Motoring Discussion > Severe Weather Warning. Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Zero Replies: 100

 Severe Weather Warning. - Zero
The Met office has issued a severe weather warning for East Anglia, The South /SouthEast and the Midlands. Starting tonight, heavy rain and severe winds leading to travel disruption (fallen trees, flooding) in the morning rush hour.
 Severe Weather Warning. - sherlock47
0

never mind - you can just stay in bed :)
 Severe Weather Warning. - Zero
The family dog, she say NO.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Tooslow
But do we believe them? They overplay everything since the Great Michael Fish Disaster.

Let's give it until Monday evening and then compare notes.

JH
 Severe Weather Warning. - Runfer D'Hills
Best rush out and buy 4x4s then. Or at least make sure you have more tread on the back tyres. Could have dire consequences otherwise...........Dangerous things puddles.

Sheesh....

:-)
 Severe Weather Warning. - corax
Looking out of the window now you would have no idea what's to come, if it comes. One of the best things about this country is the changing weather. I couldn't live in a country with weather that hardly changed - Groundhog Day.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Runfer D'Hills
I spent a few years in Brazil. The weather was entirely predictable. Chuffing hot all the time, very humid and a more or less guaranteed thunderstorm most evenings.

I can picture the rain now. It used to come down as if it was being poured out of an invisible reservoir in the sky. Straight down, so heavy it was like being fire hosed but with warm water. For a few minutes the streets would turn to raging torrents. Creatures would appear from nowhere. Huge frogs the size of footballs sitting on the pavements in the middle of towns. Snakes swimming down high streets in the temporary rivers.

Then it would stop. Everything would steam for an hour, and then the mosquitos would come out....
 Severe Weather Warning. - Bellboy
thats not a severe weather warning its just a squall
had one yesterday in brid,lasted all of 5 minutes
you soft southerners.....................................
;---------------------------------------------------------------------
---)
 Severe Weather Warning. - bathtub tom
I'll take the car for a drive, it'll soften the dead flies on the front. ;>)
 Severe Weather Warning. - Runfer D'Hills
>> it'll soften the dead flies on the front.

I had a marvelous creature on the front of my car for most of last week. Not sure what it was but it must have been a fairly low speed impact as it looked more or less intact.

It had met its end in connecting with the Nissan badge on my radiator grille and formed a quite pleasing mascot for a few days.

It was sort of a cross between a large wasp and a moth. Striped body about 1.5" long but with big moth-ish wings.

I became quite fond of it but it must have either fallen off or been eaten by the spider who lives in my door mirror.
Last edited by: Humph D'bout on Sun 22 Aug 10 at 19:39
 Severe Weather Warning. - Old Navy
Spot on, BB, a damp breeze and the south goes into shutdown.
 Severe Weather Warning. - corax
>> Spot on, BB, a damp breeze and the south goes into shutdown.

Hold your horses, it's not even here yet.
 Severe Weather Warning. - madf
The Met Office are not worth their subsidy.

And a severe weather warning for Southern England is the equivalent of the July and August weather the rest of the UK has experienced...

If you listened to the TV news, you would expect reservoirs to be empty and lawns burned..through drought.

We've had double normal rainfall for July.. water gushing down the road in August . By Southern standards it would be severe.

Bunch of softies...

 Severe Weather Warning. - Zero
So all you Northern Numpties are saying that we, in the South, dont have to put up with permanently adverse weather like you do.

Quite right too, thats what makes us brighter, wiser and wealthier down here.
 Severe Weather Warning. - MD
>> So all you Northern Numpties are saying that we, in the South, dont have to
>> put up with permanently adverse weather like you do.
>>
>> Quite right too, thats what makes us brighter, wiser and wealthier down here.
>>
Have you seen the North, that cold grey place,
don't want it's shadow any more, on my face.

Elton Hercules John.
 Severe Weather Warning. - DP
>> The Met Office are not worth their subsidy.

Seconded.
 Severe Weather Warning. - spamcan61
Well from here in Stockholm you're all Southerners to me ;-)

This incoming band of rain does look pretty big & wet:-

www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/radar/
 Severe Weather Warning. - hobby
>> . One of the best things about this country is the changing weather. I
>> couldn't live in a country with weather that hardly changed

Well said Corax... and if I wanted hot weather every summer I'd live near the Med... Its been just right this Summer, not too hot, not too cold and some nice showers inbetween!
 Severe Weather Warning. - Avant
It works every time. I don't often polish a car, but I did Autoglym the Z3 this afternoon, as it's a year since I did it last. Fortunately it lives in the garage.

