Michael Fish and that storm

[memories of 63]

Just heard an interview on the Today programme with Michael Fish discussing the great storm of '87. When do you think he'll be given a rest on this, it's been 20 years for goodness sake.

[Beverley Lass]

He was on the BBC lunchtime news today talking about the

infamous forecast .. that wasn't ..

and then he did the Weather Forecast for Today

Been a while.

BL

[Upgrade]

wasnt it Bill Giles that made "that forecast"? i think everyone's got it wrong!

[Paul]

Listen to the podcast, it contains all the answers right from the horses mouth!

http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=...e=podcast;sess=

[Thundersquall]

What's the betting the programme on ITV on Tuesday at 9:00 pm will begin with

"Apparently, a lady 'phoned the BBC ...."?

Edited October 15, 2007 by Thundersquall

[SnowJoke]

All this nonsense 20yrs in the making and still the poor guy is getting blamed. I'm sorry but all of this clearly relates to peoples ignorance in this country and the need to put the finger of blame on one individual. Today is no different if not worse with all the silly compensation culture going on. Kids not being allowed to play conkers in school ect for the fear the school will be sued if a child has a slight accident and gets a lump on the head from a stray conker. Only the other day I witnessed on satelite television an advert for a company called KIDZCLAIMS urging parents to telephone to see if they could get compensation if thier child had been injured or had an accident. There is something incredibly wrong in todays society if children cannot behave like children and enjoy thier childhood.

Right enough of my ramblings for today!

Micheal Fish did an extremely good job of the lunchtime weather forcast today, took more time than any other forcaster than of late and covered every region of the UK in great detail. IMHO he is still the best weather forcaster / presenter the BBC and the MET Office have ever had and by the look of todays standards will be for the forseeable future!

BBF - ( Bring Back Fish )

New national Campaign

[Paul]

Bah, don't do that, just get your fix of him via netweather!

[johnholmes]

Micheal Fish did an extremely good job of the lunchtime weather forcast today, took more time than any other forcaster than of late and covered every region of the UK in great detail.

the reality was that, just this once, the BBC gave him time to do the forecast justice as I'm sure Michael would agree if asked on here.

[saint]

He was on are local radio station this afternoon!

saint

[sconetone]

Well 20 years on and I've only just learnt that it was a Cat 10 Hurricane!!!

It's true - the TV listings says so!

ITV1 London TV Listings

9pm Britains Biggest Storm

On 16 October 1987, the biggest storm for 300 years raged across southern England. With wind speeds almost double that of a hurricane......

The fools! lol

[Geordiesnow]

You could tell that he was sick of hearing it. He said something on the lines ''i be a millionaire the amount of times that short clip was menturn'' which prooves he is just sick of people menturning it. I mean the BBC makes loads of silly errors like interviewing the wrong people.

Its a shame people can't leave him alone, but thats the world we live in. Nice to see him back on our screens though even if its for one day.

[Paul]

To be fair GS, having spoken to Michael Fish myself and even asking him the question as to whether he was sick of the whole 'hurricane' thing, he doesn't mind talking about it, although by the end of this week he may have changed his opinion!

[The Eagle]

He actually did give a warning of sorts at the end of the forcast that is never reported. However the UKMO got it seriously wrong anyway as, despite other weather agencies warning them to the contrary, they subbournly assumed the storm would track further south over the continent. It was at best embarrasing for them but with the Micheal Fish forcast it was farcical.

Edited October 16, 2007 by Darkman

[Roger J Smith]

Here's something to think about -- a lady called at lunchtime and said she'd heard it was going to be a severe winter ...

B) B) B)

[The Eagle]

a lady called at lunchtime and said she'd heard it was going to be a severe winter ...

'Well, I can tell you there isnt' going to be a severe winter - bit chilly though!................... B)

Edited October 16, 2007 by Darkman

[Charltonkerry]

I am slightly surprised at some of your reactions to the great storm of 20 years ago, I remember it vividly as a terrifying experience, something that i hope none of us have to go through again, the noise was terrific, the bedroom windows where bowing in. Out of the 80 houses in our little estate in Dartford 79 (ours was the only one to get away with it) where badly damaged at least 10 lost there roofs, I can't remember how many tree's came down within our locallity I think it topped the million mark, power was out for ages, no traffic, trains etc could not move for days, schools where destroyed, people where killed. Just remember if this storm had struck a few hours later or earlier then hundreds if not thousands would have been killed.

I find it hard to look at the clips of the weather forecast as i still remember the carnage, it is very hard for people who lived through the full force of this storm to defend the Met office, and I certainly do not think a mention of high winds at the very end of the forecast was enough notice to all those affected.

