Part 6: The effects on health

Bad weather does not just mean storms. Severe heat is another area of concern to sectors such as health services, outdoor workers and also to workplaces vulnerable to increasing temperatures.

The Met Office can help with prediction and offers a range of services enabling those in the building industry and office managers to understand how a building's energy consumption relates to the weather - enabling them to monitor energy-saving measures and plan heating requirements.

It also recently pioneered a 'Forecasting the Nation's Health' initiative. The project uses weather forecasts and research data to provide managers with advance warning of the impacts of weather on health, and therefore hospital workloads, in their area. This allows them to plan the use of resources more efficiently.

"The model uses heat forecasts to give the NHS an idea of the number of people going through their doors," said the Met Office's Gary Holpin. "Weather and ailments are closely related. The number of heart attacks goes up in times of heatwaves."

Similarly, there is a direct correlation between thunderstorms in summer and asthma attacks and the Met Office offers companies statistic-based advice so that they can take steps in regard of occupational health schemes and staff provision. For example, in England and Wales, there is a 2% increase in mortality for every degree below 19C.

Roughly half of these deaths are caused by respiratory conditions and half by strokes and heart attacks. After a fall in temperature, heart attacks increase after two days and strokes after five days.

Skin cancer risks are another area where the Met Office offers services to businesses, providing UV forecasts for up to 48 hours.