If we're ever short of rain, I'll gladly oblige and polish a car again.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Old Navy
Don't complain about rain, no rain and you live in a desert. The UK has a maritime climate, by its nature it is changeable.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Sun 22 Aug 10 at 20:51
 Severe Weather Warning. - Kevin
>Don't complain about rain, no rain and you live in a desert.

I love the desert. Returning to the Namib is high on our list of retirement locations.

Kevin...
 Severe Weather Warning. - Bromptonaut
The forecast itself - heavy rain from around 20:00 - was spot on.

Whether heavy rain and wind in late August are 'severe' is another question.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Tooslow
Well the North end of Cheshire had a little light rain overnight, while I was tucked up. Wind speed is currently practically nil.

I think there's a bit of missing the point going on. I don't object to rain. I do object to the Met Office's dramatisation. "A wall of rain" is the exact expression used by the forecaster on Saturday night, after the news. Calm down chaps.

JH
 Severe Weather Warning. - Duncan
Well, it rained overnight, here in The Deep South. I am sure I saw a puddle on my drive up to town this morning.

I honestly don't know how we are going to cope.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Tooslow
You probably need counselling Duncan. Ring in sick, then go to A&E. :-)

JH
 Severe Weather Warning. - corax
I do object to the Met Office's dramatisation. "A wall of rain" is the
>> exact expression used by the forecaster on Saturday night, after the news. Calm down chaps.

I agree, I don't consider it windy unless I'm at risk of being blown over, as I have many times in the Scottish highlands, with gusts of 60+ mph. And I find that exhilarating, that feeling that you're not quite in control anymore.
 Severe Weather Warning. - J Bonington Jagworth
Heavy rain and wind in August - how unusual is that?! As with Climate Change (TM) the Met Office relies on regular forecasts of doom to justify its enormous funding and ever-bigger computers, yet this year they had to admit defeat and give up the long-range stuff, while still assuring us that they know what it's going to be like in 100 years!
Last edited by: J Bonington Jagworth on Mon 23 Aug 10 at 10:21
 Severe Weather Warning. - WillDeBeest
>...Striped body about 1.5" long but with big moth-ish wings...

Was it one of these, Humph? If so, it's a threatened species and you ought to be ashamed of yourself.
};---)
tinyurl.com/32eufum

I've done something similar, though. On holiday in France a few years ago, I bagged a spectacular 3-inch-long electric blue dragonfly. It stayed on my bonnet, as if pinned out by a Victorian gentleman collector, for several days before a thunderstorm washed it off.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Runfer D'Hills
That looks just like it. I miss him a bit.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Tooslow
in the mid 70s I was on a rather specialised software course. It was stuff you only ran if you were a big company and had top end IBM mainframe kit. Supercomputers didn't exist yet. There were only 5 or 6 students and the course tutor asked each of us how many users we had (of this software). We each replied in the small tens until he reached a guy from the Met Office. "One" he said. "One? One user?" said the tutor. "What does he use it for?". "Oh", said the guy from the Met Office "if he doesn't like the way the forecast is going, he changes it" !!!!!

So a few million on computer kit, similar on datacentre, development and ongoing maintenence and enhancement of the forecast model and if someone doesn't like the computer's forecast - they change it to something they think is right!!

Now I'm not saying that happens today but, who knows? Satellites, all sorts of sensors and data gathering, mind bogglingly powerful computers and, maybe, someone is still meddling with the outcome, depending upon what his corns feel like?

JH
 Severe Weather Warning. - madf
" the Met Office relies on regular forecasts of doom to justify its enormous funding and ever-bigger computers, "

Since their track record - forecast for summers ahead is 100% wrong, we can safely assume:
1. they are run by a person who supports Climate Change .
(correct)
2. They have too much money to spend (correct)
and
3. If they were paid on results, they would be bust (they are not paid by results).

Last winter was going t be mild.. according to them..

