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Met Office loses BBC weather forecasting contract after 93 years

theguardian.com

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Re: Met Office loses BBC weather forecasting contract after 93 years

#11

Post by rbritton »

tedajax wrote: post #4
rikkus wrote: post #3

I half-jokingly tell people that if they get their forecast from the BBC (via the Met), they should expect the inverse weather. I wonder if the BBC has checked the quality of the forecasts based on what actually happens? I use AccuWeather and the Aix Weather Widget (for Android) because they're nearly always right (where I live, at least) - and gives me much more useful information. For example, I can't translate the…

I actually learned that the rain percentage is not the percentage chance that it will rain but is in fact the percentage of the coverage area that they will expect to get rain. So 50% rain meaning no rain at all or rain for the whole day is entirely reasonable.

That's funny. I had long suspected that was the case but never knew for sure. It's also important to know where the weather station is for the forecast area too -- here they can cover relatively large areas with significant elevation change, which can greatly affect things like temperature and wind speed.

Re: Met Office loses BBC weather forecasting contract after 93 years

#12

Post by berkut »

ablation wrote: post #7
rwmj wrote: post #5

I've been using the Met Office Android app for some time. The app could use polish, but the data is superb. If you want to know if it's going to rain in the micro-region where you are now, there's nothing like it. Edit: It's this one: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/services/mobile-digital-services...

I'd argue Weather Pro by MeteoGroup is far, far superior. The only thing I find the Met Office app useful for is additional detail on severe weather warnings.

Last few versions on Android they've totally broken from a usability perspective IMO:

* Yellow location search button is now in the way

* Moving the menu to the top means you can't use it one-handed now

* The most useful thing in the app for me (rain radar) now takes two presses to get to, instead of just one

I'm not convinced the accuracy is any better than the Met Office app - the only thing for me which made it more useful was the rain radar images which at least give you some heads up as to rain...

Re: Met Office loses BBC weather forecasting contract after 93 years

#13

Post by rwmj »

berkut wrote: post #12
ablation wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd argue Weather Pro by MeteoGroup is far, far superior. The only thing I find the Met Office app useful for is additional detail on severe weather warnings.

Last few versions on Android they've totally broken from a usability perspective IMO: * Yellow location search button is now in the way * Moving the menu to the top means you can't use it one-handed now * The most useful thing in the app for me (rain radar) now takes two presses to get to, instead of just one I'm not convinced the accuracy is any better than the Met Office app - the only thing for me which made it mo…

To be fair, the Met Office app has usability issues too. Basic stuff like zooming / panning the map is hit and miss.

Re: Met Office loses BBC weather forecasting contract after 93 years

#14

Post by jasoncartwright »

ablation wrote: post #2

Rags like the Daily Mail are FUDding the hell out of this story. The Guardian's take is at least a bit more balanced. Personally, I think it's a good thing. I like the Met Office (and in the interests of disclosure have worked with it on a couple projects) but it shouldn't have an entitlement to providing weather data for the BBC. I'd like to see something like MeteoGroup get the contract. Would be really interesting…

True, although they fail to mention the quoted MP, Ben Bradshaw, is the 'Minister for the South West' and MP for Exeter where the Met Office is based (and employ 700-800 people)

Re: Met Office loses BBC weather forecasting contract after 93 years

#16

Post by keithpeter »

binarymax wrote: post #8

I've lived in the UK for the past 8 years now (having lived in various places in the East Coast USA for the rest of my life). I learned quickly that English weather forecasts are useless past the current day. It is probably due to the geographical location. East Coast US was accurate to 3 to 5 days. I just use Dark Sky[0] to get weather for the next several hours, which is mostly accurate. Given the situation with th…

Yup - you are somewhere on a fairly narrow island with warm water flowing South to North and a cold wind at high altitude blowing West to East (or is it East to West? I always get that mixed up).

It is going to be slightly changeable.

I'm assuming the Met will still bid for the contract, and we shall see who gets it. Pity them the first time they get it badly wrong!

Re: Met Office loses BBC weather forecasting contract after 93 years

#19

Post by s_kilk »

gioele wrote: post #17

Will the main requirement of the tender be being at least X% more accurate than the current provider? Or will it just be a matter of who will offer the cheapest service?

If weather predictions are basically fiction (which they seem to be), then we may as well go with the cheapest fiction.

Re: Met Office loses BBC weather forecasting contract after 93 years

#20

Post by Squarel »

rikkus wrote: post #3

I half-jokingly tell people that if they get their forecast from the BBC (via the Met), they should expect the inverse weather. I wonder if the BBC has checked the quality of the forecasts based on what actually happens? I use AccuWeather and the Aix Weather Widget (for Android) because they're nearly always right (where I live, at least) - and gives me much more useful information. For example, I can't translate the…

The accuracy?

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/who/accuracy/forecasts

There are local variations which mean for example, that if you live in the welsh valleys, someone on one side can be having sun, while on the other side (and in view) there is rain.

The met office does forecasts for a broad area, if you want hyperlocal, wunderground is where I go. The met office could also run forecasts for each london borough, but I doubt you or anyone else would sit through a hyperlocal forecast on the news.

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