anonguest Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 The main reason, apparently, that the Met Office lost the contract to supply the BBC weather information, is that they asked the BBC to broadcast the weather using American style prediction accuracy - and the BBC said that the British public wouldn't understand prediction accuracy as it's too complex for them (e.g. there's an 80% chance of high winds, etc). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/bbc/11819164/Met-Office-lost-BBC-contract-over-dumbing-down-rows-and-weather-app.html "There have also been ongoing rows with the corporation over requests by the Met Office to include probabilities in their broadcasts as happens in the US. But the BBC believes that the public will not understand more complex forecasts." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 What use is a "phone app" anyway? You can see the Internet on modern phones, so why not go straight to the web page. I think perhaps the UK Met Office might have more expertise than some of these foreign johnnies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Executive Sadman Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Why would brits need to be educated about the weather?! Its basically always 0-25c here, moderate breeze and light drizzle. In the US you get tornadoes,hurricanes,45c heat, -45c windchills, feet of snow, freezing rain storms, droughts measured in years instead of days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTMark Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 The Billy Connolly piece on weather was hilarious and very pertinent to this. This won't embed as it points at a specific time index so has to open a new window: .. and there was the Fast Show.. Partner has an app on his phone. The other day, it said "light rain starting in 4 minutes, lasting for 10 minutes". And it was right. Spot on. Found that quite creepy. Personally I don't care for the "ridge of high pressure" stuff. I don't care. Just tell me what the weather is going to be like. Or, just have the board, and show the icons at 9am, noon, and evening. That's all that's really needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Executive Sadman Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 What use is a "phone app" anyway? You can see the Internet on modern phones, so why not go straight to the web page. I think perhaps the UK Met Office might have more expertise than some of these foreign johnnies. I think its more of a case of computer models doing most of it now...go onto weather forums and look at the forecast models (UKMO/metoffice, GFS/yank one, ECM/European one) and none are continuously any more accurate than others. The climatology and online weather forum communities all seem left wing and probably dont like the increasing marketization of weather forecasting, personally I dont see a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkG Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 The climatology and online weather forum communities all seem left wing and probably dont like the increasing marketization of weather forecasting, personally I dont see a problem. The problem is that people who are paying for weather forecasts expect results, not left-wing fairy tales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Masked Tulip Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 BBC says it is legally obliged to get the best value for licence payers re tendering this contract - so why doesn't it put out all the newsreader jobs for tender? I assume I could undercut the salaries of several of them by several hundred thousands pounds each and do as good a job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 I've got my own barometer! Today is says "change". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turned Out Nice Again Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 I once worked for a few months on the BBC Weather website. Met Office JSON feeds. Happy days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormymonday_2011 Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 The main reason, apparently, that the Met Office lost the contract to supply the BBC weather information, is that they asked the BBC to broadcast the weather using American style prediction accuracy - and the BBC said that the British public wouldn't understand prediction accuracy as it's too complex for them (e.g. there's an 80% chance of high winds, etc). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/bbc/11819164/Met-Office-lost-BBC-contract-over-dumbing-down-rows-and-weather-app.html "There have also been ongoing rows with the corporation over requests by the Met Office to include probabilities in their broadcasts as happens in the US. But the BBC believes that the public will not understand more complex forecasts." The BBC daily forecast is utter crap and the sh*tty graphics give me vertigo. FFS why do they need to pan around the British Isles. Do they think most of us can not identify the part of the UK in which we live from a national map ? Apart from the countryside forecast you will rarely ever see an isobar or front displayed. Has this country becomes low brow that we can not read a basic weather map. