Weather Banter - View Single Post

Graham P Davis · March 7th 08, 05:08 PM posted to uk.sci.weather

wrote:

On Mar 7, 2:10*pm, "Norman" wrote:

Perhaps the next step is to withdraw all the humans :-)

... not as fanciful as you might suppose. I was a minor factotum in
the Met Office many years back now, when the then Chief Executive
(about 4 back I think .. but I've lost count), actually circulated,
for management eyes only, a long-term vision which included the aim of
passing forecast data direct from machine to user, no humans in
between. Bearing in mind that at the time we couldn't envisage the
wholesale closure of the Weather Centre network, I suggest the end of
the 'man-machine' mix may not be delayed indefinitely.

The vast majority of forecasts have been transmitted direct from machine to
user for many years. There were odd Canute-like attempts by management to
stem the advancing tide of automation during the past thirty years but
manual intervention could only affect a few of the 70-odd thousand
automatic products broadcast each day.

When I started programming in the Met Office thirty years ago there'd
already been attempts to produced an automated shipping forecast.

--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks., UK. E-mail: newsman, not newsboy.
"What use is happiness? It can't buy you money." [Chic Murray, 1919-85]