"Dave.C" wrote in message
. ..

I am praying this will be a hard winter, not for my usual selfish reasons,
but to spare Metcheque the most massive egg on face since MF "no
hurricane,
madam". !


Although he was of course correct, both for the UK and for the part of the
world to which he (and the lady) were referring.

'urban myths' ... why do I have to keep reading the MF myth even though I
live 'in the country' ... sigh.

Gianna

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This turned up in my e-mail via a financial site - Moneyextra whose
sponsored link FT.com contained the following gem.

"3. COVER UP THIS WINTER, PREPARE FOR THE BIG CHILL.
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It just goes to show that if something is said enough it becomes gospel -
hence the urban myth.
I am praying this will be a hard winter, not for my usual selfish reasons,
but to spare Metcheque the most massive egg on face since MF "no hurricane,
madam". !

Dave. Going balmy in S.Essex.

"Gianna Stefani" wrote in message
...
"Dave.C" wrote in message
. ..

I am praying this will be a hard winter, not for my usual selfish
reasons,
but to spare Metcheque the most massive egg on face since MF "no
hurricane, madam". !

Although he was of course correct, both for the UK and for the part of the
world to which he (and the lady) were referring.

'urban myths' ... why do I have to keep reading the MF myth even though I
live 'in the country' ... sigh.

Have your ever thought, Gianna, that Mike Fish's own
version might be the mythical one?

Here is the full transcript of the first part of his 1325z broadcast,
published in the Meteorological Office Report: The Storm of
15-16 October 1987, Met.O., December 1987, p 4.19:

"Good afternoon earlier on today apparently a woman rang the
BBC and said she heard that there was a hurricane on the way.
Well of you are watching don't worry, there isn't. But having said
that actually the weather will become very windy but most of
the strong winds incidentally will be down over Spain and across
France as well but there is a vicious looking area of low pressure
on our doorstep nevertheless, around the Brittany area and
that is going to head across the southeastern corner of the
country bringing if nothing else a lot of rain with it. On the
satellite picture you can see that there is of course a lot of
cloud as well as a lot of rain stretching right across Europe and
indeed most areas there are just as unsettled as we are having
some outbreaks of rain. That's the way the rainfall pattern is
looking at the moment, a lot of shading, a lot of rain across
many parts of Europe. Let's zoom in a little bit closer and
have a look at the British scene though, as you can see rain
is now further north left over from last nights weather system.
Now as I run the sequence you can see just how quickly the
rain comes up from France, affects many southern and eastern
areas and then eventually later on tonight clears on out of the
way and leaves us tomorrow in a fairly stiff run of westerly
winds bringing along quite a few showers."

[Spelling and punctuation as in the report's transcript]

Philip Eden

"Philip Eden" philipATweatherHYPHENukDOTcom wrote in message
...


Have your ever thought, Gianna, that Mike Fish's own
version might be the mythical one?

I'm sure I heard, probably on here, that there was no phone call ?

Jon.

"Dave.C" wrote in
:

It just goes to show that if something is said enough it becomes gospel
- hence the urban myth.
I am praying this will be a hard winter, not for my usual selfish
reasons, but to spare Metcheque the most massive egg on face since MF
"no hurricane, madam". !

I like to think that Piers Corbyn was the pioneer of "professional
meteorological crowing" with Weather Action. He was crowing about extreme
weather long before the advert of Metcheque etc..

It's a simple rule - crow about a forthcoming event a month off with lots of
hyperbole, then stay very quiet if nothing happens (as it does in the large
majority of occasions) and no-one will notice you - or double crow if it
comes off and then people say "oh yes, I remember that forecast".

Richard

"Philip Eden" philipATweatherHYPHENukDOTcom wrote in
:

"Good afternoon earlier on today apparently a woman rang the
BBC and said she heard that there was a hurricane on the way.
Well of you are watching don't worry, there isn't. But having said
that actually the weather will become very windy but most of
the strong winds incidentally will be down over Spain and across
France as well but there is a vicious looking area of low pressure
on our doorstep nevertheless, around the Brittany area and
that is going to head across the southeastern corner of the
country bringing if nothing else a lot of rain with it.

Seems as though from that they were thinking the track of the low would stay
further to the east with only the rain affecting the SE.

And of course it's worth mentioning Bill Giles' evening forecast only
stating "a bit breezy in the channel" even closer to the event.

Richard

"Jon O'Rourke" wrote in message ...
I'm sure I heard, probably on here, that there was no phone call ?
A few weeks back there was a piece by Michael to mark the end of his time
with the Met Office, played at the end of the One O'Clock News.

Apparently on that fateful day in 1987 the last story on the news had been
about a hurricane in Florida and someone at the BBC had asked him that she
was worried about her relatives out there, and would the hurricane reach
them? As far as I'm aware *that* was the woman asking about the hurricane,
and the hurricane referred to the USA rather than here in the UK!

Aah, to heck with it. I've just remembered there was a bit on the BBC
Website about it....

Here's the link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/bbcweat...987storm.shtml

or, if that wraps,

http://tinyurl.com/4dafs

will also get you there.

"Darren Prescott" wrote in message
...
"Jon O'Rourke" wrote in message ...
I'm sure I heard, probably on here, that there was no phone call ?
A few weeks back there was a piece by Michael to mark the end of his time
with the Met Office, played at the end of the One O'Clock News.

Apparently on that fateful day in 1987 the last story on the news had been
about a hurricane in Florida and someone at the BBC had asked him that she
was worried about her relatives out there, and would the hurricane reach
them? As far as I'm aware *that* was the woman asking about the hurricane,
and the hurricane referred to the USA rather than here in the UK!

As I was saying ...

pe

"Richard Dixon" wrote in message
. 1.4...
"Dave.C" wrote in
:

It just goes to show that if something is said enough it becomes gospel
- hence the urban myth.
I am praying this will be a hard winter, not for my usual selfish
reasons, but to spare Metcheque the most massive egg on face since MF
"no hurricane, madam". !

I like to think that Piers Corbyn was the pioneer of "professional
meteorological crowing" with Weather Action. He was crowing about extreme
weather long before the advert of Metcheque etc..

It's a simple rule - crow about a forthcoming event a month off with lots of
hyperbole, then stay very quiet if nothing happens (as it does in the large
majority of occasions) and no-one will notice you - or double crow if it
comes off and then people say "oh yes, I remember that forecast".

Richard

As someone used to say to me 15 years ago, "keep up the good work but don't
expect all the rewards in this life" - think about it.

Will.
--

Apologies for all that other stuff that got sent. The cut and paste didn't
work properly but it looks as though most of you got to the Metcheck
reference!

Dave