On Sun, 7 Sep 2003 09:42:34 +0100, "Will"
wrote:

Andrew before slagging off the MetO you may wish to consider this which was on
your site a few days ago :

" Fabian UK Bound
Added [Wednesday September 03 2003 : 1:43:00 PM]
Hurricane Fabian is causing a bit of a stir for the latest computer models which
now show the storm racing across the Atlantic and slamming into the UK midweek
next week.
[Cape Verde bit snipped]

A very dramatic, piece of sensationalism to say the least. When it became
obvious to you that Fabian would come nowhere near the UK that paragraph was
simply removed and nobody would have even known it had been there. Yes, of
course, being accountable to nobody as an enthusiastic amateur you are at total
liberty to do just that.

For me, that's the real problem. Others including some Professionals
can be over-enthusiastic too, and sometimes get it badly wrong, but if
they are open to scrutiny I have no problem with that. One such IMO is
Joe *******i of Accuweather and last Wednesday, he said this:

"But the big news next week may be Fabian. The storm will lash Bermuda
with hurricane conditions Friday, then head northeast. It will pass
south of Iceland Monday then take aim at northwest Europe Tuesday and
Wednesday."

Similarly wrong, albeit less sensationalistic than Andrew's comments.
The big difference is that Joe's original speculative comments are
still readily accessible on the website:
http://wwwa.accuweather.com/adcbin/p...?type=jbeurope
and hence open to scrutiny after the event (or non-event).

The MetO, however, are accountable to lots of
organisations not least the national audit Office.
Yes I know the MetO are guilty of not apologising/explaining enough and I agree
with Col that they should do it more,

I agree; I'd also like to see an archive on the website of all public
forecasts issued.

but people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

Quite.

--
Dave