"he cold weather comes despite the Met Office’s long range forecast, published, in October, of a mild winter. That followed its earlier inaccurate prediction of a “barbecue summer”, which then saw heavy rainfall and the wettest July for almost 100 years. "

www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/6921281/Britain-facing-one-of-the-coldest-winters-in-100-years-experts-predict.html

Bunch of...... censored.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Mapmaker
To be fair there was about an inch of rain overnight where I am (inner London). And more this morning.

Sitting in a meeting on the South Bank, directly overlooking the Thames watching the tugs taking the rubbish boats down the river. My there was some weather, we could watch it sweeping across London.
 Severe Weather Warning. - CGNorwich
Chucked it down this afternoon in N. Norfolk. Quite a few roads flooded
 Severe Weather Warning. - R.P.
Same in NW Wales - nice an sunny now though.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Runfer D'Hills
I quite like the sound of heavy rain if I'm sleeping in a tent or harking back to my youth the sound of rain when inside a convertible car with the roof up. Not sure why in either case, I just do. Sort of primeval innit.....Maybe monkeys like to listen to rain on trees.....
Last edited by: Humph D'bout on Mon 23 Aug 10 at 19:36
 Severe Weather Warning. - Old Navy
Try sleeping through tropical rain on a corrugated iron roof, now that is noisy !
 Severe Weather Warning. - Runfer D'Hills
I know some parts of Fife are a bit rough ON but I had no idea you had come to this....Is there not a grant available or something ?

:-)
 Severe Weather Warning. - Old Navy
Tropical in Fife, that would be nice. :-)
 Severe Weather Warning. - Runfer D'Hills
True enough, they'd have to serve Pina Coladas in the open air pool at Crail. Wouldn't be right though.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Old Navy
The rain was in Gidgegannup, the fish and chips are better along the Fife coast though.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Runfer D'Hills
Come to think of it, I don't suppose it matters much what the weather does when you are in a submarine....?
 Severe Weather Warning. - Old Navy
It certainly does, the waves are elliptical and go down many hundreds of feet. you can get thrown around in a North Atlantic storm while a long way under it.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Mon 23 Aug 10 at 19:54
 Severe Weather Warning. - Runfer D'Hills
Now that is interesting. I'd always imagined you just floated around serenely making Clanger noises at Russians. Underwater waves is a new one on me. Must be an extreme sport opportunity waiting to be discovered. Hold on, I might have just invented upside down surfing. Could it be patented ?.....Just off to tell the SWMBO we're about to be rich....

:-)
 Severe Weather Warning. - Old Navy
It's already been done, a galley food tray is an excellent sledge on a sloping deck !
 Severe Weather Warning. - Runfer D'Hills
Always wondered what was with the polo neck jumpers, Sledging....of course !
 Severe Weather Warning. - Zero
>> It certainly does, the waves are elliptical and go down many hundreds of feet. you
>> can get thrown around in a North Atlantic storm while a long way under it.

Not thrown around as much as the poor blighters on the surface.

Still at least they dont glow in the dark or have shrivelled nuts.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 23 Aug 10 at 20:06
 Severe Weather Warning. - Old Navy
>> Still at least they dont glow in the dark or have shrivelled nuts.
>>

Your understanding of things nuclear is profound. :-)
 Severe Weather Warning. - Zero
Listen, Madame Curie invented it and look what happened to her.

you didnt trust that film on your badge did you?
 Severe Weather Warning. - Old Navy
The average radiation levels in a submarine are less than the ambient level you are in now.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Runfer D'Hills
The thought randomly occurs that when a submarine is scheduled to stay down for weeks on end it must be really bad form to break wind at the beginning of the trip. You would imagine anyway.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Old Navy
They have the biggest pollen filter you have ever seen, (actually it is charcoal), and a whole compartment full of atmosphere purification equipment.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Runfer D'Hills
Bet they still limit the number of curry nights though.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Zero
The food on a sub is very good.


It has to make up for the sex.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Zero
you wait till the heads get backed up!
 Severe Weather Warning. - Old Navy
>> you wait till the heads get backed up!
>>

It's not a cruise ship, the heads work.
 Severe Weather Warning. - corax
>> >> you wait till the heads get backed up!
>> >>
>>
>> It's not a cruise ship, the heads work.

