"Mike Tullett" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 27 May 2005 22:31:47 GMT, Roger Smith wrote in


Thanks Mike and Will. I am not convinced (warm air over Ben Nevis?) so we
shall wait and see. Why not just show the mountain areas? (Shh...)

The BBC website does in fact explain with these words:

"What do 'wind charts' show?
Our wind charts show computer generated arrows illustrative of the expected
wind speed and direction at the time shown. The larger the arrows, the
stronger the winds. The colours indicate whether the wind will bring colder
or warmer air, and range from blue (cold) to white and orange (warm). Find
out more about wind arrows."

Then on another page I saw this:

"On both website and television forecasts, once the speed of the wind
reaches a certain strength, the wind arrows will not increase in size. On
the website, this speed is 35; on television, this speed is 45mph"

Taken from

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/bbcweat...d_arrows.shtml

So a 70mph wind will look identical to one of 35mph on the web and 45 on
the TV!!


Which just goes to show that those graphics were designed by people with the
weather intelligence of chimpanzees (sorry chimps but you know what I mean!).
Damage caused to structures increases with the square of the wind and a mean
wind of 50 mph (not uncommon in winter) will do circa twice as much damage as a
mean wind of 35 mph. Also why have the scale different on the TV to the web ? To
confuse people perhaps or because of some programming convenience ?

Will.
--

" Forget the BBC, visit www.metoffice.gov.uk for UK weather information "
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