On 12 May, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency launched a new daily 3-day flood forecast produced by the Scottish Flood Forecasting Service (SFFS). The SFFS is a partnership between SEPA and the Met Office.

The Scottish Flood Forecast is the public version of the daily Flood Guidance Statement
(FGS) we issue to Civil Contingencies Category 1 and 2 agencies.

It will be available on SEPA’s website www.sepa.org.uk/scottishfloodforecast and will
initially be released as a test version to the public until the Autumn 2022. This is so that we
can gather feedback and make any improvements before fully launching the service to the
public formally later this year.

Why the Scottish Flood Forecast was created

The Scottish Flood Forecast has been created after research was undertaken with the
public, community flood groups, emergency responders, our partners, and employees.
The user research identified a need for the public to receive flood information earlier than
our current regional flood alerts and local flood warnings in a simple and clear way and
have the ability to check if no significant flooding is expected.

Who will use the Scottish Flood Forecast

It can be used by anyone interested in finding out at a national level whether flooding is
likely to happen across Scotland over the next 3 days and what to do next. The public can
check it any time.

The Scottish Flood Forecast is based on the best available information, but there will still be
a chance of minor and localised flooding when the maps have no areas coloured red,
amber and yellow.

What the Scottish Flood Forecast shows

The Scottish Flood Forecast is like the Environment Agency’s 5-day Flood Forecast and
Natural Resources Wales 5-day flood risk outlook. However, the Scottish Flood Forecast shows a 3-day rather than 5-day forecast at a national level, using maps and the colours yellow, amber, and red to show whether flooding is likely to happen over the next 3 days and describe what the impacts may be. It will also point people to information on what to do next. The maps use the “area of concern” concept
to provide the best available information on the geographical extent of risks.

SEPA made the decision to go with a 3-day rather than a 5-day forecast and not include the
colour green based on customer feedback.