23 March is World Meteorological Day 2018 and this year the World Meteorological Organisation has named the theme – ‘Weather-Ready, Climate-Smart’. The recent cold temperatures and snow events have demonstrated the importance and value of being “weather ready” in the UK and as the UK’s National Meteorological Service, the Met Office’s forecasts and National Severe Weather Warning Service helped to ensure we were all well-prepared. The Met Office also ensures that the nation is ‘Climate-Smart’, delivering world-class climate research and science through the Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Science and Services. We thought today would be a good day to showcase the partnership between the Met Office and SEPA to deliver the Scottish Flood Forecasting Service (SFFS).

The daily Flood Guidance Statement, produced by the Met Office and SEPA through SFFS

The SFFS has been going since 2011. From the start it has been a working partnership between Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Met Office. Operationally we work together to produce the daily Flood Guidance Statement, and provide forecast information to aid with the issuing of Flood Alerts and Warnings by SEPA. Additionally, the partnership is active in flood forecasting research, and facilitates the exchange of data between the organisations, as well as training, development and public awareness of flood risk.

The work of the service, as highlighted in all the earlier articles on this site, would be impossible without the high quality meteorological data and expert advice produced continuously every day by the Met Office.

Flooding is one of this century’s biggest environmental challenges, and tackling it here in Scotland is a top priority for SEPA.  As Scotland’s national flood forecasting, flood warning and strategic flood risk management authority SEPA leads the way in flood risk management in Scotland.  SEPA has a statutory responsibility for flood warning and provides a national flood warning service using the Flood Warning Dissemination system and we are looking to recruit an Administrator to manage this system as part of the Flood Forecasting and Warning team.

The aim of this role is to ensure our flood warning dissemination system works when we need to communicate that flooding is forecast.  You will ensure the system is properly maintained, configured with the right information and has the functionality to ensure our critical messages get to the right people in time.

You’ll act as the interface between the users and suppliers, using our fault resolution and change management processes, as well as taking responsibility for the delivery of improvements and undertaking system testing.  You will develop guidance and deliver training so that the key SEPA staff members who use the system are trained and able to get their messages out when they need to.

You’ll need to be computer literate, experience of working in an IT environment or with marketing systems would be an advantage, but more importantly you will have a can-do attitude and be able to maintain a positive working relationship with the system supplier.

In exchange for these skills SEPA’s terms and conditions are exceptional. You will be expected to work 35 hours per week and we have a flexi-time scheme in place to support a healthy work-life balance. You will be given 28 days annual leave (pro rata) and seven additional public holidays. Further information on all our benefits can be found on our website.

If you think that is you, we’d love to receive your application!

http://applications.sepa.org.uk/pages/job_search_view.aspx?jobId=2401