Rate Your Regional BBC Forecasts

[damianslaw]

Just thought it would be interesting to views in peoples' respective local regional bbc forecasts.

Here in South Cumbria we endure NW news despite the majority of the county receiving look north and cumbria news and weather. I used the word 'endure' lightly I really want to say 'suffer'...

I have lost count the number of times the NW weather is inaccurate especially when it comes to temperatures. Take todays lunchtime forecast which showed a maximum of 7 degrees for tomorrow and then 10 degrees on Friday in those terrible 5 day forecast charts they show - where the heck are there getting there info from. Yes 7 degrees perhaps for Isle of Man but maxima tomorrow is expected to be 1-2 degrees for many.

They should average out maxima not continuously show the highest potential absolute maxima for the region which is often Isle of Man.

The look north and cumbria weather forecast is far superior. Indeed when I go onto our 5 day forecasts on bbc website it pulls up look north and cumbria weather and north west weather.

I'm having a right moan on this - but I had to get it off my chest and don't get me started on one particular NW weather presenter - those in the NW will know exactly who I mean..

[NickyB]

Great idea for this thread. I only wish I could contribute but I rarely watch our local forecast because I don't believe anything they say - I come on here instead :-)

[Bristawl Si]

Well, you can probably guess from the number of times the Bristol and West Country crowd refer to our local Beeb man, Ian Fergusson - his forecasts are a great mix of technical and easy to understand - IMO he has it spot on for ensuring he's not bamboozling those who like their forecasts simple and enough technical stuff to satisfy those of us who don't like a forecast dumbdowned too much.

And thru' his twitter account he's always answering and giving updates.

An ever increasing legend in these parts.

[Aaron]

RUBBISH.

Nah, Paul Hudson is a very smart man - lucky to have him, knows his stuff!

[A Winter's Tale]

Not sure - can be excellent at times and on other occasions average. Can be very useful in certain situations.

The only time I remember the Reporting Scotland forecast being very wrong was the snow event Dec 5/6 2010.

The main BBC tv forecast fluctuated from mentioning 20cm for Central Scotland to maybe a few cm then to not much. The BBC website showed snow from 6am-2pm (that's what happened).

The BBC Scotland TV forecast showed the front moving south over the highlands and disapearing before it reached the central belt and there was no mention of snow in the forecast.

[SunnySouthCoast]

Down here on BBC South Today, we have weather 'presenters' only, no fully qualified meteorologists. The forecasts are basically 'zoomed in' national forecasts, they don't appear to 'tweak' anything themselves. as for the presenters:

There is Alexis Green, probably the most clued up of the bunch, but that's not saying much.

Reham Khan, who used to present some obscure show on Legal TV, a satellite TV channel.

And finally Sarah Farmer, who used to be a news reader on ITV Meridian. She was put through a weather presenting course after which she presented the weather on Meridian, only to leave after a few months to join BBC South

ITV Meridian is far worse (apart from when true met legend Martyn Davies is presenting) we have to endure Simon Parkin, yes that one.

Edited February 9, 2012 by SunnySouthCoast

[Aaron]

I guess we're pretty lucky that on both regional ITV and BBC we have qualified meteorologists that actually know what they are talking about, and actually have access to a wide variety of weather models and historical data

Edited February 9, 2012 by Aaron

[Wynn D Woo]

Well, you can probably guess from the number of times the Bristol and West Country crowd refer to our local Beeb man, Ian Fergusson - his forecasts are a great mix of technical and easy to understand - IMO he has it spot on for ensuring he's not bamboozling those who like their forecasts simple and enough technical stuff to satisfy those of us who don't like a forecast dumbdowned too much.

And thru' his twitter account he's always answering and giving updates.

An ever increasing legend in these parts.

Luckily we do have Ian Fergusson, but unfortunately we also have those other muppets who seem to be there to make up BBC gender quotas - something I have noticed on other local BBC weather presentations recently. Why oh why cant people be employed on their abilities rather than ensuring gender quotas are met

[Thundery wintry showers]

I think in the North East and Cumbria we actually do quite well- all presenters have at least some meteorological background, and Hannah Bayman has posted on Net-weather on occasion. In the 1990s and early 2000s I always thought of the BBC regional forecasts as being significantly inferior to the national ones, but in recent years this has switched, and the North East/Cumbria local forecasts currently give a reasonable mix of technical and non-technical information, also showing more "background context" (temperature maps, pressure charts etc) than the national ones.

