BBC Weather - Joke!

[savageseadog]

I saw today a report on the tornado in B'ham, then followed the weather, Newsreader "Now heres the weather, can you explain these tornado events?" This then q'ed the girl to explain how the rain fell over b'ham when this tornado hit, no mention of the steady wind speeds there or the 35 knots plus gusts were having around NW coasts. I feel it is now in fact so serious something should be done...
Licence Fee is paid for the BBC service we seem to get less and less the weather a prime example. The once excellent forecast from the BBC weather centre gone down the heads!. The lines I’ve been reading from the BBC "Oh people were confused by the old graphics" I honestly have to wonder what a nation of dumbasses they must think we are. The next line "The wind will feature only when it’s a major factor in the weather" now, sailor or not I think the wind is always a major factor in anyone’s weather. And remember what I said at first!

BBC weather has gone from providing a full, comprensive picture of the weather systems and patterns, fronts and rain, to in the same time frame managing to tell us weather or not were going to get wet, which to be honest is useless!

Has anyone in fact noticed when these new BBC models do predict the wind and they bother to tell us with either sparse direction arrows or complete meaningless block arrows it is always totally underestimated, in fact often you'll see the Met Office forecasts complete at odds.

The synoptic charts provided in those forecasts gave the best impressions of how the weather was going to develop, with a TV on board it was loads better than the shipping forecasts and navtex forecasts. I remember on the weekends everyone in the SC huddled around the TV waiting for the weather, now a lot of people are so out of touch, it is quite frankly dangerous.

Hell if you’re too thick to understand the basics of weather then there’s always ITV and channel 5. If you press the red button, and look at the summarys there, no mention of the wind what so ever!
/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[savageseadog]

[No message]

 

[JonA]

The weather was best presented on BBC TV back in the sixties and seventies when the synoptic and forecast charts were shown and explained by the presenter. We were being educated by the broadcast as well as being informed. With each "improvement" in presentation technology the message has become more obscured. The dumming down of the presentation has effectively offset the improvement in weather forecasting over the years.
Jonathan

 

[Bodach na mara]

In the local paper here, some professional criticism of the new forecast style (by fishermen) was met by the comment that you could and should get better forecasts on the internet! No-one should put to sea relying only on the TV forecast etc. Strangely enough, I do not sail trailing 80 miles of phone extension cable to enable me to access my broadand service.

Now call me what you like, but I can get more from a five second glance at a synoptic chart than I can from a much longer verbal description of the weather. I liked the old wind symbols as well, even if they were not completely reliable.

 

[fireball]

Keep up with the times - you should have a wireless box and card for that sort of length! ... Now, if you can do wireless shorepower as well, that would be worth having!

 

[BrendanS]

To be fair, it was an extreme weather event for the UK, so a good chance to explain why it happened, as an educational item. The mayhem it caused made it clear it was not normal in the UK, with cars and roofs thrown far and wide.

The old weather forecasting from the 60's and 70's was not clear to all. It was only through having a father that could explain isobars and fronts made it clear, and even then it was only when I took up flying and boating, and underwent training in met, that I understood a fraction of those charts. The majority of the population, who pay the majority of the BBC fees, have no interest or understanding of that sort of forecast, they just want to know if it will be rainy or sunny next day, and they deserve that sort of simple information.

As boaters, and educated people, we have vast sources of information available to use, that suit our needs

 

[peterb]

BBC Weather

There used to be (maybe still is) a monthly astronomy programme called "The Sky at Night". It gave a presentation of some aspect of astronomy that was significant that month.

Now astronomy is certainly a minority interest. Weather, however, is famously a topic for conversation in the UK, not just for minority interests such as yachting, camping, fishing etc., but also for the population in general. So I suggested to the BBC (some years ago) that a programme on "Sky at Night" lines, bringing out major features of the month's weather, (perhaps with simple animations to explain highs, lows, fronts, sea breezes etc) might find a ready audience. The reply? "We don't think that there would be much interest in such a specialised subject."

