This discussion has been closed.
Posted by Points Aspew (U15499870) on Sunday, 13th January 2013
.. the point has just been made elsewhere, and I have checked and confirmed, that the weather report on the tv is different to that on the website.
Eh???
, in reply to message 1.
Posted by Essential Rabbit (U3613943) on Sunday, 13th January 2013
It's frequently different on the red button forecast as well.
You pays y'money, you takes your choice.
It's a waste of money
It's the Digital age don't you know? We have multiple forecasts to go with the multitude of TV channels and Internet websites
I noticed the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's forecasts were suggesting snow wasnt going to come any further than the Oxford area yet the MET office website was showing light snow at 03:00 geting a bit heavier around 06:00 to 09:00 for Reading, Berks - well we have had about half an inch of snow so far so the MEt's site wins . However, I thought the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú based their forecasts on the MET's forecasts?
Hi Grouchyman
The Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú meteorologists write their own weather forecasts based on the data supplied to them by the Met Office.
Weather FAQ and contact info here
There should at least be some sort of uniformity that promotes trust. If an aged person relied on the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú to provide them with an accurate service in cold weather and if a life was lost as a result of the information not being as accurate and as uniformed as possible, there would be hell to pay and yet more needless expensive 'enquiries', apologies and promises, and complaints that the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿ÚX was not the organisation it used to be.
It shouldn't be difficult to get everyone in the same room to present an informed, credible and (ahem) common front.
It's the Digital age don't you know? We have multiple forecasts to go with the multitude of TV channels and Internet websites
I noticed the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú's forecasts were suggesting snow wasnt going to come any further than the Oxford area yet the MET office website was showing light snow at 03:00 geting a bit heavier around 06:00 to 09:00 for Reading, Berks - well we have had about half an inch of snow so far so the MEt's site wins . However, I thought the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú based their forecasts on the MET's forecasts? Ìý
Well this morning on the regional news weather, for the Midlands it said that the west side of the Midlands i.e. Hereford/Worcester would have had rain, strange I was sitting looking out of my window at about 2 inches of snow in Worcestershire then.
I'll grant them it did start sleeting/raining whilst I drove to work,, but there was deinitely the white stuff falling from around 11pm last night and some more in the early hours, which amounted to a good covering by 7.a.m..
Wasn't that forecast correct then.. you silly sausage?
As long as it said the same thing across the board, that's be fine!
This is only meant in a lighthearted way so please ignore me if offended, but.......
the Recent Discussions this morning reads:-
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú weather..
Pointless
Wasn't that forecast correct then.. you silly sausage?
As long as it said the same thing across the board, that's be fine!Ìý
No it wasn't correct, you silly suasage , because we had, had snow, and they said we would have rain only!!!!
, in reply to message 11.
Posted by Points Aspew (U15499870) on Monday, 14th January 2013
Oh, you ARE a funny, delightful most simple thing
Did the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú say you'd have 'rain only'. I'm sure you saw clouds as well, but the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú doesn't have to say 'Cloud only' does it? You little poppet, you
I don't understand why they don't show pressure values on the forecast maps. They display the isobars and often say something like "you can see from how packed the isobars are just how windy it'll be) - but we need values! There's nowhere else on the TV info pages that indicates pressures, so if you don[t have internet access there's no way of knowing what the pressure values are. So many people now have weather forecasting devices that require the pressure value to be initialised, so it'd be useful to have the numbers shown on the forecast map isobars.
Oh, you ARE a funny, delightful most simple thing
Did the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú say you'd have 'rain only'. I'm sure you saw clouds as well, but the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú doesn't have to say 'Cloud only' does it? You little poppet, you Ìý
I bet it kills you to have to be polite
I don't understand why they don't show pressure values on the forecast maps. They display the isobars and often say something like "you can see from how packed the isobars are just how windy it'll be) - but we need values! There's nowhere else on the TV info pages that indicates pressures, so if you don[t have internet access there's no way of knowing what the pressure values are. So many people now have weather forecasting devices that require the pressure value to be initialised, so it'd be useful to have the numbers shown on the forecast map isobars.Ìý
Many people do not understand the pressure values - that's why they're not used generally in the forecast.
If you want to know them, they are on the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú weather website.
, in reply to message 14.
Posted by Points Aspew (U15499870) on Monday, 14th January 2013
Don't be a silly billy.
Regards. Hope that helps. Yours sincerely.
I bet it kills you to have to be polite Ìý
.. the point has just been made elsewhere, and I have checked and confirmed, that the weather report on the tv is different to that on the website.
Eh???
