BBC Weather Vs. Any Other

[Jason Green]

Hi,

I personally find the BBC's weather, both on television and the website, are far more clear and definative than that of other channels.

What do you think?

[wildherbalian85]

I agree. I think the worst weather forcasts are those found on ITV. Sky news i would rank a second to BBC but they are often poorly scripted and quite boring.

[Jason Green]

I often go by the shading that represents clouds. Often the rain will arrive on time as well!

[Ukwildlifeo]

They were spot on today. Planned my day perfectly - though there not always so good. Better than elsewhere thou

[Jez]

Paul Damari on BBC Hereford & Worcestershire is 99.9% correct 365 "you the man Paul"!

[ChrisJB]

BBC telly weather and the website are great. But which ever channel Dan Corbett or Rob McElwee are on I'd watch.

Regards, Chris

[kev747]

The BBC is better to watch and more detailed but still often changes from the evening before to the next morning which is highly annoying when planning a day out.The other thing which confuses me is when you look on their website it is often different from what they say on TV. Take tomorrow for Leicester. Tv says cloudy all day and no sun at all, the website says sunny intervals all day.This happens all the time too.

[Perry Grin]

Originally Posted by Jason Green

Hi,

I personally find the BBC's weather, both on television and the website, are far more clear and definative than that of other channels.

What do you think?

I use metcheck which I find reasonably reliable

Metcheck.com - UK Weather Forecasts - Live Data - Long Range Weather Forecasts

[PMG]

Yes I use BBC telly weather forecasts too - tho as already said by Kev they do seem to change from the one watched at night to the next morning - annoying as stated when planning a day out in a certain direction.........

I've found the Met Office online to be correct mostly - right down to the times stated - I'm a saddo and sometimes print the info out and take it with me just to prove how right or wrong they are!

Met Office: UK: forecast

Will have a look now at Metcheck and see how I like that.......

Pauline

PS Yes I do like the looks of Metcheck - there's plenty there to suss out!

[Jason Green]

Kev747 said:

... but still often changes from the evening before to the next morning which is highly annoying when planning a day out.

Annoying as you say, but is perhaps a strength as well as it keeps you updated?

Then you said:

The other thing which confuses me is when you look on their website it is often different from what they say on TV.

So which do you and other WAB'ers think is more reliable, the TV or the website?

[Billy Wobble Dagger]

I think they keep changing the reports because you can't predict 100% what the weather will do. The met office get information in all the time, a small change in wind direction say at 40,000ft is all that it takes to change your weather for the next day.
Where I work we have a met office down the corridor and it is really fasinating to get a weather brief each morning and just see how the predicted weather patterns change over a week. I think excluding wind speed they get it right most of the time.

BWD

[galanthus]

met office online is my preference too. Usually amazingly accurate down an hour

[RobSutton]

Originally Posted by Perry Grin

I use metcheck which I find reasonably reliable

Metcheck.com - UK Weather Forecasts - Live Data - Long Range Weather Forecasts

I'd second Metcheck - it seems to be more frequently updated than the BBC weather. It's also the one that the Cave Rescue teams here in the Dales use and they need to be pretty clued up on the weather.

[hank]

I use the BBC weather website too.
I also use this one for longer range forecasts .................

45 day outlook

[kev747]

Originally Posted by Jason Green

Annoying as you say, but is perhaps a strength as well as it keeps you updated?

No,quite the contrary as you make plans the day before and the next day its changed.I got off a train in the peak district last Wednesday only to be told as I walked towards Hathersage(on my personal radio) that the clouds would now stay and it would rain later on instead of being sunny.A bit too late! If you watch the weather for the week ahead on countryfile and its often wrong past Monday.

So which do you and other WAB'ers think is more reliable, the TV or the website?

The Tv but only on the morning of the forecast.

[Jason Green]

Thanks for pointing out MetCheck, looks good!

[wildflower]

I use the met office online a lot they seem to get it right ..The rest of the time i watch the sky myself.

[PMG]

Originally Posted by Jason Green

Thanks for pointing out MetCheck, looks good!

Yes thanks from me too - it does look good - plenty of detail to think about

Pauline

[Gill Catton]

Another one here for metcheck, since I found it I have never looked back! - particularly useful is the predicted amount of rainfall in mm so you can have more info about how heavy a shower might be. and whether its something you feel you could protect your camera or clipboard from!

[hank]

Another one I use will show you where the thunder and lightening storms are.

Live storm data from Newport, Isle of Wight from a Boltek StormTracker lightning detector

[Adam Cheeseman]

Depends what you want from your forecasts. BBC may be all singing and dancing, but they aren'y very acurate. Try this website:

Metcheck.com - UK Weather Forecasts - Live Data - Long Range Weather Forecasts

Cheers,

Adam

[Jason Green]

Yes, the Met Office one looks good. After all, they provide the data for the BBC.

OK, what's your order of preference between the BBC Weather (TV/Website), MetCheck, Met Office Online or any others?

Mine:
1. MetCheck
2. BBC Weather (TV/Website)
3. Met Office Online

[Geoff F]

I'm chiefly interested in coastal wind strength and direction so I prefer the Magic Seaweed web site forecast. Basically a surf site. Very localised and also gives weather conditions every 4 hours.

But probably not much use for those who live inland.

[Meta menardi]

Originally Posted by Adam Cheeseman

Depends what you want from your forecasts. BBC may be all singing and dancing, but they aren'y very acurate.

I am a noted curmudgeon (coaches stop outside the house and they say "that is the curmudgeon's house"), but I think the visuals on the BBC forecast look like someone waving an old army blanket while a rather poor torch is pointed at it. It does not illuminate or clarify.

I love the shipping forecast on Radio 4 (see, I said I was old).. If you record the synopsis and the rest, you can draw your own weather maps with surprising accuracy. Not what you want when you aren't sure weather (!) to take an ice axe, but very good when you can't sleep in the early morning.

[James M]

Originally Posted by kev747

The BBC is better to watch and more detailed but still often changes from the evening before to the next morning which is highly annoying when planning a day out.The other thing which confuses me is when you look on their website it is often different from what they say on TV. Take tomorrow for Leicester. Tv says cloudy all day and no sun at all, the website says sunny intervals all day.This happens all the time too.

Well sometimes unexpected developments occur that no computer system or forecaster can predict so the changes can't be helped. As for the difference with the TV and the website, the website inaccurate alot of the time (the five days forecasts) because I think it's just data from a computer with no forecaster input, whereas the TV has, I could be wrong but thats just the feeling I get. So anyway always stick with the BBC Tv weather forecasts.