As an example before the peak of the storms you could see dustbins flying past higher than houses, roof where coming off, car where being destroyed by flying tiles and on one occassion a whole gable end of a house complete with chimney and roof.

However on a lighter note, the next morning one of my neighbours did ask me if i had seen his shed, I had said I had as it went over my roof and was heading in the direction of the next road, he thanked me and continued his search. B)

[johnholmes]

He actually did give a warning of sorts at the end of the forcast that is never reported. However the UKMO got it seriously wrong anyway as, despite other weather agencies warning them to the contrary, they subbournly assumed the storm would track further south over the continent. It was at best embarrasing for them but with the Micheal Fish forcast it was farcical.

a little bit unfair Darkman, it was not quite like you make out.

[BLAST FROM THE PAST]

He was on the BBC lunchtime news today talking about the

infamous forecast .. that wasn't ..

and then he did the Weather Forecast for Today

Been a while.

BL

I tell you what, even when he was forecasting relative mild weather it came across superbly and I didn't mind These 'presenters' we have these days are awful in comparison....even now being off air for a while his quality was very apparent.

BFTP

Micheal Fish did an extremely good job of the lunchtime weather forcast today, took more time than any other forcaster than of late and covered every region of the UK in great detail.

the reality was that, just this once, the BBC gave him time to do the forecast justice as I'm sure Michael would agree if asked on here.

John sorry mate but the'presenter' of today are generally poor

BFTP

Here's something to think about -- a lady called at lunchtime and said she'd heard it was going to be a severe winter ...

B) B) B)

Like the hurricane caller though she is talking of somewhere about 3000 miles away from the UK

BFTP

[The PIT]

What did you think of the program ???

I thought the women was a bit annoying coming out with statements bigger than a Hurricane and more powerful than a Hurricane. It also mentioned that the storm died out over the North Sea. If I recall correctly it also did a bit of damage over the other side of the North Sea as well.

Now did Mr Fish do the early evening forecast, around six and Bill Giles the later one??

[Paul]

No apparently MF's final broadcast of the day was at lunchtime.

[kold weather]

Well to be fair the system probably was bigger then a hurricane, most strong Baroclinic storms are bigger then hurricanes, its not usual that you see a hurricane that can match Baroclinic systems size. As for the strength, well it was in gusts stronger then a category-1 hurricane, indeed the winds seemed to be more what you'd expect of a low end cat-2 in gusts.

It did also do a lot of damage to the N.France, the low countries and also E.Scandinavia though it did fill quite a lot once it got past the UK.

[knightstorm]

As you all probably know, it's just passed the 20th anniversary of The Great Storm of 1987 or as it is often remembered the hurricane, despite the fact it wasn't! Did anyone see that excellent reconstruction documentary on ITV on Tuesday called Britains Biggest Storm? I found watching it very intense as the reconstructions really displayed the violent power of the wind. I was not even a year old when this happened and I slept right through it, so obviously I can't remember it, thank god I cant or I'd probably have been terryfied of wind for the rest of my life. I thought it was an excellent programme to dedicate the anniversary, if anyone else saw it and wants to discuss the programme and the storm in detail for those of you who are old enougth to remember it, than please write back with your thoughts and memories.

[knightstorm]

Yeah sorry I was abit slow to catch up with you lot on this topic, it's just that I'm new on here so bare with me! Anyways yes so some of you did see the programme on ITV, I thought it was quite good. However to say the system was bigger and stronger than a hurricane is stretching things abit, a hurricane can grow to as much as 500 miles in diametre for example Hurricane Mitch was so large it could have covered the whole of the UK, the 87 storm only really affected the southern quarter. Also hurricane's on the baeufort scale is defined as a wind which has sustained speeds of 74mph, the 87 storm generally only produced sustained speeds of around 50mph, it was the gusts which where incredible some areas recorded gusts in excess of 110mph which is equivelent to gusts in a category 3 hurricane! Also found it ammusing how when the windmill stopped spinning, that the wind suddenly stoped and the sun came up wasnt this a little bit of a quick recline!? Never realised however that it was decided that power should be turned off in London, I just thought the storm knocked out the power in the city!

[The PIT]

No apparently MF's final broadcast of the day was at lunchtime.

Which shows how memories can play tricks on you. As I could swear I saw that forecast. If it was lunchtime it was impossible for me to do so since work had no TV. Certainly remember Mr Giles Forecast and thinking you're wrong it's going to hit.

The main reason why I reckoned that was that the radio kept giving out reports that afternoon and you could tell it was moving NE.

[knightstorm]

So if the radio forecasts knew it was comming, why didnt they contact the BBC Weather Centre aswell to alert them?