I'm becoming increasingly weary of weather forecasters and presenters on
national (BBC) radio talking about the weather in terms of what it's like or
going to be like in the south-east.

The theory about radio presentation is that the listener is supposed to feel
as though the voice they hear is talking directly to them as an individual.
However, it is frequently the case that presenters broadcasting from London
refer to the weather for that locality and immediately alienate the rest of
the UK.

When a weather forecast is being given, or when comments are being made
about the weather, what is needed is a simple forecast for the weather in
the different regions that make up the UK. We don't need weather presenters
telling how fantastic the weather is (in the south-east) when it is anything
but fantastic where the listener happens to reside. Yes, they can say how
lovely (or otherwise) it is where THEY are broadcasting from, but
acknowledge the fact that the sun may not be shining down upon everyone
else.

In addition, what is it with weather presenters telling us that if we want
cooler conditions to 'head for the coast, where it will be much more
pleasant'. The idea that millions of people will suddenly jumps on buses,
trains and into their cars in a mass migration is absurd.

It's about time that national radio presenters broadcasting from London were
advised that the weather in the various corners of the UK is often
completely different from their neck of the woods!

Regards... David Allan.

On Jun 5, 9:09*pm, "David Allan" wrote:
It's about time that national radio presenters broadcasting from London were
advised that the weather in the various corners of the UK is often
completely different from their neck of the woods!

Regards... David Allan.

They know that and the forecasts reflect it. They've got to
broadcast from somewhere, after all. There are far worse things to
complain about, such as the lack of time and the presenters' use of
elaborate clichés when one word would do. One word we don't need is
"outside". Yep, that's where the weather is.
You don't say where you are posting from - presumably not the SE.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.

I agree with you entirely Tudor, that there are other points which could be
raised about the presentation of weather information, and a lack of time is
definately one as is the over-use of cliches.

The problem is that 'I' as the listener, while very interested in the
weather generally, also wants to know what the weather is going to be like
in my particular locality. For the record, I live in northeast England, so
when I hear the weather presenters passing comments like "it looks like it's
going to be a cracking day tomorrow" or "we could see temperatures reaching
27C this coming weekend"... I have to often work it out that the 'we' bit
refers to the London and south-east area of the UK and not 'we - the UK'. In
that sense, the presenter is not talking to the population of the UK, he is
talking only to the people of the south-east. Now, I appreciate that this
may seem a petty point to make, but if the same weather presenter's studio
was based in say north-west Scotland, and he was to come on and say
something like 'well, I'm affraid it's more of the same for us this
weekend... wind, rain and a bit chilly...' you would soon realise how
pointless that is to you living in the southeast. It would be acceptable on
a local radio station, but not a national station.

Another area of confusion is trying to work out whether the general weather
information being given is for England or the UK as a whole. It isn't always
clear when the presenter refers to the 'far north' or 'across northern
areas' whether he (or she) is referring to northern England or Scotland. If
they made a point of suffixing 'England' or 'Scotland', that would solve the
problem, but they all too often don't bother, so the weather predictions
become meaningless.

Regards... David Allan (Tyne & Wear).


"Tudor Hughes" wrote in message
...
On Jun 5, 9:09 pm, "David Allan" wrote:
It's about time that national radio presenters broadcasting from London
were
advised that the weather in the various corners of the UK is often
completely different from their neck of the woods!

Regards... David Allan.

They know that and the forecasts reflect it. They've got to
broadcast from somewhere, after all. There are far worse things to
complain about, such as the lack of time and the presenters' use of
elaborate clichés when one word would do. One word we don't need is
"outside". Yep, that's where the weather is.
You don't say where you are posting from - presumably not the SE.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.

I agree with you 100%, David, but especially the following.