It does seem like it's very much the "luck of the draw" regarding regional presenters, though it is still a better situation than at ITV where there are very few genuine meteorologists (the North East's Bob Johnson was an honourable exception, but he retired about three years ago).

[lorenzo]

This link was on the most viewed yesterday, maybe influenced by learning so much on here yet this was dumbed down to the point of vagueness. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16954009

As for regional forecasts the only saving grace we have is the easy on the eye Ms Cubie !

Here is the list from the Beeb http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/hi/about/newsid_8480000/8480772.stm

I like Chris Fawkes reports on 5 live, seems to make sense a lot of the time.

[AWD]

Well, you can probably guess from the number of times the Bristol and West Country crowd refer to our local Beeb man, Ian Fergusson - his forecasts are a great mix of technical and easy to understand - IMO he has it spot on for ensuring he's not bamboozling those who like their forecasts simple and enough technical stuff to satisfy those of us who don't like a forecast dumbdowned too much.

And thru' his twitter account he's always answering and giving updates.

An ever increasing legend in these parts.

I will second that

[Stargazer]

As SunnySouthCoast says, BBC South only has 'presenters', so little chance of any in-depth analysis (except for the occasional appearance by the legendary Michael Fish). I'm in the overlap area with BBC London, where they also only have presenters for their short bulletins but fortunately often have Peter Cockcroft on their evening programmes, in complete contrast - but they really need to give him a little more time.

[trickydicky]

The North West forecasts are so bad I don't bother with them. The 3 female forecasters are all diabolical, I dont think they are in any way trained with regard to the weather. The only training anyone has given them is 'warm good, cold bad, ok'. Especially that Diane Oxbury who appears to be just some dolly bird (as in Mutton dressed as lamb rather than a genuine dolly bird) who is desperate to be on TV. Their forecasts are only accurate for the day the are on, the outlooks and 5 day bit fluctuate wildly every day.

BBC forecasts in general get right on my pit ends. Showing minimum temperatures for towns and citys is just ludicrously stupid. For a start, they aren't the minimum, and secondly, we don't all live in towns. It makes the presenters look abit daft too when they have to mention that in fact those numbers are crud and it will actually be much colder. I don't know who's idea this was, or why they had it, or why anybody else thought it would be a good idea, it is very annoying though. I also don't like the one colour sort of blue haze they use to indicate frost, which is the same colour if it is over Plymouth and Aviemore at the same time. Does that mean it is the same temperature in these places. I think the old contoured way of doing it was better and made more sense, as it showed the differences in temperature around the country, from the light greens on the coast, through to dark blue and -10 graphic in the Highlands. Its almost as if they, or someone, wants us to believe that the weather/temperature is essentially the same wherever you are, and rural areas don't count anyway so who cares.

I don't believe that the BBC/Met Office do this to try and in some obscure way prove global warming but you can see why people might.

[UV-RAY]

NW weather= complete joke. Not much too add unfortunately.

[damianslaw]

NW weather= complete joke. Not much too add unfortunately.

Yes I agree - there does seem to be a feeling hat cold is bad and mild is good even when mild means heavy rain and gales and flooding... cold and dry sunny weather is a real tonic in the depths of winter. Diane is the worst on this front. Eno gets here words mixed up all the time - she is terrible. Heather is ok, but nothing special.

[Thundery wintry showers]

Yes I agree - there does seem to be a feeling hat cold is bad and mild is good even when mild means heavy rain and gales and flooding... cold and dry sunny weather is a real tonic in the depths of winter. Diane is the worst on this front. Eno gets here words mixed up all the time - she is terrible. Heather is ok, but nothing special.

I can imagine that being a nightmare on the likes of the 18th January 2007- heavy rain, severe gales, flooding leading to some areas being cut off... but don't worry, at least it will be mild! By this measure, again, the local North East and Cumbria forecasters fare quite well, there are some "cold = bad, mild = good" vibes but only in moderation, which I can live with. It does seem that emphasis on value judgements and dumbing down are closely correlated.

