Raindrops falling onto and around a red umbrella on a dark blue background.

Website terms of use

Agreement to terms of use

These terms and conditions of use (the "Terms of Use") apply to your use of this website www.metoffice.gov.uk and all associated Met Office micro-sites linked to this website (collectively the "Site"). Please read the Terms of Use carefully before you start to use the Site. By using the Site, you indicate that you accept these Terms of Use and that you agree to abide by them. If you do not agree to these Terms of Use, you do not have permission to use the Site.

Information about us

The Site is the property of the Met Office, for and on behalf of the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the "Met Office") or its licensors.

Linking to the Site

You are allowed to have links directly to pages hosted on the Site as long as the link, when activated by a user, displays that page full-screen in a fully operable and navigable browser window and not within a frame on the linked website.

The appearance, position, and other aspects of the link must not create the false impression that an entity or its activities or products are associated with, endorsed or approved by or sponsored by the Met Office. Also it must not damage or dilute the goodwill associated with the name and trademarks of the Met Office. You may not link directly to or embed any Met Office image files in your web pages.

If you wish to link to pages on the Site, you are responsible for maintaining those links. The Met Office reserves the right to remove or move pages on the Site at any time without notice.

Please see  Link to us for detailed instructions on how to link to our Site.

Links from the Site

The Site contains links to internet sites maintained by others ("third-party sites"). These links are provided solely as a convenience to you and not as an endorsement by the Met Office of the content on those third-party sites. The Met Office is not responsible for the content of linked third-party sites or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them and does not make any representations regarding the content or accuracy of materials on such third-party sites. The Met Office cannot guarantee that these links will work all of the time and has no control over the availability of the linked pages.

Ownership of the Site Content

All rights in the content, materials and software which are made available via this Site including, without limitation, the design and arrangement of such content and software (the "Content") are owned, controlled or licensed by or to the Met Office and are protected by all applicable English or international intellectual property laws.

Use of Crown Copyright

With the exception of the excluded items set out below, the Met Office grants you a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive licence to use, copy and adapt the Content (the "Licensed Content") under the terms of the UK Open Government Licence for Public Sector Information v3.0, which can be found at: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ 

This licence is provided free of charge.

You must place the following attribution statement adjacent to the Licensed Content when reproducing the Licensed Content, as required by the Open Government Licence:

"Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0"

unless we advise you in writing that the Licensed Content is not subject to Crown Copyright, in which case we will provide you with the correct attribution statement to use. 

The following Content is excluded from the Licensed Content and may not be downloaded, used, copied or adapted by you using this Licence:

  • Any underlying web services (which includes any software, documents and/or materials which underpin the Content).
  • Any Content which we inform you is governed by different licence terms, for example the Registered Content Licence or the Met Office DataPoint™ Reserved Content Licence;
  • Any Content for which payment is required;
  • Any advertisements or promotions by third parties; and
  • Any Content which is identified as belonging to someone other than the Met Office;
  • Any Content for which a third party holds the copyright (e.g. images, videos). 

Save as expressly provided in these Terms of Use and, if applicable, any additional licences granted to you by the Met Office, no Content may be copied, reproduced, adapted, publicly displayed, used to create derivative works, distributed or otherwise used in any way.

You must not use any Content in a way that suggests any official status or that the Met Office endorses you or your use of the Content (including any product or application that incorporates the Content).

You must not mislead others or misrepresent the Content or its source, for example you must not give the impression your output is endorsed or produced by the Met Office.  Specifically, you must not use Met Office logos or any other intellectual property rights owned by the Met Office (including its trade marks) to endorse or promote your products and/or services without the express prior written agreement of the Met Office.

Save for any APIs that we provide or expressly authorise you to use on the Site, you may not use any robot, spider, deep-link, page-scrape or any other automated device to monitor or copy any Content from the Site.

Your Contributions

There are many opportunities within the Site for you to actively participate. In the process of doing so, you may provide certain comments, suggestions, data (including personal data), or other information to the Met Office (collectively "Information"). You acknowledge that you are solely responsible for any Information that you choose to disclose and make publicly accessible via the Site, and that under no circumstances will the Met Office be liable in any way for the disclosure and public accessibility of such Information. You acknowledge that any Information posted to publicly accessible areas may remain publicly accessible indefinitely.

