In article ,
Graham P Davis writes:
On 05/02/12 12:13, Liam Steele wrote:
On 05/02/12 07:08, Graham P Davis wrote:
. . . showed a table of snow depths that she said were from Met Office
stations this morning where the top depth was 16cm from Church Fenton.
She then said it was probably due to drifting. Nice of her to criticise
her colleagues on breakfast TV.

Graham

Did she say something along the lines of 'This reported value may be
high due to drifting' or 'For goodness sake, my idiotic colleagues at
the Met Office have reported a snow depth of 16cm which has clearly been
affected by drifting, but because they are unprofessional and have no
sense, they have reported it as an actual snow depth'.

If it was the former, then I don't really see it as a criticism, and I
doubt 99.999% of the public would either. Okay, you could argue that she
didn't have to show it, but we all know that people on TV like to quote
the highest values of snow/wind/temperature they can, so I'm guessing
that's the reason it was shown.

I don't really see it as unprofessional, but I've never worked at the MO
and so accept that they may feel differently!


I wonder whether it was meant as an implied criticism or, perhaps,
she has never had to measure snow depth and doesn't know how
to do it herself. Therefore she may have just guessed that they
stuck the ruler in the wrong place. It wouldn't be the first time that
a TV meteorologist had shown themselves to be ignorant of
observing practices.

Apparently she's done a stint at RAF Brize Norton, but it's not clear
whether she would have been responsible for weather observations the

"In 2005, Tobin moved to RAF Brize Norton, providing aeronautical
meteorology reports and briefings to Royal Air Force transport crews,
and to the media of the British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS)."

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Tobin

snip
--
John Hall
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism
by those who have not got it."
George Bernard Shaw