There's some really confusing stuff coming out of the Met Office this afternoon.

There's a forecast of snow for tomorrow for the Peak District yet the Mountain
Weather Forecast for the Peak District issued at 1712 today gives a probability
of precipitation of only 10 percent for Tuesday morning and zero percent for
Tuesday afternoon.

Also, for Wednesday there's currently a severe weather warning in force for
Derbyshire for heavy snow showers yet the Peak District forecast for Wednesday
says "dry with variable cloud".

It's all a bit confusing and raises questions about quality control

Norman

On 4 Jan, 18:11, "Norman" wrote:
There's some really confusing stuff coming out of the Met Office this afternoon.

There's a forecast of snow for tomorrow for the Peak District yet the Mountain
Weather Forecast for the Peak District issued at 1712 today gives a probability
of precipitation of only 10 percent for Tuesday morning and zero percent for
Tuesday afternoon.

Also, for Wednesday there's currently a severe weather warning in force for
Derbyshire for heavy snow showers yet the Peak District forecast for Wednesday
says "dry with variable cloud".

It's all a bit confusing and raises questions about quality control

Hi, Norman,

The Met O is its own worst enemy. Many people I know look at the
various forecasts and often they vary alarmingly. The NE England
forecast for the next few days is pretty dire with showers or longer
spells of snow giving significant accumulations. However the forecast
for Bishop Auckland (well and truly in NE England) has sunshine all
week with a few light snow showers Tuesday afternoon. One of them
could be right!
People who work for the Met Office must feel helpless in the face of
Joe Public!

Best wishes,
Ken

"Ken Cook" wrote in message
...
On 4 Jan, 18:11, "Norman" wrote:
There's some really confusing stuff coming out of the Met Office this
afternoon.

There's a forecast of snow for tomorrow for the Peak District yet the
Mountain
Weather Forecast for the Peak District issued at 1712 today gives a
probability
of precipitation of only 10 percent for Tuesday morning and zero percent
for
Tuesday afternoon.

Also, for Wednesday there's currently a severe weather warning in force
for
Derbyshire for heavy snow showers yet the Peak District forecast for
Wednesday
says "dry with variable cloud".

It's all a bit confusing and raises questions about quality control

Hi, Norman,

The Met O is its own worst enemy. Many people I know look at the
various forecasts and often they vary alarmingly. The NE England
forecast for the next few days is pretty dire with showers or longer
spells of snow giving significant accumulations. However the forecast
for Bishop Auckland (well and truly in NE England) has sunshine all
week with a few light snow showers Tuesday afternoon. One of them
could be right!
People who work for the Met Office must feel helpless in the face of
Joe Public!

Best wishes,
Ken
----------------------
They do a similar thing here Ken - they give a warning for Essex, then have
a separate warning for Thurrock, which is just a district in the south of
the County. I've never understood why it is singled out.
Dave

On Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:09:27 +0000, Dave Cornwell wrote:

They do a similar thing here Ken - they give a warning for Essex, then
have a separate warning for Thurrock, which is just a district in the
south of the County. I've never understood why it is singled out. Dave

It's because the warning system is based on top-level local authorities.
Since Thurrock is a unitary authority, it gets its own region. This is
done inflexibly, so that - for example - Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
are two different warning areas, whereas the vast Highland area cannot be
subdivided. I'm not really a fan of doing it this way, but am not sure
what alternatives (if any( exist that would be immediately recognised by
the general public

--
Bewdley, Worcs. ~90m asl.

On Mon, 04 Jan 2010 14:47:15 -0600, David Buttery wrote:

On Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:09:27 +0000, Dave Cornwell wrote:

They do a similar thing here Ken - they give a warning for Essex, then
have a separate warning for Thurrock, which is just a district in the
south of the County. I've never understood why it is singled out. Dave

It's because the warning system is based on top-level local authorities.
Since Thurrock is a unitary authority, it gets its own region. This is
done inflexibly, so that - for example - Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
are two different warning areas, whereas the vast Highland area cannot be
subdivided. I'm not really a fan of doing it this way, but am not sure
what alternatives (if any( exist that would be immediately recognised by
the general public


The warnings still show Bedfordshire as a single authority but Bedfordshire
no longer exists as it was abolished on the 1st of April 2009 when it was
replaced by either Bedford Borough Council or Central Bedfordshire Council
depending on the area concerned. Luton was a unitary authority before that
date.I am sure your explanation states how the system is intended to work
but the Met Office has not caught up with the recent changes.

Alan Gardiner
Chiswell Green, St Albans
101m ASL
04/01/2010 21:31:34

David Buttery wrote:
On Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:09:27 +0000, Dave Cornwell wrote:

They do a similar thing here Ken - they give a warning for Essex, then
have a separate warning for Thurrock, which is just a district in the
south of the County. I've never understood why it is singled out. Dave

It's because the warning system is based on top-level local authorities.
Since Thurrock is a unitary authority, it gets its own region. This is
done inflexibly, so that - for example - Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
are two different warning areas, whereas the vast Highland area cannot be
subdivided. I'm not really a fan of doing it this way, but am not sure
what alternatives (if any( exist that would be immediately recognised by
the general public

We in the Highlands are used to forecasts being generalised for one
large area. Indeed I (an very amateur amateur) probably got interested
in trying to work out the weather from other internet resources
NOAA/Unisys/XCWeather/U.S.W etc and more importantly looking out the
window because the Met Office ones seemed (to me) less than accurate.

It doesn't bother me much just now but come the summer when I go to the
west to sail I dont listen to shipping forecasts other than to hear the
lovely lilt of the female voice from Stornoway CG station - the
forecasts are frankly dreadful.Any depressions scudding in off the
Atlantic I can see on synoptic charts from several sources and therefore
plan my runs ashore accordingly.
I asked Fiona Campbell (ex Brit Olympic Sailing squad meteo) at a local
presentation a couple of years back why this was so. She summed it up -
you can have extremely detailed and accurate forecasts but you will need
to pay for them.

We get one at work for the Cromarty Firth and it is much more accurate
(than Met Office info) especially wrt to timings of wind direction and
strength changes than actual strength which you would expect with big
dods of mountains and stuff about. Of course the big organisations who
order this data are paying a premium for it - so.... the moral of the
story is.... cut your tailor according to the cloth you have!

"David Buttery" schreef in bericht
...
: On Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:09:27 +0000, Dave Cornwell wrote:
:
: They do a similar thing here Ken - they give a warning for Essex, then
: have a separate warning for Thurrock, which is just a district in the
: south of the County. I've never understood why it is singled out. Dave
:
: It's because the warning system is based on top-level local authorities.
: Since Thurrock is a unitary authority, it gets its own region. This is
: done inflexibly, so that - for example - Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
: are two different warning areas, whereas the vast Highland area cannot be
: subdivided. I'm not really a fan of doing it this way, but am not sure
: what alternatives (if any) exist that would be immediately recognised by
: the general public

Are the warnings not produced in this way because the local authorities have
the power and responsibility to take some sort of action ? If, for
example, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire are each responsible separately for
road gritting in their areas, they will need to be warned separately of
weather conditions that will require gritting to be organised and carried
out.

Colin Youngs
Brussels