Another area of confusion is trying to work out whether the
general weather information being given is for England or the
UK as a whole. It isn't always clear when the presenter refers
to the 'far north' or 'across northern areas' whether he (or
she) is referring to northern England or Scotland. If they
made a point of suffixing 'England' or 'Scotland', that would
solve the problem, but they all too often don't bother, so the
weather predictions become meaningless.
Regards... David Allan (Tyne & Wear).

Some of them (not only weather forecasters) need to remember
that they're not the London Broadcasting Corporation, or the
English Broadcasting Corporation.

Referring to 'the north' or 'the north-east' or 'the north-west'
is at best meaningless and at worst misleading. There isn't
quite the same problem with 'the south' and 'the south-east'
because they generally refer to those parts of Britain, and
that's fair enough when it's the British Broadcasting
Corporation.

It's also not unusual for entire chunks of the country to be
missed out entirely. "And now for Scotland. There will be rain
in the west and sunny spells in the south." Then I wait in vain
to hear anything about the north-east of Scotland, where I live,
but apparently there isn't going to be any weather here at all,
because it isn't mentioned.

Anne

In article ,
David Allan writes:
snip
The problem is that 'I' as the listener, while very interested in the
weather generally, also wants to know what the weather is going to be like
in my particular locality. For the record, I live in northeast England, so
when I hear the weather presenters passing comments like "it looks like it's
going to be a cracking day tomorrow" or "we could see temperatures reaching
27C this coming weekend"... I have to often work it out that the 'we' bit
refers to the London and south-east area of the UK and not 'we - the UK'.

Sometimes, though, the presenter will say something like: "Moving on to
Scotland, we're going to have a lovely day tomorrow." I hate that false
mateyness. We all know that the presenter is in some studio several
hundred miles from Scotland, so why does he/she say "we" rather than
"you"?
--
John Hall

"I don't even butter my bread; I consider that cooking."
Katherine Cebrian

"Anne Burgess" wrote in message
...
I agree with you 100%, David, but especially the following.

Another area of confusion is trying to work out whether the general
weather information being given is for England or the UK as a whole. It
isn't always clear when the presenter refers to the 'far north' or
'across northern areas' whether he (or she) is referring to northern
England or Scotland. If they made a point of suffixing 'England' or
'Scotland', that would solve the problem, but they all too often don't
bother, so the weather predictions become meaningless.
Regards... David Allan (Tyne & Wear).

Some of them (not only weather forecasters) need to remember that they're
not the London Broadcasting Corporation, or the English Broadcasting
Corporation.

Referring to 'the north' or 'the north-east' or 'the north-west' is at
best meaningless and at worst misleading. There isn't quite the same
problem with 'the south' and 'the south-east' because they generally refer
to those parts of Britain, and that's fair enough when it's the British
Broadcasting Corporation.

It's also not unusual for entire chunks of the country to be missed out
entirely. "And now for Scotland. There will be rain in the west and sunny
spells in the south." Then I wait in vain to hear anything about the
north-east of Scotland, where I live, but apparently there isn't going to
be any weather here at all, because it isn't mentioned.

Anne

....But the BBC requires a dumbed down weather headline and for the presenter
to create a story, not a fact-based region by region scientific analysis -
that would be considered far too boring by media types.

The south east of England with its more continental (more interesting?)
climate invariably features heavily in this 'story' not necessarily because
of bias towards that region but because it generally has more extremes.

David (N.Yorks)

The south east of England with its more continental (more
interesting?) climate invariably features heavily in this
'story' not necessarily because of bias towards that region
but because it generally has more extremes.
David (N.Yorks)

Now that is a very interesting assertion. Not the one that says
that is why the south-east of England/Britain features more
heavily in the 'story', but the assertion that that area has
'more extremes'.

What evidence can you provide to justify that assertion?

Anne

On Jun 6, 11:59*am, "David Haggas" wrote:
"Anne Burgess" wrote in message

...





I agree with you 100%, David, but especially the following.

