BBC finally admits how bad its forecasts are!

[Andy Bown]

:huh:

See the below link and look at what it says (twice) for Monday !

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ukweather/ind...?summary=show01

(Hope it 1. doesn't get altered and 2. the link won't update to tomorrow's update)

[MAF]

:huh:

just seems there is no-one to update the BBC site these days. i often find the latest conditions RSS feed is sometimes 2 days out!!

[❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️]

I dont get it

[Cookie]

they must have changed it

[Phil UK]

Oh so that's why we pay a licence fee for, the comedy of errors.

Why do I suddenly think back to (and saw that night as a 17 year old) "Well a lady just phoned to say that there's a hurricane on the way, but if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't"

Tell that to Sevenoaks which became erm... 'No-oaks'

No disrespect to Michael Fish of course but he was somewhat ill informed that day. I watched the Channel 4 programme. And Ian McCaskill on the breakfast news that morning looking like he'd just run out of an all night pub session. :o

Memories.

Phil.

[PersianPaladin]

Oh so that's why we pay a licence fee for, the comedy of errors.

Why do I suddenly think back to (and saw that night as a 17 year old) "Well a lady just phoned to say that there's a hurricane on the way, but if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't"

Tell that to Sevenoaks which became erm... 'No-oaks'

No disrespect to Michael Fish of course but he was somewhat ill informed that day. I watched the Channel 4 programme. And Ian McCaskill on the breakfast news that morning looking like he'd just run out of an all night pub session. :o

Memories.

Phil.

Erm.....Michael Fish has been saying for years that footage of him was not referring to the english storm at all! I don't even think it was on the same day!

[MAF]

yep that is right PP

Mr Fish was soooo mis-quoted that night. he was referring to a call made to his friend about a hurricane out in the states to which his reply was

"Well a lady just phoned to say that there's a hurricane on the way, but if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't"

i do feel sorry for Mr Fish, seems he really should be allowed to set the record straight once and for all by going back on national TV and getting the BBC to show the whole forecast then apologise to him for the atrocious way in which his forecast was allowed to be edited

[Cookie]

what hurricane was it any way?

[Andy Bown]

I dont get it

Monday's forecast said 'HASH' on the update made yesterday evening.

Probably suggests why there's a line of showers heading rapidly this way, with more developing behind it around the Bristol Channel, on a day that was meant to be dry/bright/sunny after early rain !

[snowsure]

I wonder if the Met O will comment on their summer forecast issued in April 08?

In case the link doesn't work it says:

"UK forecast for Summer 2008

Temperature

Mean temperatures are more likely to be above the 1971-2000 average. However, there is a slightly enhanced chance of cloudier and cooler spells.

Rainfall

Rainfall is more likely to be either near average or above average. The risk of exceptional rainfall, as seen last summer, is assessed as very low at this stage."

Summer is classed by the MO as June, July and August.

[snowsure]

MO summary of summer here: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/2008/summer.html

[sundog]

yep that is right PP

Mr Fish was soooo mis-quoted that night. he was referring to a call made to his friend about a hurricane out in the states to which his reply was

"Well a lady just phoned to say that there's a hurricane on the way, but if you're watching, don't worry, there isn't"

i do feel sorry for Mr Fish, seems he really should be allowed to set the record straight once and for all by going back on national TV and getting the BBC to show the whole forecast then apologise to him for the atrocious way in which his forecast was allowed to be edited

Well thats something i never knew about that clip of Mr Fish,i always thought he was talking about the storm. If i was him i would have been very annoyed by the way it was edited. It also gives the public a kind of bad view of forecasters which isnt right.

[disco-barry]

People are still finding the breath to bang on about Michael Fish?

[If Wishes made Weather]

The biggest problem that I have with the BBC - and some other - forecasts is the terrible amount of woolly language in which they are phrased. "Quite a few" showers. A "good chance" of some "warm" sunshine (as if the sun has changed its temperature) etc. I recognise that the BBC has dumbed down in recent years, but what is the point of reducing and expressing the weather forecast into a form of language that is only attractive to those who couldn't care about the weather and won't remember the forecast anyway?

I'm very happy to plead guilty to intellectual snobbism, but I'm sure that in an area like weather forecasting - which is essentially an emprical matter - then the language of its expression should be appropriate both to it as a subject, and to its interested audience.

The problem though is one that is very specific to the BBC since they, as national broadcaster, are funded by licence, not to attract a mass audience, but to provide a product that may well be sufficiently specialised to be not commercially viable whether that be in areas of culture, sciences, humanities. Whereas, many broadcasters and other media could argue that their reason for existence is shareholder satisfaction. With the BBC it is not and the uninformation that it will be "damp in the west" has no place in the output.

[J10]

The biggest problem that I have with the BBC - and some other - forecasts is the terrible amount of woolly language in which they are phrased. "Quite a few" showers. A "good chance" of some "warm" sunshine (as if the sun has changed its temperature) etc. I recognise that the BBC has dumbed down in recent years, but what is the point of reducing and expressing the weather forecast into a form of language that is only attractive to those who couldn't care about the weather and won't remember the forecast anyway?

I'm very happy to plead guilty to intellectual snobbism, but I'm sure that in an area like weather forecasting - which is essentially an emprical matter - then the language of its expression should be appropriate both to it as a subject, and to its interested audience.

The problem though is one that is very specific to the BBC since they, as national broadcaster, are funded by licence, not to attract a mass audience, but to provide a product that may well be sufficiently specialised to be not commercially viable whether that be in areas of culture, sciences, humanities. Whereas, many broadcasters and other media could argue that their reason for existence is shareholder satisfaction. With the BBC it is not and the uninformation that it will be "damp in the west" has no place in the output.

http://www.netweather.tv/forum/index.php?showtopic=17836 goes through this in some detail.

[Phil UK]

The thing is, Tim. Any forecaster could say "Damp in the west" Sky, ITV, Channels 4 and 5 are at the very least that bit more detailed, even if they have to squish it all into an average time of say, 2 minutes max?

Take last week for example. And no names, no pack drill. Radio Five Live (Although you've probably guessed the name by now given that radio station clue!) Said on the morning that Wales and the west would be breezy but damp. Now when you say damp, does that mean merely cloud and drizzle? Because over the Irish Sea and into Ireland itself, I was monitoring the MO radar and I've NEVER seen it look so colourful for such a prolonged period of time.

On the same occasion a few days earlier, same forecaster said "Sharp showers for Central/Eastern and Southern England." These were not ordinary sharp showers... They were behemoths of thunderstorms, especially in and around the London area.

I think the BBC, who I wholly disrespect where it comes to weekend progammes, also dumbs down the weather forecasts. And this is something that we HAVE to pay for.

Phil. (Lara Lewington of Channel Five is hot!)

[Mondy]

Nah, biggest problem for me is the saying "showers up north later".

Where exactly up north?

[Cookie]

Nah, biggest problem for me is the saying "showers up north later".

Where exactly up north?

I totally agree with u mate

[Phil UK]

Oop narth. The same kind of people who probably think that the Earth's end is north of the Watford Gap.

(Well it isn't, otherwise how could you possibly support Moanchester United? Think about it!)

Phil.

[If Wishes made Weather]

http://www.netweather.tv/forum/index.php?showtopic=17836 goes through this in some detail.

Many thanks for the link Jackone. I've been through the posts and obviously it is an area that gets many people reaching for the asprin/shotgun/meths ...

Tim