Well, you were right ON, it was a damp breeze today. I wonder how the weather forecasters will act when we have a real storm. I won't have anything bad said about Dan Corbett though, he's great to watch. I like his parting shot "Thats the weather.........for now"
 Severe Weather Warning. - Old Navy
>> Well, you were right ON,>>

Only an amature guess, not a professional one. :-)
 Severe Weather Warning. - bathtub tom
>>It's not a cruise ship, the heads work.

I understand that when submerged operating the heads involves complex valve and pumping co-ordination. If you get it wrong, isn't that where the phrase 'getting your own back' originates?
 Severe Weather Warning. - Old Navy
>> I understand that when submerged operating the heads involves complex valve and pumping co-ordination. If
>> you get it wrong, isn't that where the phrase 'getting your own back' originates?
>>

You understand wrong, They are similar to the operation of the domestic toilet.

I have used the type of head you mention, it was on a WW2 designed diesel submarine, and yes you could get your own back if you got it wrong.
Last edited by: Old Navy on Tue 24 Aug 10 at 08:44
 Severe Weather Warning. - R.P.
I went camping for the first time in 30 years - I dreaded the sound of rain as I would have to try and pack a wet tent - thankfully it didn't rain Humph we must be descended from different apes !
 Severe Weather Warning. - Runfer D'Hills
Scottish apes in my case.....

:-)
 Severe Weather Warning. - madf
I think it has ained nearly every day in August here so a forecast of rain could be done by a child of 6 and be as accurate as the Met Office...
 Severe Weather Warning. - Fullchat
Well pretty miserable here on and off in Betsw-Y-Coed and towards the coast but the weather did come in from the east coast.
 Severe Weather Warning. - J Bonington Jagworth
"Last winter was going to be mild.. according to them.."

But not according to Piers Corbyn, the slightly grumpy bloke who runs Weather Action and correctly forecast the January cold snap the previous July! He does this with not much more than a telescope and a PC, but you have to pay for his detailed forecasts. Perhaps the Met Office should adopt the same model - I'm sure it would improve their concentration!

www.weatheraction.com/
Last edited by: J Bonington Jagworth on Mon 23 Aug 10 at 20:55
 Severe Weather Warning. - CGNorwich
But that is the model the Met office adopts. Lat year it made a profit of £14M

Government business was £162.165 million with a profit of £12.707 million
Commercial business was £29.365 million with a profit of £1,343 million
 Severe Weather Warning. - RattleandSmoke
I was camping in mid Cheshire on Saturday in a £6.50 tent. It rained a lot but it was water proof. Just got drunk so it didn't matter.

I will probably go camping in a couple of weeks time in Wales to get my moneys worth out that expensive tent. I will probably go alone next time though!

Now I have a car the wet weather dosn't bother me as much as I am not at bus stops etc. I have also found out the Panda's windscreen wipers work brilliantly. They are speed controlled and it works a treat (e.g the faster you drive the faster the wipers are).

Not bothered to wash my car for a few weeks as it never stops raining.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Kevin
>Government business was £162.165 million with a profit of £12.707 million

Don't know how they arrive at that figure.

Last info I had was that the Met Office were still funded by the MoD and were looking at big cuts in their budget. If they'd lost their contract with the BBC earlier this year the doo-doo would be even deeper.

Kevin...
 Severe Weather Warning. - WillDeBeest
I was camping in mid Cheshire on Saturday ... Just got drunk so it didn't matter.

Did you take your car key with you, Rattle?
};---)
 Severe Weather Warning. - RattleandSmoke
No the key was left safely at home! Saving to replace it in October :).
 Severe Weather Warning. - rtj70
>> Commercial business was £29.365 million with a profit of £1,343 million

Fiddling the books like that could sort out the countries budget deficit. A Profit of £1.3bn on a turnover of £29m is good going ;-)
 Severe Weather Warning. - Tooslow
Latest news from Cheshire, and backing up Rattle's report, frequent showers yesterday, good steady rain, nothing dramatic. Totalling just over a third of an inch. Little breeze.

This morning, a lovely sunny morning, a bit breezy. I haven't bothered looking at a forecast :-)

So we had an ordinary bit of weather and the sirens sound and the balloons go up. So what happens when we have some genuine bad weather? Are all of these forecasters on forums describing themselves as "gutted" when their team loses or describing the latest car polish as "awesome". Leaving no words when something truly dramatic happens.