In consideration of your continuing use of the Site, the Met Office shall be entitled, without further obligation, to retain, disclose or otherwise use the Information for any purpose. Also, in consideration of your continuing use of the Site, you hereby assign all your interest in intellectual property rights in such Information to the Met Office (on behalf of the Controller of HMSO and King's Printer), as a continuing obligation, with full title guarantee for the full duration of such rights, wherever in the world enforceable. You shall execute all documents and assignments and do all such things necessary to ensure that the Met Office is able to enjoy the benefits of the rights under this condition. You shall refrain from any action prejudicial to the subsistence of the intellectual property rights in the Information and from any action prejudicial to the assignment pursuant to this condition.

Prohibited Use

You may only use the Site for lawful purposes. You may not use the Site:

  • in any way that breaches any applicable local, national or international law or regulation;
  • in any way that is unlawful or fraudulent, or has any unlawful or fraudulent intent purpose or effect;
  • to transmit, or procure the sending of, any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising or promotional material or any other form of similar solicitation (spam);
  • to knowingly distribute any material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful programs or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or communications network or hardware.

If you breach these Terms of Use, we may terminate any applicable licences and/or block your IP address from accessing the Site and/or withdraw your right to use the Site (or any part of the Site), with immediate effect. We may also exercise these rights on National Security grounds.

You also agree:

  • not to reproduce, duplicate, copy or re-sell any part of the Site in contravention of these Terms of Use;
  • not to access without authority, interfere with, damage or disrupt:
    • any part of the Site;
    • any equipment or network on which the Site is stored;
    • any software used in the provision of the Site; or
    • any equipment or network or software owned or used by any third party.
  • to comply with and be bound by the Met Office's Fair Use Policy

Disclaimers

The Met Office aims to ensure that the Content is accurate and consistent with its current scientific understanding. However, the science which underlies meteorological forecasts and climate projections is constantly evolving. Therefore any element of the Content which involves a forecast or a prediction should not be relied upon as though it were a statement of fact. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Met Office excludes all warranties or representations (express or implied) in respect of the Content.

Your use of the Content is entirely at your own risk. We make no warranty, representation or guarantee that the Content is error free or fit for your intended use.

Your correspondence or business dealings with, or participation in promotions of, advertisers whose advertisements are found on or through the Site, including payment and delivery of related goods or services, and any other terms or representations associated with such dealings, are solely between you and the relevant advertiser. The Met Office does not endorse, recommend, or make any representations about any products or services provided by advertisers. The presence of advertisements found on the Site, or the inclusion of the words alongside advertisements such as "official sponsor" or "partner" do not imply any exclusive arrangement between the Met Office and such advertiser. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you agree that the Met Office shall not be liable for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as the result of any such dealings or as the result of the presence of such advertisers on the Site and/or any reliance placed by you on the completeness or accuracy of such advertising.

Limitation of Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW THE MET OFFICE HEREBY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY FOR LOSS, INJURY OR DAMAGE (DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL OR SPECIAL) ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH USE OF THE SITE INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY AND ALL LIABILITY:

RELATING TO THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, RELIABILITY, AVAILABILITY, SUITABILITY, QUALITY, OWNERSHIP, NON-INFRINGEMENT, OPERATION, MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR PURPOSE OF THE CONTENT;

RELATING TO ITS WORK PROCURING, COMPILING, INTERPRETING, EDITING, REPORTING AND PUBLISHING THE CONTENT;

RELATING TO ANY INTERRUPTION, FAILURE OR CESSATION OF OPERATION OR TRANSMISSION;

RESULTING FROM ANY ACTS OR OMISSIONS OF ANY THIRD PARTIES IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE SITE;

RESULTING FROM RELIANCE UPON, OPERATION OF, USE OF OR ACTIONS OR DECISIONS MADE ON THE BASIS OF, ANY FACTS, OPINIONS, IDEAS, INSTRUCTIONS, METHODS, OR PROCEDURES SET OUT ON THIS SITE;

ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE MISUSE OF OR INAPPROPRIATE RELIANCE ON THE CONTENT OF THE SITE; AND

RESULTING FROM ANY VIRUS, WORM, TROJAN, TIME-BOMBS, KEYSTROKE LOGGERS, SPYWARE, ADWARE OR ANY OTHER KIND OF MALWARE OR CONTAMINATION OF COMPUTING EQUIPMENT.

