Met Office

The Met Office and its public weather service

The Met Office is the United Kingdom's national weather and climate service. Its website is organised around two broad areas: weather and climate information for the public, and research programmes that support science and services. The public-facing side brings together forecasts, warnings, maps and climate explanations, while the research side documents modelling systems, monitoring and the scientific work behind them.

The organisation describes itself as providing "world leading weather services for the public", a characterisation that appears in its own presentation rather than as an independent assessment.

Forecasts and warnings

The forecast section covers the UK and other countries. Users can search for a place, use their current location or revisit recent searches. UK output includes a five-day forecast, a long-range outlook and an interactive weather map. A daily video forecast is also published, alongside a rolling news item on expected conditions.

Warnings and advice form a separate area, with UK weather warnings, a UK Storm Centre and seasonal advice. The site also carries a set of maps and charts: cloud cover, precipitation, lightning, rainfall, temperature, wind and wind gust maps, plus surface pressure charts.

Climate content

A dedicated climate section explains what climate change is, its causes and effects, and answers common questions. It also covers the UK climate, climate science, organisations and reports, and UK daily weather extremes. The material is presented as explanatory and reference content rather than as a commercial product.

Specialist forecasts

Beyond general forecasting, the Met Office lists specialist forecasts for the coast and sea, mountain areas and space weather. These sit alongside educational material on past UK weather events, how forecasts are made, and resources for schools.

Research programmes

The research side is extensive. It documents the organisation's approach, including how its science is reviewed, collaboration, modelling systems and monitoring, and profiles its research staff. Weather science topics include atmospheric dispersion and air quality, space applications and nowcasting, ensemble forecasting, observations research and development, ocean forecasting, satellite and surface assimilation, and national capability weather intelligence.

Climate research covers the climate, cryosphere and oceans; climate impacts; climate monitoring and attribution; Earth system science; monthly to decadal prediction; UK climate maps and data; and understanding climate change. Applied science spans aviation applications, climate information for international development, climate security, climate services, defence applications, post-processing applications, and science for impacts, resilience and adaptation, including a science health strategy. Foundation science addresses atmospheric processes and parametrizations, dynamic research, global modelling, observation-based research, and regional model evaluation and development.

Services for organisations

The Met Office frames its services around supporting business with science and technology. Sectors named on the site include government, defence and security, devolved administrations, environmental hazard and resilience services, and international development. Transport is broken down into aviation commercial, aviation regulated, CAV, marine, rail and road. Business and industry covers energy, event management, media and water. Separate areas address weather and climate data, and research and consulting, including access to a meteorologist, climate service, international programmes and weather and climate consultancy.

Organisation and resources

The site sets out who the organisation is, its people, values, history and how it is run, including the Met Office Board, governance structure, Public Weather Service, Chief Executive, Executive Team and Non-Executive Directors. It also maintains a media centre, campaigns, a press office contact route and an official news blog.

Additional resources include the Met Office College, the National Meteorological Library & Archive, the Weather Observations Website (WOW) and the Voluntary Climate Network (VCN). Visitors can send feedback, find contact routes and obtain directions to the offices.