Ìý
Why don't they just get Jeremy Paxman to read the weather like this? It would save so much time.
Thanks for that link Sam, and I agree with you.
, in reply to message 18.
Posted by Onslow The Cat (U13672446) on Monday, 14th January 2013
Then again Peta could combine the thread with this one.
I'm not sure why the weather is on two boards, but it is obviously a popular topic given the *weather* outside in my neck of the woods
I don't understand why they don't show pressure values on the forecast maps. They display the isobars and often say something like "you can see from how packed the isobars are just how windy it'll be) - but we need values! There's nowhere else on the TV info pages that indicates pressures, so if you don[t have internet access there's no way of knowing what the pressure values are. So many people now have weather forecasting devices that require the pressure value to be initialised, so it'd be useful to have the numbers shown on the forecast map isobars.Ìý
Many people do not understand the pressure values - that's why they're not used generally in the forecast.
If you want to know them, they are on the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú weather website. Ìý
And for those without internet access (as I mentioned in my post) ... ?
I suggest that if "many people do not understand the pressure values" then they're not going to understand the unexplained lines (isobars) either. OK, they're 'explained' to the extent that a presenter will sometimes say that the closer the lines are together the windier it'll be. Presumably this is intended to educate the viewer into being able to interpret (albeit to a not too technical level) the lines on the map. So, if the numbers were included in the lines (as they used to be in the days of Bert Ward, etc.), then the viewer could be similarly educated to understand what constitutes high and low pressures. This is quite simple, really - standard pressure is 29.92 ins of Mercury or 1013.25 millibars. The old Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú weather maps used to include the figure in millibars; so once people become familiar with the idea that 1013 is the 'middle' value, as it were, then they'd quickly be able to determine whether high or low pressure is being forecast.
On the other hand, I suppose the Beeb probably has a vested interest in keeping its 'customers' in the dark.
, in reply to message 20.
Posted by puppydogeyes (U14659366) on Tuesday, 15th January 2013
What vested interest would that be?
I am intrigued.
As you say, they regularly explain that when the bars are closer together it's going to be windy.
21 million people in the UK - about 80 % - now have internet access, so the remainder can do what they've presumably always done, perhaps they look at the weather forecast in the newspaper.
I'm interested in the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ús vested interest too. It's all a plot I tell you!
On the other hand, I suppose the Beeb probably has a vested interest in keeping its 'customers' in the dark.Ìý
Yes, just to justify the jobs of the weather team! Maybe...
, in reply to message 1.
Posted by Percy Pillock (U15368740) on Wednesday, 16th January 2013
I think the best way we can show our respect for the multifarious nature of Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú meteorology is to gather round together and watch Carol Kirkwood's A- - Z of TV Gardening.
It's what a Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú weather presenter is for!
As you say, they regularly explain that when the bars are closer together it's going to be windy.
21 million people in the UK - about 80 % - now have internet access, so the remainder can do what they've presumably always done, perhaps they look at the weather forecast in the newspaper.
I'm interested in the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ús vested interest too. It's all a plot I tell you! Ìý
You're not serious ... ?!
So the UK population is 26,250,000, is it ... ?
And to hear a Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú bod saying "they can do what they they've always done" takes some swallowing. Why can't EVERYONE, then, "do what they've always done" and look in the paper? Think of the money you'd save if you didn't have to produce those patronising forecasts ("Do wrap up well"/"take care"/"take a brolly"/"drive carefully"!).
I should have said 'households' and not 'people'
Source: Office of National Statistics
Key points
In 2012, 21 million households in Great Britain (80 per cent) had Internet access, compared with 19 million (77 per cent) in 2011.
The number of households with Internet access has increased by 7.1 million (23 percentage points) since 2006, when directly comparable records began.
In 2012, 93 per cent of households with Internet access used a fixed broadband connection, of which 30 per cent used a cable or fibre optic connection.
Of the 5.2 million households without Internet access, the most common reason for not having a connection was that they 'did not need it' (54 per cent).
In 2012, 67 per cent of adults in Great Britain used a computer every day.
Get all the tables for this publication in the data section of this publication .
My response was about not showing isobar information in the main weather forecasts. The information is available online, but not in the main forecasts.
The people who would like isobar information have the choice of looking in the paper, where presumably they've always accessed this information - if it's something they feel they very much want to access - and they are not online.
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú weather forecasts and Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú online weather information is watched and accessed by a very large percentage of the population, so TV and web weather forecasts are presumably something that most people would like the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú to continue doing.