Bunch of drama queens :-(

JH
Last edited by: Tooslow on Tue 24 Aug 10 at 08:59
 Severe Weather Warning. - Suppose
>> Bunch of drama queens :-(
>>


This thread illustrates the British public's woefully inadequate understanding of science, mathematics, statistics and probabilities.

If you had looked at the radar images yesterday morning for the previous 24 hours, you would have seen that the forecasters got it right.

BTW, I wonder what the driver of the Land Rover in this report thought of the forecast:
tinyurl.com/3ym39t3
After hours of torrential rain, the road was flooded with four feet of water.
But that didn't deter this motorist from carrying on as usual with his journey to work in Billericay, Essex.
Thankfully his Land Rover proved its mettle and he made it to the other side safely - and drily.
Essex wasn't the only part of Britain affected by flooding yesterday.
Large swathes of the country were deluged as more than half of August's average rainfall thrashed down in 24 hours.

 Severe Weather Warning. - Bellboy
its absolutely wanging it down here
everythings proper flooded
 Severe Weather Warning. - Statistical Outlier
Well said Suppose. There often appears to be little understanding of causation, correlation and complexity either. Lots of fascinating characters on here, makes it well worth a read, but on issues like climate change there are lot of heads in the sand.

Of course, and drifting off topic, there is a strong body of evidence that people's behaviour and opinions are almost impossible to change, even when there is a strong incentive. So put people in a situation where the pain of change is very real, and the actual benefit not at all clear, and at best long term and indirect, then change is never going to happen. Anyone on here interested might enjoy the discussion in 'Superfreakonomics' of ways to tackle things based on the supposition that we're going to keep going as we are. Some pretty off the wall but very interesting ideas.

Sorry for the thread drift. Weather was wet but hardly extreme in Staffordshire.
Last edited by: Statistical Outlier on Tue 24 Aug 10 at 11:03
 Severe Weather Warning. - RattleandSmoke
Same here, but what is extreme is the fact it rains all the time. If this is how all our summers are going to be from now on I am not sure how much longer I can live in this country. I find this weather makes me very tired.
 Severe Weather Warning. - BiggerBadderDave
"I find this weather makes me very tired."

So it's not the 7 pints a night and "having it large" in Madchester?
 Severe Weather Warning. - RattleandSmoke
Only on a Sunday. I just find if its sunny I can get out of bed easily and I am not tired, if the weather is like this everything seems like a big effort. It is when it has been like this for days I seem to get very tired and sleepy. I don't drink during the week.

 Severe Weather Warning. - Bromptonaut
Frequent heavy showers yesterday. Too much to quick for the ground to absorb so it was running off onto the roads. Most people tackle it sensibly but there's always the odd 'speedboat' who thinks a bow wave is fun.

Or maybe they're stupid enough to think that how floods should be tackled!!
 Severe Weather Warning. - J Bonington Jagworth
"running off onto the roads"

That's not extreme weather, it's extreme farming! It wasn't a problem when we had more trees and hedgerows. We constantly get mud and gravel washed down our road for that reason, so it makes the conditions seem worse than they are. I noticed on Newsnight last night that deforestation was blamed, at least in part, for exacerbating the flooding in Pakistan, which is the same thing on a different scale. Extreme weather, perhaps, but not that unusual.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Bromptonaut
>> "running off onto the roads"
>>
>> That's not extreme weather, it's extreme farming! It wasn't a problem when we had more
>> trees and hedgerows.

While I agree with the generality of this comment the heavy clay soil in south northants will never absorb a downpour.
 Severe Weather Warning. - J Bonington Jagworth
"radar images yesterday morning for the previous 24 hours"

I use the rain radar (Meteox) all the time, but forecasting that an Atlantic depression coming on the prevailing wind will cause some rain does not require a supercomputer.

If you check the 5-day forecasts regularly, you will see that the originally forecast weather changes day by day, so it isn't really a forecast at all - it's an educated guess!

I'm not saying I could do any better, but I think there are people who can, and I note that the BBC was threatening to take its business elsewhere quite recently. New Zealand, I think...
 Severe Weather Warning. - Bromptonaut
>> If you check the 5-day forecasts regularly, you will see that the originally forecast weather
>> changes day by day, so it isn't really a forecast at all - it's an
>> educated guess!

