28 Jun 2015

Heatwave? - NOT amateur radio

So the Met Office (our weather bureau) is forecasting a heatwave. Many is the time I have said they should buy new seaweed as their forecasts are so wrong so often despite their investment in multi-million  pound supercomputers.

Currently we have rain here!

Yesterday, next Saturday (we have grandchildren here) was forecast to be a good sunny day. Now the forecast is rain. The best forecast is to see what is expected by the Met Office and assume the exact opposite. Unless we have a great big high pressure system over us their forecasts are useless. The week before this, when we went to Jersey for a week, (June 13-20th)  the weather was (at best) expected to be "mixed". We had glorious sunshine most days all day long. Sorry, but I am not impressed. I hear the many excuses for poor forecasts, but give us a "confidence reading" for the forecast if you don't know. A poor forecast is no use at all!

Met Office? - pathetic. 3/10 "could do better".

The best forecasts seem to be to stick your head out the window and look.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bit unfair there Roger. I believe the modern forecasters are pretty accurate most of the time.

Best regards

Mike

Roger G3XBM said...

Mike, I TOTALLY disagree! It seems they only get it right when we have very predictable weather patterns. I have totally lost count of the number of times a forecast just a few days out is SO wrong. With the HUGE investment in super-computers they should do a much better job. Sorry, but I'd like a forecast I could trust in.

Bert, PA1B said...

Hello Roger, I remember when I started as a HAM, I made CW QSO's with G stn's. They would often report the whether that we would have the NEXT day here in PA. Hi. So . . .
73, Bert