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú weather forecasts and Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú online weather information is watched and accessed by a very large percentage of the population, so TV and web weather forecasts are presumably something that most people would like the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú to continue doing.Ìý
Back up on this thread I said it is a waste of money. Well, I should have added "in its present format".
I was meaning the weather forecasting is a waste of money and in its present format it seems too repetitive.
Some of the forecasts go on for far too long. We get the local forecast and that is the only one we really watch and take note of. The rest are just like wallpaper, without being muted that is.
Still, if all of the forecasts are what the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú think is best then who are we to say anything? The licence fee payers, that's who! Our money goes round everywhere, ad infinitum (yes, I looked it up!)
, in reply to message 28.
Posted by Pancho Wilkins (U1158194) on Monday, 21st January 2013
Changes in atmospheric pressure can cause headaches for some, or feeling "under the weather" Mentioning the air pressure in weather reports seems a useful additonal piece of information, without getting too tekkie about it?
, in reply to message 2.
Posted by Essential Rabbit (U3613943) on Tuesday, 22nd January 2013
It's frequently different on the red button forecast as well.Ìý
Both yesterday and today, the broadcast forecast for my area is completely different to the red button forecast, yet they are both produced by the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú weather centre from Met. Office data.
I can't imagine how this descrepancy can arise.
I don't suppose any Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú weather people read this message board, but if one happens across it, could you please explain which forecast is the most reliable, because they can't both be right.
You might considering contacting them directly with your query
Here's a link
, in reply to message 31.
Posted by Essential Rabbit (U3613943) on Tuesday, 22nd January 2013
It turns out to be an unimportant academic question.
One of them predicted light overcast with sunny periods.
The other, heavy overcast and light rain.
We are, in fact, experiencing very heavy snow.
It's a good job I stopped relying on them to help make my plans, years ago.
That's strange - I've just re-watched yesterday's weather forecast online here
And at 01.00 into the broadcast on the map and again at 1.30 verbally they're predicting snow for Wales, which is where I think you said that you live?
At the end of the forecast in 'the boxes' at 2.25, they again show snow for Cardiff.
The forecaster also adds that it's going to a be a particularly 'difficult one to call' for today, so in predicting it they seem to have done rather well.
So, there you have it, Rabbit - they know where you live!
PS: It was Geroge Orwell Day yesterday.
Unfortunately my knowing Essential's location is down to him saying where he lived in a previous posting - rather than my own personal physic powers or a network of spies tracking message board users.
I can dream though...
, in reply to message 33.
Posted by Essential Rabbit (U3613943) on Tuesday, 22nd January 2013
And at 01.00 into the broadcast on the map and again at 1.30 verbally they're predicting snow for Wales, which is where I think you said that you live?
At the end of the forecast in 'the boxes' at 2.25, they again show snow for Cardiff.Ìý
I live in the far west of Wales, more than a hundred miles from Cardiff, with completely different climatic conditions.
I can assure you that the snow forecast came nowhere near us.
Last week, we *were* included in Friday's (?) threat of very heavy snow throughout South Wales, and we got zilch.
, in reply to message 36.
Posted by St Maddenus Hairy Chested Hunk (U14314874) on Tuesday, 22nd January 2013
"watch Carol Kirkwood's A- - Z of TV Gardening. "
Is that a really odd euphemism? if so she certainly does have a couple of large gardens...
I like Wendy Hurrell, I think she is so cute....
, in reply to message 36.
Posted by Essential Rabbit (U3613943) on Wednesday, 23rd January 2013
And here we go again Peta.
Since about ten o'clock we have experienced extremely heavy snow, by far the worst of the winter over here.
Yet no mention on the website or the red button, and the last News channel forecast merely mentioned the possiblity of light snow flurries.
Let alone being incapable of forecasting the weather accurately, they don't even appear to know what the current situation is.
Hopeless!
Forecast Video
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Wales Today - snow forecast
LAST UPDATED 06:22, WEDNESDAY 23 JAN
And additional weather warnings for your area.
UK Warnings
Weather Warning
YELLOW WARNING of SNOW for parts of Wales, the southwest Midlands and southwest England.
Further outbreaks of sleet or snow will affect parts of Wales and southwest England through today.
A further 2-5 cm is likely in places with perhaps as much as 10 cm over high ground.
, in reply to message 39.
Posted by Essential Rabbit (U3613943) on Wednesday, 23rd January 2013
The forecast you have linked to if for CARDIFF. The weather warnings only mention "parts of Wales".
Wales is quite a large place, in fact as large as the area of tropical rain forest felled every year.
I'm nowhere near Cardiff, in fact I'm almost as far away from Cardiff as you are.
