Red Alert At Night: Little Delight?

Storm Darragh generated a night-time red alert from the Met Office. Mobile phones, carried (even when switched off) a siren noise and a detailed warning message. Red alerts signal a real danger to life and advice to, if at all possible, stay indoors. This storm, with its 90 mph winds, wrecked havoc across South-West England and Southern Wales. Many folk, throughout the UK, were subject to prolonged power cuts. Travel on roads, trains and planes was profoundly disrupted. Christmas and sports fixtures were postponed or cancelled. Some folk, however, have complained about the actual warning. They claim it was dangerously disturbing and they actually knew about the storm. Some have even blamed the government (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2024/dec/07/storm-darragh-uk-weather-warning-wind-met-office-latest-news). Not everyone will have kept abreast with the weather forecast. People seem to complain when they are warned or not warned quickly enough. Sadly, however, climate change is likely to result in red alerts, becoming more frequent here. Luckily for UK folk, they don't (yet?) live in a hurricane-prone zone. There, such alarms signal an urgent need to move to specialist, constructed refuges. People, subject to repeated air attacks, also have to rapidly familiarise themselves to warning messages! Let's hope those don't become a feature in the UK!