Another area of confusion is trying to work out whether the general
weather information being given is for England or the UK as a whole. It
isn't always clear when the presenter refers to the 'far north' or
'across northern areas' whether he (or she) is referring to northern
England or Scotland. If they made a point of suffixing 'England' or
'Scotland', that would solve the problem, but they all too often don't
bother, so the weather predictions become meaningless.
Regards... David Allan (Tyne & Wear).

Some of them (not only weather forecasters) need to remember that they're
not the London Broadcasting Corporation, or the English Broadcasting
Corporation.

Referring to 'the north' or 'the north-east' or 'the north-west' is at
best meaningless and at worst misleading. There isn't quite the same
problem with 'the south' and 'the south-east' because they generally refer
to those parts of Britain, and that's fair enough when it's the British
Broadcasting Corporation.

It's also not unusual for entire chunks of the country to be missed out
entirely. "And now for Scotland. There will be rain in the west and sunny
spells in the south." Then I wait in vain to hear anything about the
north-east of Scotland, where I live, but apparently there isn't going to
be any weather here at all, because it isn't mentioned.

Anne

...But the BBC requires a dumbed down weather headline and for the presenter
to create a story, not a fact-based region by region scientific analysis -
that would be considered far too boring by media types.

The south east of England with its more continental (more interesting?)
climate invariably features heavily in this 'story' not necessarily because
of bias towards that region but because it generally has more extremes.

David (N.Yorks)- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I agree about the dumbed-down nature of the presentations. They
are a disgrace to Radio 4 which likes to call itself Britain's premier
speech station, which in most ways it is except for the present
subject.
As to the southeast, I cannot agree that it dominates in the way
that you say or for the reason you give. There have even been
occasions when the SE has been more or less ignored when the more
notable weather is happening elsewhere, as it often does. The
offenders are usually Schafernaker (who could not organise a ****-up
in a brewery and should never be allowed anywhere near a microphone)
or the robotic Tobyn, who gives the impression of not quite
understanding what she's saying, like G Dubya or a child in a Nativity
play.
It would be far better if the forecast were written out in
Exeter and sent to the BBC to be read out by an announcer. The
presenters we have add nothing and in some cases detract from the
forecast. There are exceptions of course, notably Peter Gibbs and
Nick Miller.

Tudor Hughes, Warlingham, Surrey.

"Anne Burgess" wrote in message
...
The south east of England with its more continental (more interesting?)
climate invariably features heavily in this 'story' not necessarily
because of bias towards that region but because it generally has more
extremes.
David (N.Yorks)

Now that is a very interesting assertion. Not the one that says that is
why the south-east of England/Britain features more heavily in the
'story', but the assertion that that area has 'more extremes'.

What evidence can you provide to justify that assertion?

Anne

More continental influence, The highest temperatures in summer, the most
thunderstorm activity (this evening is an example) the most sun hours, the
most disruptive snowfall and occasionally some rather high winds.

David

On Jun 6, 8:45*pm, "David Haggas" wrote:
"Anne Burgess" wrote in message

... The south east of England with its more continental (more interesting?)
climate invariably features heavily in this 'story' not necessarily
because of bias towards that region but because it generally has more
extremes.
David (N.Yorks)

Now that is a very interesting assertion. Not the one that says that is
why the south-east of England/Britain features more heavily in the
'story', *but the assertion that that area has 'more extremes'.

What evidence can you provide to justify that assertion?

Anne

More continental influence, The highest temperatures in summer, the most
thunderstorm activity (this evening is an example) the most sun hours, the
most disruptive snowfall and occasionally some rather high winds.

David

Not according to the times online
http://property.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle2875491.ece

Sunniest Weymouth, Dorset

Wettest Seathwaite, Cumbria

Driest St Osyth, Essex

Warmest Scilly Isles

Coldest Braemar, Scotland

Stormiest Thetford to Stoke-on-Trent

Windiest Cornwall/west coast

Foggiest Dartmoor, Devon

Most snow Tomintoul, Scotland