More media hype
 

Some more media hype to ponder on:

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...977675,00.html
and
http://www.ananova.com/weather/story/sm_858221.html

Tom
Danbury, Essex (107m)

More media hype
 

"Tom" wrote in message
...
Some more media hype to ponder on:

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...977675,00.html
and
http://www.ananova.com/weather/story/sm_858221.html

Tom
Danbury, Essex (107m)

Tom,

Just wait and see, the elderly need to know potentially what may
happen in the extreme. It may not be hype, how do you know ?
Nobody does, yet.

Joe

More media hype
 

Tom wrote in message ...
Some more media hype to ponder on:

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...977675,00.html
and
http://www.ananova.com/weather/story/sm_858221.html

Tom
Danbury, Essex (107m)



Indeed, where on earth do they get "getting warmer by next weekend" from

:-)

Will.
--

More media hype
 

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:01:41 -0000, "Tom"
wrote:

Ignore the media - they're more inaccurate in their everyday
non-weather reports than the met office are in their weather
forecasts!

More media hype
 

According to a friend at work he heard on BBC Radio 2 that temperatures
would be down as low as -20C!

I know there is a need to advise the public, especially the elderly but I
think these warnings are a little too soon. As Joe said previously nobody
knows yet how severe this cold snap will be.

Let's just hope the Met Office don't get it wrong "again".

Tom
Danbury, Essex (107m)

More media hype
 

"Tom" wrote in message
...
According to a friend at work he heard on BBC Radio 2 that temperatures
would be down as low as -20C!


I guess it could at a few very localised and 'favoured' spots like Altnaharra
or Breamar, but outside of these known frost hollows and in normal open
country, -20C must be fantastically rare in this country.

Col
--
Bolton, Lancashire.
160m asl.
http://www.reddwarfer.btinternet.co.uk

More media hype
 

"Tom" wrote in message
...
According to a friend at work he heard on BBC Radio 2 that temperatures
would be down as low as -20C!

I know there is a need to advise the public, especially the elderly but
I
think these warnings are a little too soon. As Joe said previously
nobody
knows yet how severe this cold snap will be.

Let's just hope the Met Office don't get it wrong "again".

Tom
Danbury, Essex (107m)


Don't we just love Rob McElwee, "then there could be snow", his final
words on the forecast. Go on Rob, hype it up.

Joe

More media hype
 

Rob always creeps out the woodwork when snow's around.

He was hurrying through the forecast to get the last bit in. Fantastic!

Tom
Danbury, Essex (107m)

More media hype
 

Anglia News Tonight were rather more cautious about the snow fall but
could agree on one thing, that it will be colder... ;-)

Mark

More media hype
 

"Tom" wrote in message
...
Some more media hype to ponder on:

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...977675,00.html
and
http://www.ananova.com/weather/story/sm_858221.html

Tom
Danbury, Essex (107m)

BBCRadio Essex forcaster said tonight he thinks monday night into tuesday
we will get some sleet or snow but will turn milder from wednesday he also
talked about the media hype.

More media hype
 

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 19:00:55 -0000, "Tom"
wrote:

Rob always creeps out the woodwork when snow's around.

He was hurrying through the forecast to get the last bit in. Fantastic!

The opposite of Francis "laid back" Wilson this evening "There's a bit
of speculation about how it may turn colder next week and here's my
idea of how it may look in the middle of the week" [cue summary chart
of snow showers in the N, E & W with "freezing sunshine" in the South]

--
Dave

More media hype
 

You could sense that he really enjoyed doing the 10.35pm BBC1 forecast
tonight,
quite a dramatic performance, I thought, with much of the bulletin devoted
to
explaining the predicted cold weather and potential snow...

Martin


Don't we just love Rob McElwee, "then there could be snow", his final
words on the forecast. Go on Rob, hype it up.

Joe

More media hype
 

Tom wrote:
Some more media hype to ponder on:

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...977675,00.html
and
http://www.ananova.com/weather/story/sm_858221.html

Tom
Danbury, Essex (107m)



2 pages in the Mail today, quoting lows of -8 in Scotland..

Hohum. We'll wait & see.

G.

--
Graham Platt UKRA #1264 L2 RSO
graham (a) bowhunter (d) demon (d) co (d) uk

More media hype
 

"Graham" wrote in message
...
Tom wrote:
Some more media hype to ponder on:

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0...977675,00.html
and
http://www.ananova.com/weather/story/sm_858221.html

Tom
Danbury, Essex (107m)



2 pages in the Mail today, quoting lows of -8 in Scotland..


The local news has just quoted -10 to -12C for this region next
week. Quite possible but it would be a pretty unusual spell of
weather to give those kinds of values.

Col
--
Bolton, Lancashire.
160m asl.
http://www.reddwarfer.btinternet.co.uk

More media hype
 

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:20:32 GMT, (max) wrote:

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:01:41 -0000, "Tom"
wrote:

Ignore the media - they're more inaccurate in their everyday
non-weather reports than the met office are in their weather
forecasts!


The Grauniadh was at it today... Spouting crap about the cold weather
in Canada coming our way sigh

Richard Webb

More media hype
 

On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 14:01:59 -0000, Col wrote in


2 pages in the Mail today, quoting lows of -8 in Scotland..