YOU SHOULD CARRY OUT YOUR OWN EVALUATION / VERIFICATION EXERCISE BEFORE CHOOSING TO RELY UPON ANY OF THE CONTENT IN ANY WAY.

THIS DOES NOT AFFECT THE MET OFFICE'S LIABILITY FOR DEATH OR PERSONAL INJURY ARISING FROM THE MET OFFICE'S NEGLIGENCE, NOR THE MET OFFICE'S LIABILITY FOR FRAUD OR FRAUDULENT MISREPRESENTATION, NOR ANY OTHER LIABILITY WHICH CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

Viruses, hacking and other offences

You must not misuse the Site by knowingly introducing (or transmitting data, sending or uploading any material that contains) viruses, Trojans, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware, logic bombs or other material, programmes or similar computer code which is malicious, technologically harmful or designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware of the Site. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Site, the server on which the Site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to the Site. You must not attack the Site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack.

By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. The Met Office will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your rights to use the Site will cease immediately.

The Met Office will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a distributed denial-of-service attack, viruses or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of the Site or to your downloading of any material posted on it, or on any website linked to it.

Weather gadgets and RSS feeds

These Terms of Use govern your use of the Met Office weather gadgets, RSS feeds and associated data feeds.

Met Office weather gadgets and associated datafeeds (excluding RSS feeds) are free services offered by the Met Office for personal and non-commercial use only. Any other uses, including without limitation the incorporation by you or any third party of advertising into or the placement of advertising associated with or targeted towards the Content (as defined above), are strictly prohibited. Met Office RSS feeds are free services offered by the Met Office for any purpose. You must use the Met Office weather gadgets, RSS feeds and associated datafeeds as provided by the Met Office, and you may not edit or modify the Content (as defined above) or links supplied by the Met Office.

The Met Office weather gadgets, RSS feeds and associated data feeds may be used only with those platforms from which a functional link is made available that, when accessed, takes the viewer directly to the display of the web page on the Site. You may not display the Met Office weather gadgets, RSS feeds and associated data feeds in a manner that does not permit successful linking to, redirection to or delivery of the applicable section of the Site. You may not insert any intermediate page, splash page or other content between the link and the applicable section of the Site.

The Met Office retains all ownership and other rights in the Met Office weather gadgets, RSS feeds and associated data feeds, and any and all Met Office logos and trademarks used in connection with them. You must provide attribution to the Site in connection with your use of the Met Office weather gadgets or RSS feeds. If you provide this attribution using a graphic, you must use the appropriate Link-to-us-.-The-words-"Met-Office" and the Met Office device and logos are registered trademarks in the United Kingdom, the European Union, the United States of America and other countries. These trademarks are the property of the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. You must not use any trademark, service mark, logo, corporate or business name of the Met Office otherwise than in accordance with these Terms of Use.

The Met Office reserves the right to discontinue providing any or all of the RSS feeds and/or associated data feeds at any time and to require you to cease displaying, distributing or otherwise using any of them for any reason including, without limitation, your breach of any provision of these Terms of Use.

Weather widgets

These Terms of Use govern your use of the Met Office weather widgets.

The Met Office weather widgets are generally aimed at webmasters and allow organisations to display Met Office weather content on their own website. They have more scope for customisation by the webmaster, for example allowing the organisation to choose content and layouts appropriate to their needs.

The Met Office weather widget is protected by Crown Copyright. The Met Office makes the weather widget available to you on a free-of-charge basis for use on both private and commercial websites subject to these terms and conditions.

