Amber cold weather alert explained as West Midlands warned of 'increased deaths'

A rare Amber cold weather health alert has been issued for the West Midlands region. Amber cold health alerts are only issued by the UK government during periods of icy cold weather which could cause large impacts on the health system.

The warning has been issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), as freezing temperatures have been forecasted in the West Midlands region over this weekend. The mercury is set to hover around 0C today (January 11), but it could feel as cold as -2C at some points during the day, the Met Office has warned. Freezing temperatures are also forecast for tomorrow.

The Amber alert warns that the cold weather is likely to cause a rise in demand on the nation's health service. The health service could also be impacted by staffing issues due to the cold weather. While hospitals, care homes and clinics could see temperatures dropping below the recommended levels inside their facilities.

READ MORE: Rare West Midlands amber cold weather alert as temperatures plummet

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The UKHSA has further warned that the freezing weather poses a risk to older parts of the population. There could be a rise in deaths, particularly among older parts of the population, such as those aged 65 and over, it warned. However younger age groups could be impacted too.

For households living across the region, the UKHSA has warned that they could face challenges keeping the indoor temperature to the recommenced 18C. This causes an increased risk to the health and wellbeing of vulnerable people.

It's not just the health system that could be impacted though, so too could the transport and energy sectors. The UKHSA has issued the Amber alert for the West Midlands to remain in place until 9am on Tuesday (January 14).

A total of nine regions in England have been issued Amber alerts, which covers all of England. There are three levels of cold health alerts that can be issued - yellow, amber and red. Find out more here.

These cold heath alerts are issued under the Weather Health Alert system, developed by the UKHSA and Met Office. The UK government website said: "Amber alerts are issued in situations in which the expected impacts are likely to be felt across the whole health service, where there is potential for the whole population to be at risk, and where other sectors apart from health may also start to observe impacts, indicating that a coordinated response is required."