The local news has just quoted -10 to -12C for this region next
week. Quite possible but it would be a pretty unusual spell of
weather to give those kinds of values.

So much will depend on whether there is a snow cover or not. Those figures
would be most unlikely over bare ground, but given the insulating effect of
a layer of snow are entirely possible.

--
Mike 55.13°N 6.69°W Coleraine posted to uk.sci.weather 23/01/2004 16:10:39 UTC
Temp 7.9C post cold front - pressure 1005 now rising

More media hype
 

On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 14:01:59 -0000, "Col"
wrote:


The local news has just quoted -10 to -12C for this region next
week. Quite possible but it would be a pretty unusual spell of
weather to give those kinds of values.

Remember though that the media these days just loves to quote those
blasted wind chill values as if they were 'actual' temps,
unfortunately they rarely mention that they are wind chill figures, or
if they do then it's rapidly skipped over (ie hype over fact).

Typical of the media in ALL of its reports these days I'm sorry to
say. Just imagine how many facts they get wrong when covering other
more important events! Doesn't bear thinking about.

More media hype
 

"max" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 14:01:59 -0000, "Col"
wrote:


The local news has just quoted -10 to -12C for this region next
week. Quite possible but it would be a pretty unusual spell of
weather to give those kinds of values.

Remember though that the media these days just loves to quote those
blasted wind chill values as if they were 'actual' temps,
unfortunately they rarely mention that they are wind chill figures, or
if they do then it's rapidly skipped over (ie hype over fact).


They were mentioned a couple of sentences after talking about wind-chill
so I did wonder for a moment if this is what they meant, but I did come
to the conclusion it was 'real' temperatures they were talking about.

Col
--
Bolton, Lancashire.
160m asl.
http://www.reddwarfer.btinternet.co.uk

More media hype
 

On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 16:38:53 -0000, "Col"
wrote:


They were mentioned a couple of sentences after talking about wind-chill
so I did wonder for a moment if this is what they meant, but I did come
to the conclusion it was 'real' temperatures they were talking about.

Typical poor reporting from the cack but all powerful media.

More media hype
 

"Mike Tullett" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 14:01:59 -0000, Col wrote in


2 pages in the Mail today, quoting lows of -8 in Scotland..


The local news has just quoted -10 to -12C for this region next
week. Quite possible but it would be a pretty unusual spell of
weather to give those kinds of values.

So much will depend on whether there is a snow cover or not. Those
figures
would be most unlikely over bare ground, but given the insulating effect
of
a layer of snow are entirely possible.

There was an article in 'Weather' in the mid-80s (I think) on the
factors required to produce very low minima in the UK
by Roach and Brownscombe. One of their conclusions was
that widespread lows below minus 10 almost always require
a snow-cover, preferably fresh and reasonably deep. It was
a rather patronising article, I remember thinking, and I trawled
the MWR and DWR for every occasion since 1945 when
a temperature of -10 or below was recorded with a less than
50% snow cover; I drafted a sarcastic Letter to the Editor, but
(probably wisely) never sent it. I think I found about 20 examples
in 40 years, but only 3 or 4 of these could reasonably have been
described as "widespread", and many of the others were
isolated observations at well-known frost-prone sites.

Philip Eden

More media hype
 

On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 16:46:29 -0000, Philip Eden wrote in

snip
There was an article in 'Weather' in the mid-80s (I think) on the
factors required to produce very low minima in the UK
by Roach and Brownscombe. One of their conclusions was
that widespread lows below minus 10 almost always require
a snow-cover, preferably fresh and reasonably deep. It was
a rather patronising article, I remember thinking, and I trawled
the MWR and DWR for every occasion since 1945 when
a temperature of -10 or below was recorded with a less than
50% snow cover; I drafted a sarcastic Letter to the Editor, but
(probably wisely) never sent it. I think I found about 20 examples
in 40 years, but only 3 or 4 of these could reasonably have been
described as "widespread", and many of the others were
isolated observations at well-known frost-prone sites.

An added factor, if we do get low air temps next week, would be the
abnormally warm soil for January. The upward heat flux would make such low
temps unlikely over bare ground. If the cold spell were to be prolonged,
then clearly the soil would cool and lower minima would ensue.

I recall my lowest air temp here without snow over a 30 year period was
about -7C, but with snow was about -13C.

--
Mike 55.13°N 6.69°W Coleraine posted to uk.sci.weather 23/01/2004 17:39:53 UTC

More media hype
 

"RJ Webb" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:20:32 GMT, (max) wrote:

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:01:41 -0000, "Tom"
wrote:

Ignore the media - they're more inaccurate in their everyday
non-weather reports than the met office are in their weather
forecasts!


The Grauniadh was at it today... Spouting crap about the cold weather
in Canada coming our way sigh

There was another howler on the BBC news this evening.
They were talking about temps at the south pole on Mars being
-120C. 'And that's 6 times colder than the freezer in this laboratory.......'

You might expect such sloppiness from the tabloids but you would
expect better from the so-called quality press and flagship news
programmes.

I wonder if they do *any* research at all into what they are saying
to check it isn't nonsense.

No wonder the public's understanding of weather and science in
general is so poor in this country.

Col
--
Bolton, Lancashire.
160m asl.
http://www.reddwarfer.btinternet.co.uk