A mistake saw British iPhone users yesterday receive a range of severe weather alerts, one of them citing “severe high temperatures” of 39F (4C). Some of the alerts warned of a “significant threat to life” …

The alerts were sent in the name of the UK Met Office, but BBC News reports that it was due to a botched test by an unnamed third-party company.

Notifications warned of severe weather events including high temperatures, snow, ice and rain in different parts of the country on Thursday. The test alerts, issued by a third party aggregator, were not intended to be seen by the public […]

Information contained in the alerts explained that the Met Office test warnings had been issued via a meteorological aggregator that sends weather alerts to a number of places including Apple devices. It is thought that the testing error occurred during this aggregation process.

Some recipients were concerned about the alerts, while others were amused.

“Found that it’s 5° outside and there is a severe weather alert stating “severe high temperatures warning“ ⚠️ from the UK Met Office. Light rain stops in 10 minutes, so I’m off out in my t shirt.”

“Has someone been drinking @themetoffice or is 41F genuinely a high temperature for Cumbria at this time of year?”

“Well apparently SEVERE HIGH TEMPERATURE warning is in place – better get the bikini on!”

The Met Office said that the fault has now been fixed, but as multiple aggregators use the feed further test alerts may be received for a short time.

Photo by Caleb George on Unsplash

A mistake saw British iPhone users yesterday receive a range of severe weather alerts, one of them citing “severe high temperatures” of 39F (4C). Some of the alerts warned of a “significant threat to life” …

The alerts were sent in the name of the UK Met Office, but BBC News reports that it was due to a botched test by an unnamed third-party company.

Notifications warned of severe weather events including high temperatures, snow, ice and rain in different parts of the country on Thursday. The test alerts, issued by a third party aggregator, were not intended to be seen by the public […]

Information contained in the alerts explained that the Met Office test warnings had been issued via a meteorological aggregator that sends weather alerts to a number of places including Apple devices. It is thought that the testing error occurred during this aggregation process.

Some recipients were concerned about the alerts, while others were amused.

“Found that it’s 5° outside and there is a severe weather alert stating “severe high temperatures warning“ ⚠️ from the UK Met Office. Light rain stops in 10 minutes, so I’m off out in my t shirt.”

“Has someone been drinking @themetoffice or is 41F genuinely a high temperature for Cumbria at this time of year?”

“Well apparently SEVERE HIGH TEMPERATURE warning is in place – better get the bikini on!”

The Met Office said that the fault has now been fixed, but as multiple aggregators use the feed further test alerts may be received for a short time.

Photo by Caleb George on Unsplash