MetService's new app feature to notify users of severe storms, high fire risk

The MetService app's notifications feature sends a notification if a severe storm is on its way or if there are fire danger warnings at the user's location. Photo: RNZ

MetService will send notifications to people in the paths of extreme storms or in areas with a high fire risk.

The weather monitoring agency is rolling out the feature in its app, which will notify users if a severe storm is on its way to their current location.

MetService weather communication head Lisa Murray said the feature was partially a response to the widespread confusion during last year's floods in Auckland.

"It's close to a year since the devastating impacts of the Auckland storms, closely followed by Cyclone Gabrielle," she said.

"These notifications are one of the ways we're aiming to warn more Kiwis of dangerous weather."

She hoped the early warnings would give people time to react and protect themselves.

"Obviously, the quicker the public can get information [and] the more information they can get gives them what they need to make decisions to protect their families, their properties and their livelihoods," Murray said.

The impacts of climate change were pushing the agency to step up its warning systems.

"Climate change obviously has been feeding into our weather warnings for a long time, it's why we changed to a colour-coded warning system in 2019 and introduced the red warnings," Murray said.

The MetService app's notifications feature sends a notification if a severe storm is on its way or if there are fire danger warnings at the user's location. Photo: RNZ

Notifications were the next step, maximising the amount of time people had to react and seek shelter.

"The most important thing for people to do [when they get a notification] is to react and take immediate action," Murray said.

"If it's a wind warning, tie down the trampoline or secure tiles on the roof. If it's a rain warning, check gutters or drains to make sure they're clear."

Murray said people who had the notifications enabled would receive the alert as soon as the warning was issued.

MetService has also partnered with Fire and Emergency to include fire danger warnings.

"More and more weather is causing these really extreme conditions in regards to wildfires, you have the winds that will spread the fires, the dry conditions," Murray said.

To avoid unwanted notifications, users will only be notified if their current location or home is in the danger zone.

"They will be tailored to wherever you are in the country, if you're in a region where a red warning is issued you'll receive a notification," Murray said.

Given the impact weather had on wildfires, Murray said working with FENZ seemed like a "very good partnership".

An update to MetService's app is expected to roll out from Thursday.