The Met Office has issued an apology after it incorrectly sent out a “severe” hot weather alert despite the temperature being a chilly 4C in some parts of the UK.
The alert warned the public of a “significant threat to life” because of the intense heat, leaving many mobile users puzzled.
A second message then warned of the complete opposite. “Severe snow or ice warning until 23.59,” it read.
One baffled Briton screenshotted the strange heat alert next to the forecast of 4C in Stockport.
The Met Office incorrectly sent out a 'severe' hot weather alert
PA/Met Office
The Met Office said the test alerts, which were issued by a third party aggregator, were not meant to be seen by the public.
There were no weather warnings in effect when the alerts were sent out on the Apple Weather app.
A spokesman for the Met Office said: “We are aware of an issue where some test weather warnings were displayed 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 14:00 Thursday 28 November.”
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Many parts of Britain were hit by severe flooding from Storm BertPAConfused Britons took to social media to share the strange warnings. One user wrote: “Why did I randomly get a severe weather alert? What’s going on?”
Another added: “Severe high temperature warning when currently 4C in the Lake District.”
In an additional statement given to The Telegraph, the Met Office explained: “During routine testing with a third-party warnings aggregator test warnings were erroneously published in the aggregator’s live system.
“This resulted in redistributors including Apple publishing the test warnings on their channels.
“The test warnings were promptly removed from the aggregator’s live system, resulting in the majority of redistributors also removing them from their channels.”
Snow near Castlecary, North Lanarkshire, Scotland from Storm Bert
PA“However, some are continuing to show the test warnings. We are working with the aggregator to contact those redistributors whose systems have not processed the cancellation.”
The UK has been plagued with weather warnings over the past week following the arrival of Storm Bert and Storm Conall, with the former sadly taking the lives of five people.
And the poor weather shows no signs of easing up, with more dreary and wet conditions on the horizon.
Jim Dale, meteorologist for British Weather Services and social commentator, said: “There are likely to be more storms going through December as we play catch-up after the calmer picture through autumn so far.
“We will be keeping our eyes open for the next major event, with another significant storm possible before the end of this month or at the start of December.
“We have only had two storms this season, which is lower than would be expected with higher ocean temperatures, so I would be expecting a balance through the rest of the season to bring more in the way of storms.”