I still reckon it would be a good idea.

 

[BrendanS]

Re: BBC Weather

Don't you already have that here in Simons' musings? Where he post some aspects of current weather postings, and muses on the causes? Or do you simply not read them. I'm sure there are enough postings to cover almost everyones interests, the problem is that few read them unless interested in the first place

 

[Brian_B]

I've been writing to the BBC for months about the dumbing down of the weather forecast.

Any correspondence that mentions weather must just get flushed down the toilet as I've never had even an acknowledgement.

My main bone of contention is the removal of the Atlantic pressure chart. I've suggested that they show a synoptic chart once an hour on the News24 forecast, no response.

Don't laugh but this is a quite from the BBC weather site: "A pressure, or synoptic, chart can tell a Meteorologist a lot about the weather situation at a glance - where high or low pressure systems are, how close together the isobars are, where weather fronts are and what type of fronts they are"

My suggestion on the BBC forum yesterday was that they cancel all TV forecasts as all they now show is where they think it will rain. This would leave space for more program trailers.

It saddens me to see highly qualified meteorologists reduced to standing in front a background saying showers and giving a sub 10 second forecast. They must be a dying breed.

 

[bigmart]

I suspect that the reason that TV forecasts give so little information is driven by the Met Office.

Have you noticed how the Met Office website tries to bury the basic pressure Charts & forecasts to make them harder to search out.

I think this is because they are mounting a campaign to drive anyone, who needs good information, to pay for Weather Forecasts.

Yet another back door Tax for a service that we already pay for!

Martin /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[pappaecho]

Absolutely agree. My weather report for Lee on Solent, which is where the Solent Coastguard reside, indicated this week, winds of 8 knots.
The inshore weather forecast also from the BBC, indicated up to 32 knots, and looking at the Bramblenet weather station on the Brambles, mid Solent, there were gust up to 38 knots.
Today we were promised NW winds and heavy showers, and we got SW winds and no rain at all.
Seems they rely on computer predictions, and have forsaken the idea that if you are upwind a given weather patten will come down wind in the time it takes for the given wind to get the weather front there!

 

[Oldhand]

I notice on this evening's early BBC TV national forecast "chart" they have slipped in a few wind speed/direction icons - without any comment on them. Has the start of Cowes Week made them think about their lack of windspeed data, or has all the moaning had some effect? Perhaps it is the Birmingham tornado that has woken them up...

 

[Rustyknight]

I have to disagree about the met office website trying to "bury" pressure charts and forecasts. From the home page, and in a prime posistion, are links to surface pressure charts for the next 84 hours, and both shipping and inshore forecasts.

As for the BBC, many years ago in the Channel Islands, I bought a 3 inch LCD TV, which ran on either 12V boat supply, or internal batteries, expressly for watching the BBC synoptic charts and weather whilst on the boat, as an aid to planning. Oh how I wish now I'd saved the money!

 

[bob_tyler]

Since the Met Office moved down West to Exeter to Bracknell the forecasts for the West Country have become considerably less accurate.

The don't look out of the windows!!!

 

[richardabeattie]

Anybody remember the name of the Dutch site that displays the Bracknell synoptic charts? - I had it and lost it in a computer change.

 

[Rustyknight]

This one maybe?

HERE

 

[bob_tyler]

Mike,

That is the most useful weather forecast site I have seen on the net. I never knew it existed. 5 days of forecast charts. I have bookmarked it end entered the URL in my log. I don't carry a computer on board but will try to get the info in an internet cafe en route before setting off.

Thanks for the info. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Bob

 

[ex-Gladys]

Also try this: Theyr

 

[bob_tyler]

Very useful site - I've bookmarked this too. Thanks Larry

 

[DRW]

Hi,

If you have used the Solent forecast being transmitted by Solent CG, there is a feedback form. Well worth filling out to help improve the delivery of the met office info, and perhaps a good place to air the discrepencies you note in the product the CG are buying from the met office.

Link is - http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga-safety...asts_solent.htm