When the snow here was at it's heaviest, I looked at three different Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú weather forecasts. Two mentioned no snow at all anywhere near me, the other just light snow flurries.
It's now been five hours and as many centimetres, that's some light flurry.
No matter how you try to defend it, the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú weather forecast is so inaccurate that it is of no use.
ER, we have a similar forecast for 'Scotland' which is also a big place with varying weather conditions over many hundreds of miles.
no snow where I am...haven't even seen a flake yet - what's all the fuss about?
You might find your local Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú radio station to be of more help then, or put the name of your town or nearest town into the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú website forecast, that may help you achieve more accuracy on the forecast for your precise area.
In order to be able to comment in future, perhaps you might tell us your nearest big town too? Are you in a valley or on high ground?
, in reply to message 42.
Posted by Essential Rabbit (U3613943) on Wednesday, 23rd January 2013
or put the name of your town or nearest town into the Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú website forecastÌý
That's what I did, and where I got no mention of snow. It was not until 4.30 on the News channel that I heard a forecast of heavy snow for West Wales, some six and a half hours after it began.
And the red button forecast has only recently been altered to forecast just *light* snow somewhat closer than Cardiff, but still not for this area.
In order to be able to comment in future, perhaps you might tell us your nearest big town too? Are you in a valley or on high ground?Ìý
I live a few miles from the West Wales coast, somewhere behind the weather presenter's left hand*, where heavy snow is not usually to be expected, hence a bit of warning would have been helpful.
* It would be great if they could occasionally present from the other side of the green screen, so you lot could experience the joy of only catching glimpses of your bit during the animation.
I do recall national Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú TV forecasters on Monday night (Louise Lear and Alex Deakin I think) stressing the amount of uncertainty involved in predicting if/where/how much/for how long snow would fall on Tuesday night. Presumably taking account of Met Office info, they seemed unwilling to be pinned down to simply saying "we are expecting more snow tonight in parts of south west and western England and Wales". In fact, whilst I noted the unusual caution, I was a little uncertain about why there was the uncertainty and about what aspects of the likely precipitation they were particularly uncertain about.
Did Derek Brockway - he of 'Weatherman Walking' fame - or whoever gave the 6.55 pm forecast on Wales Today yesterday also fail to mention snowfall in the Pembrokeshire area?
In fact, a couple of newspapers (the Sun and the Express so not the most reliable) referred to a 'snow bomb' - because of the amount of snowfall within a short space of time in the Somerset area (the widespread falls of Friday, Sunday and Monday - though sizeable - fell over many hours). I gather that there have been some very heavy local accumulations, though not entirely from the Tuesday-Wednesday event, in Somerset, Devon, the Bristol area, Glos, Hereford and Worcester and much of southern Wales.
By the standards of recent decades the last 12 days have produced harsh winter weather, with particularly low DAYTIME maximum temperatures - on a par with 1991, 1995-96, 2009, early 2010 or late 2010 - though (unlike in say 1986, 1963 or 1947) this harsh spell looks like ending after 'just' two weeks). One reason for the harshness is of course that early/mid January is statistically the coldest period of the year.
, in reply to message 44.
Posted by Essential Rabbit (U3613943) on Wednesday, 23rd January 2013
Did Derek Brockway - he of 'Weatherman Walking' fame - or whoever gave the 6.55 pm forecast on Wales Today yesterday also fail to mention snowfall in the Pembrokeshire area?Ìý
I didn't see it Ashley.
Nobody I spoke to today was expecting it, and as I said above, the first mention I heard on the national forecast was at 4.30, far too late.
Watching the news now, it's caused chaos over here.
Brockway comments here (not yet read):
Derek Brockway seems to agree with you Essential!
(thanks for the link AshleyHR)
I hope the weather (and the forecast) improves for you soon..
--------------------
Analysis: Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Wales meteorologist Derek Brockway
The heavy snow today taken us by surprise. The forecast hasn't gone according to plan.
I said earlier in the week that snow is the hardest thing to predict. We can't be right all the time, and sometimes mother nature has a few tricks up her sleeve.
continues on the page
Unfortunately my knowing Essential's location is down to him saying where he lived in a previous posting - rather than my own personal physic powers or a network of spies tracking message board users.
I can dream though...
Ìý
Hmm ...
A few years ago I was invited by Radio Five Live's Victoria Derbyshire show to be an audience member at an outside broadcast she was going to do in the run-up to a general election (probably 2005). Although I was a correspondent with the show for certain topics, I know for certain that I'd never indicated (nor stated directly) where I lived ...
So I KNOW you people have knowledge of where we contact you from.
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