Wrong Weather Forcast AGAIN!!!

NWLondoner

ALL week they were saying Saturday was going to be freezing cold 2'c and with the wind chill would be more like -3.

So this morning 6.30am i am all kitted out and decided to wear my full jacket instead of my gillet as well as my skull cap. As a Kojak a need some extra protection up there.

After a few miles i realised that they had got it wrong again.

I felt like an oven ready turkey!!!

dodgy

That's weird, because the forecaster 'told' you it was cold, you just leave your house and trust them? If they had told you it was going to be 28 decs C would you leave the house in shorts and flip flops? :P

I have a temperature sensor in my garden and I go by that and I know how many layers I need according to the indicated temperature and influences such as wind/rain.

If you don't have such a sensor, you can look at the actual temperature in your area by using one of the many local weather stations on wunderground - http://www.wunderground.com/global/UK.html There will be a station within 5 or 10 miles usually.

Sirius631

If it's beautiful weather in London, the forecast leads with what a beautiful day it is, irrespective of how cr*p the weather is for the rest of the country. The only reason the weather presenters know which end of the British Isle is north is because that is where they predict foul conditions.

The cold was meant to be in Scotland and on the NE coast this morning. It's easy to get confused if you're used to hearing London mentioned first all the time.

NWLondoner

Even BBC London last night were saying how cold is was going to be.

I even checked the Met office before i went to be last night.

In future i'll just stick it outside the window and if it drops off i'll wear a jacket :twisted:

Slow Downcp

I look at the forecast the day before for an indication, but still go outside before I get kitted up to see how cold it actually is.

owenlars

My reading is that they have it spot on so far today. Generally cold with a moderate Northerly wind. A mass of cold, dry air from the Arctic is tracking down the country courtesy of an area of high pressure in the Atlantic and will hit London this evening, When this is hit by tomorrows westerly winds which will bring warmer moist air from the Atlantic, courtesy of an area of low pressure to the North West of Scotland, the wet stuff in the warm air will come out as sleet and snow.

The trick in knowing exactly where and when the snow hits is to gauge how quickly the areas of high and low pressure move and in what direction.

This is subject to loads of variables and is the reason why the big picture is invariably pretty accurate but, to tell you exactly what the conditions will be in Acacia Avenue, Stoke Poges, at a particular time is a little more difficult.

Sorry about the lecture! I am also nothing to do with the met office just have a healthy interest in weather because I both cycle and fly light aircraft in it.

OffTheBackAdam

Weather in Lincolnshire.
Bloody freezing!
Snowing in Cleethorpes, sayeth Lincs FM.
London's probably several degrees warmer due to the Human Island Effect.

fossyant

Cold in South Manchester and Windy about 3-4c all day. There were a fair few cyclists out in it !!!

andyp

Sirius631 wrote:

If it's beautiful weather in London, the forecast leads with what a beautiful day it is, irrespective of how cr*p the weather is for the rest of the country. The only reason the weather presenters know which end of the British Isle is north is because that is where they predict foul conditions.

The cold was meant to be in Scotland and on the NE coast this morning. It's easy to get confused if you're used to hearing London mentioned first all the time.

What utter tosh. The BBC weather forecast is so concerned with being seen to be national that London, always lumped in with "the south of England" gets a cursory mention, despite it being the largest concentration of population in the country. Given the number of people who actually live in Wales and the Scottish Highlands one can only assume that the weather forecast is primarily for the benefit of the millions of sheep there.

Captain Fagor

andyp wrote:

What utter tosh. The BBC weather forecast is so concerned with being seen to be national that London, always lumped in with "the south of England" gets a cursory mention, despite it being the largest concentration of population in the country.

"Being seen to be national"? Well guess what, andyp - it IS a national forecast, and despite London being the home of over 7.5 million people, there's another 53 million of us spread around the country.

Based on that sickeningly cheery Carol Kirkland's forecast on BBC's Breakfast, I wouldn't agree with your "cursory mention" either. Even the perspective of the BBC map is geared toward showing the south of the country in more detail than the North.

andyp

I should've bet on that - I knew someone from either Scotland or Wales would respond.

The UK population is split as follows;

England 51 million
Scotland 5 million
Wales 3 million
NI 1.8 million

Which totals just over 60 million. A national forecast of 1 minute duration should, therefore, spend 51 seconds on England, 5 on Scotland, 3 on Wales and 2 on NI. It doesn't. So my point remains, the focus is on the lesser populated areas to the detriment of those areas of the country where most people actually live.

Captain Fagor

Actually, I don't have a problem with that logic. But I bet London would get more than 7.5 seconds.

By the way, my previous post wasn't about how much focus each country gets - it was about the attention London receives relative the the rest of the UK. Being a UK citizen, nationality should be an irrelevance in this discussion. Personally, I blame two people for this: (1) Tony Blair for giving the Scottish the vote for establishing their joke Parilament and (2) Mel Gibson who fuelled the misplaced desire for independence. :twisted:

Sirius631

Captain Fagor wrote:

Based on that sickeningly cheery Carol Kirkland's forecast on BBC's Breakfast, I wouldn't agree with your "cursory mention" either.

Who? Wheezy? Why can't she learn to breath? I'm worried that if she had a long sentance, she'd pass out through lack of oxygen!

wildmoustache

Captain Fagor wrote:

Actually, I don't have a problem with that logic. But I bet London would get more than 7.5 seconds.

By the way, my previous post wasn't about how much focus each country gets - it was about the attention London receives relative the the rest of the UK. Being a UK citizen, nationality should be an irrelevance in this discussion. Personally, I blame two people for this: (1) Tony Blair for giving the Scottish the vote for establishing their joke Parilament and (2) Mel Gibson who fuelled the misplaced desire for independence. :twisted:

it tends to just be london and south-east in forecasts though ... which means about 20m population ... so we should get 20 seconds of the 1 minute forecast!

I listen to the Radio 4 Today Programme forecasts everyday ... and agree with Andy ... it substitutes sheep for humans in wales and the Scottish highlands

Billios

Sheep need to know the weather too you know. Since you have the wonder of the interweb to gibber on about it for god knows how long every day...why dont you just pop over to weather.co.uk, or www.bbc.co.uk/weather or www.metoffice.gov.uk (dont wanna seem impartial), slap in your postcode and be done with it.

wildmoustache

Billios wrote:

Sheep need to know the weather too you know. Since you have the wonder of the interweb to gibber on about it for god knows how long every day...why dont you just pop over to weather.co.uk, or www.bbc.co.uk/weather or www.metoffice.gov.uk (dont wanna seem impartial), slap in your postcode and be done with it.

No way. that would remove the need for a meaningless dispute.

Billios

Oh yeh, I forgot.....silly me. By the way, since I quite like to go cycling in mid wales (and being welsh) I quite like to know the weather in the parts where there are no people. No people -> No cars + Great scenery...what cycling is usually all about...that and excruciatingly long hills.