IT’S fair to say the last month has seen a pretty mixed bag of weather with snow, sun, wind and rain all arriving around the same time on any given day.

To be fair it’s March. In Scotland.

Forecasters have gone into overdrive with amber and yellow warnings being thrown around like confetti with dire threats of upcoming pestilence, famine and drought amongst others.

Panic ensued when temperatures plummeted to -16C at Altnaharra in Sutherland, which breathless forecasters told us was the coldest night since 2010 – a mere 13 years ago.

Of course, the doomsayers were out in force too claiming all this proved that we are in the grip of a climate catastrophe that spells the end of humankind.

But it appears it’s going to get a whole lot worse as we are all about to receive a siren-like emergency warning message from the UK Government to our mobile phones next month to test a new public alert system.

With many young people already allegedly suffering from climate anxiety, sending a loud siren noise to their mobiles warning of extreme weather on the way does not seem the most sensible thing to do.

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Nothing, after all, screams impending doom louder than a siren sounded at close range.

Under the madcap plan, phone users will be unable to use other features on their devices unless they acknowledge the alert, due to be sent on Sunday April 23.

The system – modelled after similar schemes in the US, Canada, the Netherlands and Japan – is intended to be used in life-threatening situations including flooding and wildfires.

The alerts will appear on the home screens of people’s phones, accompanied by a loud warning sound and vibration.

The scheme will initially focus on the most serious severe weather-related events, with the ability to get a message to 90% of mobile users within the relevant area in an emergency.

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Oliver Dowden said: “We are strengthening our national resilience with a new emergency alerts system, to deal with a wide range of threats – from flooding to wildfires.

“It will revolutionise our ability to warn and inform people who are in immediate danger, and help us keep people safe.

As we’ve seen in the US and elsewhere, the buzz of a phone can save a life.”

People who do not wish to receive the alerts will be able to opt out in their device settings, but officials hope the life-saving potential of the messages means that users will keep them on.

The alerts will only ever come from the Government or emergency services, and they will include the details of the area affected, and provide instructions about how best to respond.

The Cabinet Office said the alerts are secure, free to receive, and one-way, insisting they do not reveal anyone’s location or collect personal data.

Tests of the service have already taken place in East Suffolk and Reading – both areas of the UK which are not exactly known for extreme incidents such as earthquakes, volcanoes or tsunamis.

On the face of it, there is nothing wrong with scaring the population half to death with overblown warnings of impending doom but how stupid does the Government think we are?

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Only if you live in a cave can you avoid weather forecasts which are the only thing more regular in this country than a good drying day.

We can look out of the window and see the weather for ourselves too and we know that we must plan for all eventualities when we’re planning to be outside for longer than about 5 minutes.

It is gained from experience of living in a part of the world with interesting weather.

The major problem with this scheme is who decides the weather is going to be so bad that sirens have to be sounded?

Judging by recent amber warnings for extreme weather, days that once would be described as challenging for golfers are now classed as too dangerous to go outside.

A big cloud is seen heading for Glasgow so somebody, somewhere in the emergency weather room, will no doubt press the big panic button and unsuspecting Glaswegians will immediately hit the deck all the way along Argyle Street fearing for their lives.

Is there also a huge mobile phone in Downing Street with only the PM allowed to know the password, like the nuclear codes.

Otherwise, it will be open to abuse from civil servants after a few drinks at a “necessary” works do as they take it in turns to warn of locusts heading for Inverness or Bristol – just for a laugh.

We’ve all had a few drinks and sent a text that we then bitterly regret after all.