'Educated guess' is a reasonable description of a forecast or prediction!!
 Severe Weather Warning. - RattleandSmoke
I've noticed the same thing. It said it supposed to be sunny inervals today. The rain has at least been reduced to drizzle now.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Tooslow
Suppose, on the contrary, you are making assumptions. My Computer Science degree included a mass of maths, including statistics. I am well familiar with probability, statistics, number theory and so forth. Probably not as much so as NC or SO but I'm no idiot. The weather forecast as delivered on Saturday night was over dramatised and short on fact. We were lead to believe that an incredible amount of rain was heading our way, followed by gales.

In fact, some parts of the country have had heavy rain, though nothing that is not regularly experienced and not anything that we should not be readily able to cope with. Though I can't help thinking of the garage my Dad used to go to which was regularly flooded. The local council couldn't be bothered to keep the grill where a stream went into a culvert free of debris so the water backed up and caused a flood, regularly. As for the gales, well the UK is a big place, is anyone having gales. if I look out of the window it's a bit breezy.

The forecast could have focused on facts, instead they gave us a drama show, as they so often do at the slightest hint at anything a bit out of the ordinary. If you disagree, feel free to do so.

I, and many other people, feel that their forecasts are poor. The BBC agree as they are reconsidering their contract. How do you justify "a wall of water is heading our way" How do you analyse that statistically? How do you decide if that is going to affect you personally?

JH
Last edited by: Tooslow on Tue 24 Aug 10 at 12:48
 Severe Weather Warning. - madf
Of course I don't understand maths or climate change. A degree in physics and maths means I'm just an idiot who belives that 20,000 years ago - long before we burned any coal, - where he now writes was covered by a layer of ice half a mile thick.

So it's global warming to blame for the end of the last Ice Age .. and as such it is man made?

Really I could go on. But I can't be bothered..


The superior and sarcastic tones of believers in man made climate change with the inference that disbelievers are stupid and the refusal to consider any other cause than man makes me realise I'm glad to be a normal human being... :-)

Any one looking at the evidnce can see the Met Office claims to forecast 100 years in the future. But it cannot get the next six months correct.. not in the past three years.. In business it's akin to people doing three year plans when they never hit their current year budget.

If you cannot get the near term right, you cannot forecast the future. By definition.

(see economists for an example)
Last edited by: madf on Tue 24 Aug 10 at 13:01
 Severe Weather Warning. - Tooslow
Very sensible Madf and I heartily concur.

JH
 Severe Weather Warning. - J Bonington Jagworth
"Very sensible Madf and I heartily concur"

Seconded. I follow this blog, which covers the global warming hype well, hosted by the chap who appeared on Newsnight on Monday and is one of the best technical writers I know. I speak as one who used to do it full time (but not as well):

bishophill.squarespace.com/
 Severe Weather Warning. - CGNorwich
How do you decide if that is going to affect you personally?

If you look at the Met office website it is very measured and specificr in its approach. For example tomorrow there is a possibity of severe weather in the South. Here is what they say:

"There is a moderate risk of a severe weather event affecting much of the southern half of England and Wales, with a lower risk of this extending further north into parts of north Wales and northern England. There is the potential for rainfall accumulations of 30 to 50mm to occur quite widely, spreading from the southwest during the day and into Wednesday night.

Issued at: 1142 Tue 24 Aug"

Seems clear enough to me and certainly not over dramatic. I think you need to blame the media rather than the Met office for hype.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Tooslow
Possibly CG, but it was a Met office man delivering the forecast on Saturday night, as every night.

As for the web site forecast, yes I do look at that. Yesterday it said we would have heavy showers throughout today, in fact it is still showing heavy showers. We've just had one, very light shower so far. And as noted elsewhere, if you watch the Met Office 5 day forecast on the web then for any give day it changes. Fair enough you get a better forecast as you get closer but it changes so much you wonder why they bother publishing 5 days. I think someone else has made the same comment.

There have been a small number of key days in my life when the weather has been really important to me. I can honestly say that the forecast was wrong on every occasion.

As a start I'd like to see the emotion taken out of the forecast and stick to the facts. I'd like to see more attention paid to WHERE unusual, or when we do get it, extreme, weather is going to be.

