Met Office loses BBC contract

[Kursk]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

We now live in a global economy. The parochial approach does not give the consumer the best deal. Nationalism and protectionism are so last century...

You may sneer. I would rather pay more as a consumer to preserve home grown industry than make a fast buck. Our dairy farmers will be next to go down the Swanee unless we get behind them and support them for their hard graft. Call me old-fashioned but I'd rather rely on them.

[Kabaal]

Originally Posted by OLD BOY

Quite. I am constantly amazed at the forecasts that come out of the Met Office. I look at the computer generated synoptic charts and I tell my friends what I think the weather will be like and then I'm alarmed by the forecast on the BBC News. Almost every time, my forecast is either spot on or essentially right and the Met Office are wrong. Furthermore, they change the forecast for a few days ahead on a daily basis.

That's exactly why i started using our local weather station's website a few years back. They are pretty much bang on with the forecasts every day while the met office only ever get it right in hindsight, when they update the page in the evening the days temp for example magically jumps from the forecasted 15C to the actual 22C it was. I wouldn't mind the odd time getting it wrong but they get it wrong almost every day when small weather stations without their resources can get it right most of the time.

[Mr K]

Have to disagree I find the Met Office by far the most accurate of forecasters. Yesterday they were right within the hour of when rain would start and stop, such accuracy 10 years ago you wouldn't have got. They'll never always get it right, the UK weather is very difficult to predict but I find them mostly right up to a week ahead. Anything beyond that is educated guesswork.

People like a whinge and love stories about weather in the tabloids. e,g hottest summer coming, next ice age arriving - these are usually sourced from cowboy 'forecasters' who know they'll never be brought to account and just make it up to make money. Hope the BBC aren't turning to these guys.

Predicting the weather invariably requires huge computing power to factor in all the different variables and patterns occurring at any one time. It's not something that can be easily replicated...

[papa smurf]

BBC decision to abandon the Met Office for foreign rival poses national 'security threat': Forecaster's key role advising military could be hit by loss of income, warn MPs

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[denphone]

Don't believe all you read in the Daily Fail old boy.