Nottingham has been on the receiving end of a level 3 weather warning this week. The Met Office and UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) handed the region the serious sounding alert on Tuesday, December 6, saying the warning follows a 90% probability of severe conditions between Wednesday, December 7 and Monday, December 12.
The alert covers the county of Nottinghamshire as well as other parts of England, including neighbouring counties of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire. However, exactly what is a level 3 weather warning? Should we be worried and what do the other levels of alerts mean? Here's what you need to know.
Weather warnings come in both colours - yellow, amber, red - and numbered levels. They are designed to alert the public to extremes in weather patterns. The Met Office says: "Our warnings are designed to let people, businesses, emergency responders and governments know what weather is in store and what the impacts of that weather may be." As the department operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, it can monitor and react to changes at any time of the day or night.