Btw I've also seen Hannah Bayman's Twitter feeds on occasion and she certainly comes across as having a strong and genuine enthusiasm for the weather- it sounds like some of the North West presenters may be a different story though!

[Arctic Hare]

Midlands Today is not a hotbed of in-depth meteorology. Ben Rich is probably the pick, but that isn't saying much. Shefali Oza has done it for years, but is still unable to pick out important details with consistency. And there are a couple more whose names I can't even remember, because they're just so vague and unhelpful. I'd give a lot to have an Ian Fergusson in our neck of the woods. (Or rather, "our patch", as Shefali irritatingly always puts it.)

[AderynCoch]

The North West forecasts are so bad I don't bother with them. The 3 female forecasters are all diabolical, I dont think they are in any way trained with regard to the weather. The only training anyone has given them is 'warm good, cold bad, ok'. Especially that Diane Oxbury who appears to be just some dolly bird (as in Mutton dressed as lamb rather than a genuine dolly bird) who is desperate to be on TV. Their forecasts are only accurate for the day the are on, the outlooks and 5 day bit fluctuate wildly every day.

Dianne Oxberry's not that bad, she just has an annoying degree of atleastitwillbemilditis. Eno Eruotor on the other hand is hapless - she seems very affable in terms of personality, but also comes across as vacuous. Her BBC biography is quite revealing:

Eno forged her first career not in broadcasting, but in fashion... She made the move into broadcasting after watching Trinny and Susannah and thinking “I could do that!â€

http://www.bbc.co.uk/northwesttonight/content/articles/2008/11/05/eno_eruotor_feature.shtml

Digressing slightly, over on ITV Fred "The Weatherman" Talbot has become something of a regional treasure but his mild ramping makes Dianne look like Mr. Freeze from the Batman comics.

[Weather-history]

RUBBISH.

Nah, Paul Hudson is a very smart man - lucky to have him, knows his stuff!

He got it wrong last night! That front did not change direction and hit the Yorkshire region as he said. Our NW regional forecast suggested no such thing, so he comes across as a bit of a cold ramper to be honest.

Our regional forecasters are not brilliant and I rarely watch them.

[Weather-history]

those terrible 5 day forecast charts they show - .

..

The occasions that I have seen them they are really terrible. Only this week we had Heather saying turning just a little less cold and the 5 day temperatures were showing well above freezing minima and 10C maxima! I have even seen minima temperatures higher than the maxima! Lol!

[Evening thunder]

I'm not sure really, I don't always watch the forecasts but when David Braine does the Spotlight (SW regional news) forecasts it's decent enough I think, though occasionally you get 'replacements' doing it, the two I can think of are female and you can tell they don't really know anything.

I do notice with the forecasts night time temps can be predicted too low when it's breezy and/or cloudy, but too high when it's clear and calm, so perhaps they don't take breeziness into account enough. I also notice too that there tends to be a bias to the mildest temps in the outlook, for example last night I think it went for 7C and 6C maxima for today and tomorrow (I can't remember which way round). It's a bit like they give the region the Penzance forecast (although I looked at tomorrow on the MetO site and even the Scilly Isles are forecast 5C!). Overall I think it's ok when David Braine does it with an ok amount of detail and chart usage e.g synoptic charts

I also noticed on some of Mr Data's old forecasts he's been uploading David Braine did the national forecast sometimes.

[MP-R]

At the moment I rate the West Country forecast at a very low level!

[Andy Bown]

At the moment I rate the West Country forecast at a very low level!

Is that West Country BBC or ITV Mike?

[MP-R]

Is that West Country BBC or ITV Mike?

Well I've never been a fan of the ITV one but just at the moment I'm unhappy with the BBC forecasts, especially after this disappointing non-event.

[azores92]

midlands today is poor in my opinion. as arctic hare says ben rich is the pick of the bunch with a little improvisation from the graphics, but shefali sticks to the script too much, heavily following the met office! we now have a new girl with a strong scottish accent who i fear is another shefali in the making!