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Met Office

Added by Paul 16 January 2010 18:17

Ever since I've cycled almost every day I've been a little obsessed with the weather.

Therefore it has not escaped my attention that the Met Office do a pretty abysmal job of, well their job - predicting the weather.

From the BBC

The UK Met Office is debating what to do with its long-term and seasonal forecasting after criticism for failing to predict extreme weather.

I would agree with most of this sentiment - though I ponder the definition of 'long-term' and whether it is only the ability to predict extremes that are at fault.

In general I would say that the forecast beyond a few hours is about as much use as a chocolate dildo.

If it's impossible to do then I think they have a duty to say so. Stop pissing taxpayers money up the wall and let us doing the guessing instead - for free.

Simon Jessey on 17 January 2010 19:50

The UK Met Office is arguably the best in the world, and it manages to be so with far less funding than some of the foreign counterparts. Its responsibilities are extensive. Local, regional, national and global weather forecasting, climate change modelling and environmental analysis. To be inaccurate by 0.05% isn't all that bad, is it?

Paul on 17 January 2010 20:11

0.05%! My anus, as the kids rather revoltingly say these days.

They don't know their anenometer from their elbow.

The forecasts on the BBC are geniunely woeful. So much so on many occasions I've felt like writing a BBC weather tracker. I used to routinely complain until the cowards removed that functionality.

I have no problem with them not being able to forecast the weather; despite the fact that they are weather forecasters. I'd just like them to be honest - if your 5 day forecasts are sufficiently inaccurate to make them useless stop fucking making them. If you can only predict the next couple of hours with any certainty, let's have that and call it a day.

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