I'd also like to point out that we are discussing the Met Office. I don't know who provides the ITV weather forecast but all you get from them is symbols at 300 mile intervals. Try working out what's going to happen outside your front door from that! So, a small number of points for the MO there I suppose. But ony a few :-)

JH
 Severe Weather Warning. - madf
We moved house in 1982 to our current location. then all the talk was of the coming Ice Age.

So we bought a house in an area which is unlikely to flood, half way up a hill subject to no known landslips, major seismic disturbance and 100 metres above sealevel so a global flooding event would not affect us.

If the Met office were doing its job properly, it would concentrate its efforts into advising how extreme weather events would affect people and putting on its website places at high risk from flooding etc.. - as a permanent warning..

The fact that the previous Government kept approving developments on flood plains and the MO said nothing but railed about global warming shows what a waste of space they are.
Last edited by: madf on Tue 24 Aug 10 at 14:10
 Severe Weather Warning. - CGNorwich
Well I didn't see the Saturday night forecast so I can't really comment but my perception of the Met office forecasts are they are very accurate up to 24 hours quite good at 48 hour and give a reasonable idea of the trend up to 5 days. I take your point regarding location but when the weather can change within few miles predicting things likes location of showers and their intensity is hugely difficult and would lead to a forecast lasting hours rather than the couple of minutes they get at the moment.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Bromptonaut
IMHO the forecast is as good as it can be bearing in mind it is not a prediction.

My issue with the MO, at least on its website is my location. Northampton is in the East Midlands, which is fine for understanding how regional government etc works. However we're surrounded on three sides by East of England, South East England and the West Midlands. The other end of the East Midlands is almost in the suburbs of Manchester.

Needed a good look at all three maps to asess the probabilty of local snow last winter!!

 Severe Weather Warning. - madf
Metcheck do forecasts by Post Code..

www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/FREE/today.asp
 Severe Weather Warning. - MD
To be fair I use the Met site twice a day and for us here in the South West they seem to do a reasonable job perhaps 60% + of the time. There are so many micro climates near coasts that it would be nigh impossible for them to get it right all the time. As for how they are financed I neither know or care. Simply nobody is as efficient as I. 0:)
 Severe Weather Warning. - Bromptonaut
The forecasts on BBC Radio 4 & 5 are as accurate as can be expected and are generally delivered as straight narrative.

The 'wall of rain' drama seems to originate on the tellybox.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Kevin
Here's Kevin's forecast for an area within 16km of Reading, Berks.

Tomorrow will be wet with some quite heavy showers from late afternoon onwards.

Most probable level of precip. is around 9mm/6h but there is a distinct possibility that the rate could be as much as 24mm/6h during the evening and overnight. Thursday will be breezier, about 9m/s, the same as today, but the showers will become lighter and less frequent after midday.

Friday and Saturday will see the odd light shower or drizzle with sunny spells.

Sunday and Monday will be mostly clear, cloud around 4 octet with a light breeze and very little chance of any precip.

Temperature will be 18/19C each day, getting warmer from next Tuesday onwards reaching 22C by next Thursday.

Have a nice weekend.

Kevin...
 Severe Weather Warning. - Kevin
>around 4 octet..

Duh, octa.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Boggy
Well, as usual here in Norfolk, the usual scaremongering - and it just rains. No thunder, no lightning, just rain. If anyone's scared of storms - move to Norfolk. We're supposed to be the UK's 'tornado alley' and I've never lived anywhere with such consistently boring weather. Regardless of what severe weather warnings are issued, and how the sky goes black as night - it just rains. We had a big flash of lightning in 1994 and it made front page news in the local papers! Severe weather my backside.
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 26 Aug 10 at 01:31
 Severe Weather Warning. - MD
Where do all of the other weather 'sites' get their info then? Surely it will be the Met Office or am I wrong?

My Daughter found a site, the name of which escapes me atm and she said it was rarely incorrect.

M
 Severe Weather Warning. - CGNorwich
Which part of Norfolk Boggy? Seem to get fair share of storms in Norwich. I caught in a severe thunder storm whilst walking the marshes around Horsey last year which was quite scary. Wouldn't describe the weather as boring although it is a lot drier than the west of the country and weather fronts from the SW tend to fizzle out before they get here.
 Severe Weather Warning. - Bromptonaut
>> >around 4 octet..
>>
>> Duh, octa.

Is that few or scattered :p
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