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Actually the BBC weather interface is rather carp. A few years back you could see a whole world temperature map, and I liked that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StainlessSteelCat Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Erm...I rather like the BBC weather app and the forecasts are about 80-90% there (astonishing given I live on the edge of mountains). It's a great shame for the Met Office, of course - but I thought this was exactly the kind of thing the Tories would celebrate; the BBC outsourcing its weather to the cheapest/best value global player. It should be no surprise to anyone that wouldn't be a UK based organisation. I suspect it's been done deliberately by the BBC too. And I agree with the masked Tulip on the news presenters. It still sticks in my craw that a news presenter a few years back who'd I'd personally never seen before revealed on air when challenged she was on £70K. Goodness knows how much the famous faces are getting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Hovis Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 I hear my forecast on the radio and they do all this probability stuff already. However I don't want a huge lecture as I'm not that interested, just tell me if it's likely to be sunny or rainy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrPin Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 The BBC knows how to spend other people's money. It's because they have a privileged position, as the "state" broadcaster. There are so many more entertainments now, that I think traditional TV is F8cked. BBC can make good drama when they try, and Radio3 is a gem. The Met Office is a modern day Mystic Meg, and I don't know how they are funded. Used to be the Air Ministry, so we knew when to bomb Germany. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecrashingisles Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 John Kettley is a weatherman. And so is Michael Fish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bossybabe Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Actually the BBC weather interface is rather carp. A few years back you could see a whole world temperature map, and I liked that. I think they still do that on BBC World. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anonguest Posted August 24, 2015 Author Share Posted August 24, 2015 Yes yes yes folks. All very interesting comments and thoughts, but......what about the original accusation that the British public can't handle something as simple as probabilities/percentages? That condescending stance was my gripe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the gardener Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Yes yes yes folks. All very interesting comments and thoughts, but......what about the original accusation that the British public can't handle something as simple as probabilities/percentages? That condescending stance was my gripe.I think the public probably could cope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StainlessSteelCat Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Yes yes yes folks. All very interesting comments and thoughts, but......what about the original accusation that the British public can't handle something as simple as probabilities/percentages? That condescending stance was my gripe. The crazy state of the housing market in this country should tell you all you need to know about the ability of the public to understand basic maths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiveinHope Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 I think its more of a case of computer models doing most of it now...go onto weather forums and look at the forecast models (UKMO/metoffice, GFS/yank one, ECM/European one) and none are continuously any more accurate than others. The climatology and online weather forum communities all seem left wing and probably dont like the increasing marketization of weather forecasting, personally I dont see a problem. Are you referring to Jeremy Corbyn's brother ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Yes yes yes folks. All very interesting comments and thoughts, but......what about the original accusation that the British public can't handle something as simple as probabilities/percentages? That condescending stance was my gripe. That is not the reason......more to do with the best most accurate service for best vaue for money....choices, BBC far too set in its ways in many ways...change can be a good thing, change is what the BBC needs in many areas, a change of weather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiveinHope Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Yes yes yes folks. All very interesting comments and thoughts, but......what about the original accusation that the British public can't handle something as simple as probabilities/percentages? That condescending stance was my gripe. "Dumbing down" - where does it come from ? Who gives themselves the right to stipulate that the rest of society aren't as clever as they are? Because of another thread on OT I was prompted to watch an episode of the Southern TV programme HOW, a programme, which I grew up with as a child (along with other stalwarts such as the World About Us). The HOW presenters used words like Resilin and Protein without the need for any explanation, and they discussed the similarity between bat's echo location and auto focus cameras - for kids. When did the public become so patronised, and why ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahBell Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 BBC says it is legally obliged to get the best value for licence payers re tendering this contract - so why doesn't it put out all the newsreader jobs for tender? I assume I could undercut the salaries of several of them by several hundred thousands pounds each and do as good a job. +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
libspero Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Perhaps going off on a tangent, but the best way to judge the weather is to actually look at the satellite data / weather maps. Weather can vary so much over a few kilometres that a general forecast is never going to tell you much more than you could work out by looking out of the window. MeteoEarth is a good app (or web page). It has a google earth style interface that you can layer with wind, rain, cloud, temperature and pressure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steppenpig Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 the BBC said that the British public wouldn't understand prediction accuracy as it's too complex for them Oh, if only the BBC had a remit to educate the nation or something, this would be a perfect opportunity. Shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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