The weather widget is made available to you free-of-charge provided that you make fair use of it. At present, the Met Offices envisages that it will incur a cost if any page on your website where the weather widget is located generates more than 100,000 page impressions per day and anything over this will exceed fair use of the weather widget (the "Weather Widget Fair Use Limit"). If you exceed the Weather Widget Fair Use Limit, you agree to notify the Met Office by sending an email to [email protected]. Further, you agree that the Met Office may contact you to discuss the commercial terms which will apply to your ongoing use of the weather widget should you exceed the Weather Widget Fair Use Limit. The Met Office reserves the right to revise the Weather Widget Fair Use Limit in the future.

From time to time the Met Office may add advertisements for Met Office products and services and/or the products and services of carefully selected third parties to the weather widget. Where the Met Office adds such advertisements, your weather widget will be updated automatically.

The Met Office is entitled to remove the weather widget at any time without notice. In addition, the Met Office reserves the right, in its absolute discretion, to stop you using the weather widget on your website.

You must not attempt to scrape the data supplied through the weather widget or attempt to hinder the display of any advertisements supplied through it by the Met Office. You must not remove any Met Office logos or branding from the weather widget.

By integrating the weather widget into your website you indicate that you accept these terms and conditions and that you agree to abide by them. If you do not agree to these terms and conditions, you do not have permission to integrate the weather widget into your website.

The Met Office does not warrant that the Site will be continually available but will use reasonable endeavours to keep downtime to a minimum.

Email alerts

These Terms of Use govern your use of the Met Office email alerts.

Met Office email alerts are free services offered by the Met Office for personal and non-commercial use only. Any other uses, including without limitation the incorporation by you or any third party of advertising into or the placement of advertising associated with or targeted towards the Content (as defined above), are strictly prohibited. You must use Met Office email alerts as provided by the Met Office, and you may not edit or modify the Content (as defined above) or links supplied by the Met Office.

The Met Office reserves the right to discontinue providing any or all email alerts at any time and to require you to cease using any of them for any reason including, without limitation, your breach of any provision of these Terms of Use.

Operation of the Site

The Met Office aims to update the Site regularly, and may change, modify or remove the Content or any part of the Content at any time. The Met Office shall be entitled at its sole discretion at any time without notice to modify, interrupt or terminate the operation of or access to the Site or any part of the Site. Any of the material on the Site may be out of date at any given time, and the Met Office is under no obligation to update any such material.

Changes to these Terms of Use

The Met Office shall have the right, at its sole discretion and at any time, to change or modify these Terms of Use, such change shall be effective immediately upon posting to the Site. You are responsible for regularly reviewing these Terms of Use to obtain timely notice of any such changes, as they are binding on you. The Met Office will post a last amended date at the bottom of this page to assist such review. Your continued use of this Site after such posting shall constitute your acceptance of these Terms of Use as modified. Some of the provisions in these Terms of Use may also be superseded by provisions or notices published elsewhere on the Site.

Assignment

You may not assign or delegate your rights or obligations under these Terms of Use without the prior written consent of the Met Office.

Severance

If any provision of these Terms of Use (or part of any provision) is found by any court or other authority of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable, that provision or part-provision shall, to the extent required, be deemed not to form part of these Terms of Use, and the validity and enforceability of the other provisions of these Terms of Use shall not be affected.

Waiver

No failure or delay by the Met Office to exercise any right, power or remedy will operate as a waiver of any of them nor will any partial exercise preclude any further exercise of the same or some other right, power or remedy.

Information about you and your visits to the Site

The Met Office processes information about you in accordance with the Privacy Policy . By using the Site you consent to such processing and you warrant that all data provided by you is accurate.

The Met Office has obligations under law, including the Freedom of Information legislation, to disclose information including confidential information held by us. The Met Office will always endeavour to consult with you before making a decision to disclose confidential information held by us.

Governing Law and Jurisdiction

These Terms of Use and any and all claims, disputes or proceedings of any kind (whether relating to contractual or non-contractual obligations) arising out of or in connection with them shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English law.

These Terms of Use shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of Courts located in the United Kingdom in respect of all proceedings (whether relating to contractual or non-contractual obligations).

Your Concerns

If you have any concerns about material which appears on the Site, please contact [email protected].

LAST REVIEWED AND UPDATED: March 2021

© Crown copyright 2021, Met Office