Weather forcasts

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Petercatterall

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Just comparing the BBC 5 day forcast with that on the Accuweather.com site.
For Conwy and Liverpool on tue 8th Nov.
The BBC indicates wind in the mid twenties and Accuweather shows speeds below 10 (all MPH) the directions agree.
Could it be that the BBC show maximum speeds and Accuweather show average constant speed (the Accuweather forcast does show gusts of a similar order to the BBCs speeds.

Any advice on this or are there better forcasts to be had.??

Regards
 
I am afraid that I simply dont believe the BBC wind forecast any more. I suspect that the original data in the met office is sound, but somewhere along the line, "margin" is added. Probably to avoid criticism if the wind turns out to be stronger than the original forecast. If it turns out to be less, then they might think that there will be no ground for complaint, I suppose.

I like theyr.net for wind prediction, and also xcweather.net They seem to be generally lower than the BBC wind predictions, which fits in with the "nanny" theory.
 
I agree that the BBC forecasts are pants.
I have tracked the Plymouth 5 day forecast and noted the changes each day and compared it with the actual weather and came to the conclusion that the BBC reports should be shown with the equivalent of a health warning.

I have since been referred to www.windguru.com which is a site for windsurfers. (Apologies if this has been mentioned on this forum before).
There is a free access part of the site which gives wind speeds and wave heights etc for selected areas around the country.
 
Thanks guys for the response on this. The two sites you recomend plus the Accu weather site appear to be in reasonable correlation regarding wind strength and direction.
The BBC is way off (always high) I take the point that the Beeb is for land stations but I had put in the nearest coastal town and with wind onshore I would have expected near similarity?
Thanks again.
 
I have found windguru pretty good over the short range, but no less innacurate than the rest over 4+ days. I think he uses the same model as the met office etc. It is almost the only site that gives swell height predictions though, which I use an indication of sea state.
Theyr is unique in using a completely different model to the met office, so it is always worth a look. It's only 3 days ahead unfortunately, but then if the weather is getting interesting, given the current state of knowledge, anything more than 24 hours is bordering on fantasy anyway. You still have to go a long way to beat the the met office inshore waters forecast.
 
The problem the BBC has, and it's the Met office who supply the info, is that the forecast is for a large area. Where you are there are numerous channels narrowing and widening that can slow down the wind or funnel it to a greater speed. This site:

http://www.greatweather.co.uk/

gives you the geostrophic scales, applicable latitudes and resultant gusts enabling you to work out approx force, which you can relate to where you are. By watching your barometer , the sky for cloud formations and using weather charts you will in time assess the weather for yourself to what is going to be relevant to you in your area.

I just reread your post and see you refer to the 5-day forecast, which is as already stated mainly for land. There is a whole new set of figures for multiplying wind speeds at coastal stations to discover wind speed at sea this can be by up to two and a half times by night and 1.1 to 2.0 during the day. I take it you have sight of the BBC coastal info on

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast/shipping/index.shtml

Hope this is of some help and we are not at cross purposes.

BOL
 
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