The Weather Forecast Thread

Yes

(joke)

I haven't been calling for resignations left, right and centre as you suggest.

They've spent £1m of public money.

They didn't test it properly.

They were surprised that people found it confusing and poorly implemented.

They're now spending more money trying to fix it.

How much more money should be wasted before someone stands up and takes responsibility?

And it's not just me- the former editor of the BBC Weather Centre has also been calling for heads to roll. Some choice quotes:















This guy knows what he's talking about. The people who have followed him into office clearly don't, and they should be made to pay the price.

I suppose the cow pat and urine will still be there

that's probably why he is so against the strikes. He likes the idea of heads rolling.

However I agree entirely on every single point made in the above post although I do lack a braind which may explain why I feel like this.

Regards dumfries - the old look had a rain graphic very similar to the new one except that it didn't animate. boo hoo.

ITV1 - please could you explain why in terms of USEFULNESS the new system is better? Then explain how a poorly animated, poorly rendered and poorly textured map is better than a slightly poorly animated beautifully rendered and textured map.

Reading some of the other posts it has come to my attention that £1Million of licence fee money has been spent on the graphics. Why waste so much on a system that is significantly worse than what had been there previously? And I'm sure that £1Million could have been put to better use (like safeguarding some people's jobs at the BBC...)

Isobars spotted on the Countryfile forecast... Yes - the farming forecast in Countryfile included a couple of static, not very nice, isobar maps.

They didn't animate in the way the old isobar sequences did, so it was less clear how the fronts were moving, and in design terms it all looked a bit spindly and the front symbols were a bit too small.

At least it demonstrates that isobars are possible though.

I think one of the key issues with the new system - ignoring the graphics, colour scheme, symbols etc. - is the lack of flexibility it seems is now present to actually present the right forecast information.

The new charts seem entirely automatically generated from Met Office data, allowing no modification from expert forecasters to reflect possible errors in the automated forecast. If this is the case, what is the point of having a skilled forecaster present, especially if they have to contradict the graphics behind them...

(For those that don't know - the new maps are automatically generated from met office computer models - whereas the old symbol charts were generated manually by a forecaster placing symbols on the map manually. The latter allowed individual interpretation - especially important in local forecasts - where local knowledge often contradicts the Exeter/Bracknell "diktat", whereas the former means you have to contradict the automatic maps, which are just a computer's educated, calculated "best guess")

Like less than a thousand for a month when four thousand are going? Good logic, kid.

Obviously not for everyone but can still safeguard some jobs nonetheless.

I was watching back my recording of "Breakfast" on 16th June when the new weather was launched.

It's quite ironic that after Breakfast finishes at 9.15am, the very next thing to be shown is a trail for "How Art Made The World" - an edition about symbols and pictograms, and how they have evolved since the time of cavemen.

To transcribe:

"Imagine a world without signs, symbols or even pictures.

(Cut to pictures of wayfinding signs at railway stations with the arrows, train/toilet symbols, etc. disappearing*)

This is the extraordinary story of how we humans discovered the power of images.

See how our ancestors created the way our world looks today."

*Funny, because that's exactly what happened to the weather.

Do you mean 16th May, as if your are referring to the current new set of graphics, as 16th June 2005 is yet to happen.

I agree with much of your statement, and I'm always weary of organisations defending their mistakes by saying ''But public opinion told us...'' That said, sacking people really isn't going to help matters.

I do think the lack of any 'weather advice' boards, other than these new ''WINDY TODAY'' or ''SUNNY BUT WET'' things at the start of the bulletin is a little pathetic. Then again, there's not yet been a need for them.

I think the graphics would be perfect for regional forecasts, where it's really obvious what's happening and you can see it in greater detail. Now we're zoomed out even more, it is a little problematic.

Oh dear - I wish I could say I'd seen 18 days into the future and that there had been a change back to the old graphics, but I can't...

I wonder if the good Doctor could tell us what BBC Weather Graphics look like 12 months from now?!

BTW Who's up for releasing an unofficial 'Best of BBC Weather 1985-2005' DVD, and seeing how well it sells?

Now that's just unprovoked nastiness

I want the heads AND bodies of all those useless excess lumps to roll



Beheading is just plain wrong.