Hot weather warning sent to phones by mistake from Met Office

A “serious threat to life” warning appeared on phones across the UK due to a testing error, the Met Office said.

Warnings of severe weather such as high temperatures, snow, ice and rain were issued in different parts of the country on Thursday. Test alerts issued by a third-party aggregator were not intended to be viewed by the public.

Someone on social media shared a screenshot of a “severe high temperature” warning alongside a forecast of 4C (39F) in Stockport.

The Met Office, which is responsible for weather warnings in the UK, said testing warnings have been lifted.

Some alerts told recipients to “take immediate action” but also included explanatory text stating that this was a test alert.

Information contained in the warnings explained that the Met Office test warnings were issued through a weather aggregator that sends weather alerts to many locations, including Apple devices.

The test error is thought to have occurred during this collection process.

A Met Office spokesman said: “We are aware of an issue with some test weather alerts being displayed on some websites and apps.

“We are working with our partners to ensure these testing alerts are removed and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”

It’s unclear how many people received the alerts, but many posted on X saying they saw the alerts.

“Why did I get a random severe weather alert? What’s going on?” one person wrote to X.

Another added: “Warning for severe high temperatures in the #LakeDistrict when it’s currently 4C.”

On Apple devices, users must manually allow severe weather alerts to be sent as notifications to their phones. This is done through the phone’s weather app.

Many parts of the UK hit by Storm Bert last week experienced devastating weather conditions. Flooding causes strong winds and snowfall.

After a dry and cold day across much of the country on Thursday, forecasters say there may be heavy rain in some areas later in the evening.

in October, An error on the BBC Weather website and app It led to inaccurate predictions of impossibly high wind speeds.

The graphs warned of tornadoes and showed estimated wind speeds of 13,508 mph in London and 5,293 mph in Rome, as well as temperatures of 404°C in Nottingham and 384°C in New York.

The issue was caused by a data issue with a third-party vendor and was later fixed.