Thanks all for the suggestions, being 'old school' I much prefer the
raw synop data rather than the metars. Still, better than nothing.

Dave L

"Martin Rowley" wrote in
message ...

"Keith (Southend)G" wrote in message
ups.com...
Thanks Martin, I'll have a full read of that later and I don't
disagree
about things must move on.
What I did look for straight away was the ';schedule' and from what I
can see the completion of this migration programme is November 2010
(Page 30)

... which means we ought to see things happening fairly soon now. The
UKMO are actively seeking to upgrade data collection & dissemination
and this would dovetail with the changes. Whether some 'looky-likey'
code would be output for those NWS's that can't handle the BUFR/CREX
format I don't know, but even that would have a limited lifetime -
what usually happens is that 'developed' nations help the less
fortunate to catch up so that all can migrate to the new procedures.

I don't know if Julian (and former colleagues in Exeter) is/are
looking in, but this would make a good article for 'Weather' by
someone in the Met Office?

Martin.