Heat Health Watch
The 2006 Heatwave Plan was launched on 26 May. However, with the shift to wet and, often, cool weather during mid-May, it received little media attention. The country as a whole had received 158% of its long-term average monthly rainfall!
Further details of the heatwave plan
Benefits evaluation
Although information regarding the benefits of COPD Health Forecasting is still being collected, a report has been put together using the data that is available to date. Contact health@metoffice.gov.uk for more details.
Research
Five of our abstracts have been accepted for poster presentation at the COPD5 conference on 28-30 June. We are also participating in a workshop at the HPA-SW conference on Our Coast and Public Health, giving a presentation on 'The challenge of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease around the SW coast'.
We have been working on the basic research - understanding COPD patterns and relationships with influenza and cold. We aim to publish papers arising from this work, and to refine the COPD forecasting model for use in the winter 2006/07 service.
To find out more about the Met Office's health forecasting services and expertise please contact our 24-hour Customer Centre or e-mail to health@metoffice.gov.uk.
