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How does the weather affect us?
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| Weather has many effects on people: on their health,
their behaviour, their patterns of consumption, whether or how they
vote, where and when they go on their holidays. Public utilities,
such as power generation and gas distribution, are particularly
weather-dependent. In addition to helping the utilities to predict
demand, the Met Office has also developed a severe weather impact
model that can pinpoint the likely location and extent of power
failures during storms.
Weather conditions also affect business revenue. Up to 70 per
cent of all businesses are exposed to some degree of weather risk.
Consumers, retailers and supermarket chains, food and drink manufacturers,
health services, leisure, construction and agricultural businesses
are all subject to weather risk. From stacking supermarket shelves
to swaying tower cranes, the weather affects all areas of business.
The Met Office recognises this in the variety of services it
provides — from mobile phone information provided to leisure
sailors, to detailed forecasts of soft drink, ice cream or pet
food consumption to major supermarket chains.
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Does the weather really affect
our health? |
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Yes, the weather does have an affect on our health.
Marked changes in temperature, air pressure, or sudden winds, rain,
lightning or storms all affect our blood system and brain chemistry.
The Met Office has found a link between the weather and NHS workloads
during outbreaks of infectious diseases. This is helping health
authorities to plan effectively for increased demand for hospital
beds and doctors' surgeries.
Each winter sees a 20 per cent increase in mortality in the UK
(the highest in Europe). Strokes are more common in summer when
the heat causes people's blood pressure to rise. Between October
and February, three per cent of people suffer from seasonal affective
disorder (SAD).
More about weather
and health
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Air pollution |
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Air pollution is mainly caused by burning fossil fuels,
such as coal and petrol. It tends to build up in cities that have
a lot of road traffic. It can also be caused by natural events,
such as volcanic eruptions, or man-made disasters, such as explosions
in petrochemical works. The weather can make a big difference to
how fast pollution is dispersed and replaced by cleaner air. For
example, during periods of high pressure in the summer, the air
can remain static and sunlight can have an adverse effect on the
toxicity of certain airborne pollutants. The Met Office has developed
models that can predict the build-up of atmospheric pollution, as
well as how, when and where pollution will be dispersed by the weather.
The Met Office's environmental monitoring team provides a rapid
response to environmental incidents, including coastal flooding
and chemical, nuclear and marine pollution. This team also helps
with emergency responses to chemical and biological warfare in
terms of analysing dispersion.
More about
Met Office air quality forecasts
UK
National Air Quality archive
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Why is the Met Office part of
the Ministry of Defence (MoD)? |
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The Met Office is part of the MoD for both historical and supply
reasons. Originally a small department within the Board of Trade,
the Met Office was taken under the wing of the Air Ministry just
after the First World War, later moving into the MoD. Additionally,
by owning the Met Office, in times of a national crisis the MoD
can guarantee access to the forecasting service.
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What role does the Met Office
play in advising the armed forces? |
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It ranges from tactical mission planning to investigating
the impact of environmental stresses in areas of potential unrest.
The Met Office's aim is to ensure that weather and natural environment
conditions are used to an advantage in order to improve effectiveness.
The Mobile Met. Unit is often sent to areas of conflict involving
British forces, such as the Gulf War or Afghanistan.
Most of the services the Met Office provides to RAF and Army
customers are for flying: there are on-site forecasting staff
at about 30 military airfields in the UK and overseas. The armed
services, QinetiQ (formerly Defence Evaluation and Research Agency),
NATO and the US Air Force in Europe form the Met Office's
existing defence customer base. In addition, its Mobile Met. Unit
provides flexible front-line support to the armed forces of the
UK and NATO.
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Food production |
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Farmers rely heavily on short- and long-range weather
forecasts to determine when to sow and harvest crops. Weather information
is also used to determine the position and nature of experimental
crop planting, such as trials of genetically modified crops.
The Met Office also provides information about the spread of
diseases affecting livestock, including the 2001 outbreak of foot-and-mouth
disease. Its prediction facility helped the Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to estimate the extent of airborne
spread and decide on the necessary control measures.
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