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BBC Thunderbolts - Are they Red, White or Blue... or yellow? (September 2015)

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JJ
Juicy Joe Founding member
Critique posted:
Didn't the old graphics simply have a gradient fade in the same spot so that the cut-off was less noticeable?

The cloud overlay does appear in full with the MeteroGroup graphics when doing the forecast for something like more than 48 hours in the future, so it could just be a case that the more-accurate weather modelling stops at that cut-off point when doing the coming day etc, and there's less of an effort to cover it up than before? I agree that it doesn't look fantastic, although on the whole the graphics have certainly grown on me since their launch.


The old graphics had no cloud overlay - merely darker shading on the map - similar to ITV now - which made it much easier to see what was going on and where the cloud actually was. Now, it is extremely difficult to judge cloud from snow from fog from ice/frost. I thought by now that the BBC would have been removing elements from their map such as the cloud overlay to make it more understandable, rather than adding to them by sticking "Liverpool" on the map.

I agree, the vertical line cut off of the cloud overlay by the weather presenter does look poor.
CH
chris
Juicy Joe posted:
Critique posted:
Didn't the old graphics simply have a gradient fade in the same spot so that the cut-off was less noticeable?

The cloud overlay does appear in full with the MeteroGroup graphics when doing the forecast for something like more than 48 hours in the future, so it could just be a case that the more-accurate weather modelling stops at that cut-off point when doing the coming day etc, and there's less of an effort to cover it up than before? I agree that it doesn't look fantastic, although on the whole the graphics have certainly grown on me since their launch.


The old graphics had no cloud overlay - merely darker shading on the map - similar to ITV now - which made it much easier to see what was going on and where the cloud actually was. Now, it is extremely difficult to judge cloud from snow from fog from ice/frost. I thought by now that the BBC would have been removing elements from their map such as the cloud overlay to make it more understandable, rather than adding to them by sticking "Liverpool" on the map.

I agree, the vertical line cut off of the cloud overlay by the weather presenter does look poor.


Without a doubt ITV’s forecasts are clearer.

36 days later

DV
DVB Cornwall
Nice to see Alex Deakin presenting for The Met Office on SocMedia tonight.



WH
what
Is he contracted to the Met Office as well as ITV, or is he freelancing for extra cash?
CI
cityprod
what posted:
Is he contracted to the Met Office as well as ITV, or is he freelancing for extra cash?


He left the BBC in 2016 and joined the Met Office as an onscreen forecaster. As far as I know, he is not contracted anywhere else other than the Met Office.
LL
London Lite Founding member
Alex as part of his job at the Met Office also presents forecasts on C5 and Forces News.
SC
scottishtv Founding member
cityprod posted:
He left the BBC in 2016 and joined the Met Office as an onscreen forecaster. As far as I know, he is not contracted anywhere else other than the Met Office.

His appearance online isn't new. He's been a regular on the Met Office YouTube forecasts (updated multiple times a day) since late 2016. The Met Office presenters also do good "10 Day Trend" videos, and a relaxed, interactive weekly live stream called "The Weather Studio" too.


The Met Office YouTube channel is worth a sub. Scotland also gets it's own YouTube channel and forecasts too, for some reason.
:-(
A former member
The member requested removal of this post
Last edited by A former member on 26 March 2021 4:39pm
IS
Inspector Sands
Surely the city names are mostly there for when there's weather obscuring the map?

Last weekend for example the forecasts were one big blob of rain and wind covering the UK, pointless without labels pointing out what's underneath
BR
Brekkie
An outline of the British Isles overlayed on the top is the better way to address that.

47 days later

BE
Benjamin1
With many regional weathers now pan-regional, there is a possibility of less presenters being required, so perhaps at ITV they could have 2 instead of 3 hubs at the weekend. Reducing people in offices further.
PF
PFML84
The map is rather small and we see a lot of mainland Europe on the right, surely they could focus more on the UK itself and increase the size of the map. The BBC are only doing this, ITV/C4/C5 all have normal sized maps in comparison.

Also, with the BBC they have upgraded the font to Reith but some elements are still in the old font, I'm surprised they aren't noticed and changed. Sometimes they are in Reith though, so does it depend on the presenter and what graphics they decide to include in their report? I just don't understand how some can use Reith on everything and some are a mixture.

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