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They work with regional emergency planning groups to;

• Assist in devising plans and exercises to deal with incidents
• Respond to real-time emergency incidents.

They are based in Government Office regions in England and Wales and for the Devolved Administrations and regions of Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The Advisors are available to the emergency planning community to:

• Help emergency responders assess the risk in their particular area from predicted or ongoing severe weather events and put preparations in place to mitigate the impacts
• Help in the preparation and participation of multi-agency exercises where weather conditions could have an influence on incident management. For example chemical releases or large outdoor gatherings
• Provide guidance on the use of Met Office services available to emergency responders through presentations, workshops and exercises
• Help with weather-related risk-assessments as used in community risk registers

PWS Advisors can support responders by telephone or in person, subject to availability.

The role of the Advisor during an incident is:

• To ensure the management team is aware of all the meteorological factors which could impact the incident
• Ensure all meteorological information is consistent and that all responders within the Command and Control Centre use the correct information.
• Interpret this information for the responders, as necessary.
• To source other scientific advice available from the Met Office and act as a point of contact between the Met Office and the responders
• If required and appropriate, to arrange for routine forecasts and other information to be supplied to aid in the recovery phase.
• To assist in the audit trail by documenting meteorological requests and responses.

On-site forecasters

We can supply highly-skilled Met Office forecasters to work at other organisations' locations to fully understand weather issues and provide bespoke solutions. Our on-site consultant team provide the National Traffic Control (NTCC) and Highways Agency Regional Control Centres with advice on the likely impact of current and forecast weather up to 10 days in advance. Our consultants work as part of the Highways Agency team and are independent meteorologists supported by information from the Met Office.

For more information about our services for Government, please email us or contact our customer centre