# The new BBC weather forecast is shit. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 17, 2005, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-bbc-weather-forecast-is-shit/304307 "2005-05-17T21:43:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5ac83/32.png) [@The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mad_Hermit)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-bbc-weather-forecast-is-shit/304307/21 "2005-05-19T05:11:12Z")
I hope this isn’t a whoosh. You do realize that it’s a satellite projection, and the colors are somewhat realistic? The point of view is from geostationary orbit, it’s the only stable place that a satellite can “park” and have continuous coverage of your whole country. Is weather radar a regular part of the broadcasts? Here, most weather reports start and end with a general forecast, and the middle is radar data from whatever source they buy it from. Are there Doppler radar sites spead across the UK and Europe that have public weather access? I ask this because the questions and comments here sound like you’re talking about weather forecasts from the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-bbc-weather-forecast-is-shit/304307/22 "2005-05-19T08:31:58Z")
> [@The Mad Hermit](#): > > You do realize that it’s a satellite projection, and the colors are somewhat realistic?.. > > Is weather radar a regular part of the broadcasts? Here, most weather reports start and end with a general forecast, and the middle is radar data from whatever source they buy it from. Are there Doppler radar sites spead across the UK and Europe that have public weather access? > > I ask this because the questions and comments here sound like you’re talking about weather forecasts from the 1970s. Heh heh, sounds like you’re talking about forecasts from the 1990s 😉 It’s not a satellite projection - it’s a completely new 3D computer-generated model. The Met Office has invested in a huge system to automatically create this visual model of the weather, from all the data they receive. It’s possible for the forecasters to change the projection to any angle they want. Which is why we’ve got the Scots griping that they’re being left furthest away, in the ‘default’ projection. Plus the usual British whine of ‘but why change it?’, and then ignore the valid answers (such as what I’ve said earlier). ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-bbc-weather-forecast-is-shit/304307/23 "2005-05-19T12:38:47Z")
Apart from your “answers” aren’t a valid reason to change the projection at all, are they? You stated that the old one needed changing so as to be more accurate, yet these changes could have been implemented on the old top down projection easily. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-bbc-weather-forecast-is-shit/304307/24 "2005-05-19T12:48:22Z")
What’s the problem with Scotland being shown as far away? It _is_ far away. Even the people who live there think it’s far away. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-bbc-weather-forecast-is-shit/304307/25 "2005-05-19T12:51:36Z")
> [@+MDI](#): > > Apart from your “answers” aren’t a valid reason to change the projection at all, are they? You stated that the old one needed changing so as to be more accurate, yet these changes could have been implemented on the old top down projection easily. Would they? I don’t see that combinations of, say, frost cover and cloud, could be clearly shown on the new system without an angled projection. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-bbc-weather-forecast-is-shit/304307/26 "2005-05-19T12:56:03Z")
Oh, and you’re still claiming there’s only one projection being used, ignoring my pointing out that there’s been forecasts already which concentrated on Scotland. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-bbc-weather-forecast-is-shit/304307/27 "2005-05-19T13:03:50Z")
Ahh, great, Scotland gets allocated a set number of forecasts a week. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-bbc-weather-forecast-is-shit/304307/28 "2005-05-19T13:06:08Z")
> [@+MDI](#): > > Ahh, great, Scotland gets allocated a set number of forecasts a week. :rolleyes: That’s not what I said. When the situation over Scotland needs particular focus, it gets it. When the situation over southern England needs particular focus, it gets it. What’s the problem with that? ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-bbc-weather-forecast-is-shit/304307/29 "2005-05-19T13:07:09Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > What’s the problem with Scotland being shown as far away? It _is_ far away. Even the people who live there think it’s far away. Hey, just 'cos it’s far away from your ButterLand! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-bbc-weather-forecast-is-shit/304307/30 "2005-05-19T22:47:10Z")
Well, it looks like you aren’t the only one who hates it: [article](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/britain_weather_storm)… ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-bbc-weather-forecast-is-shit/304307/31 "2005-05-19T22:53:20Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > What’s the problem with Scotland being shown as far away? It _is_ far away. Even the people who live there think it’s far away. Anyplace you can drive to in a day is _not_ far away. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-bbc-weather-forecast-is-shit/304307/32 "2005-05-19T22:54:47Z")
> [@tremorviolet](#): > > Well, it looks like you aren’t the only one who hates it: [article](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/britain_weather_storm)… “Something changes…some people complaing”…bread & butter for English reporting. And having a chance to bash the BBC makes them feel like David. As I’ve already said, I never got a meaningful forecast from the standard broadcasts. (And as for any of the complaints cropping up all over the place about not showing fronts…when did you last see fronts on a BBC forecase?) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-bbc-weather-forecast-is-shit/304307/33 "2005-05-19T22:56:02Z")
> [@This Year's Model](#): > > Anyplace you can drive to in a day is _not_ far away. Tell that to a Glaswegian 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2005, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-bbc-weather-forecast-is-shit/304307/34 "2005-05-19T23:34:10Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan(And as for any of the complaints cropping up all over the place about not showing fronts…when did you last see fronts on a BBC forecase?)[/QUOTE] You’re kidding, right? _Every_main forecast used to show fronts. [Look here.](http://www.dxradio.co.uk/weather/weather.jpg) [Look here.](http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/maps/eurpresppn012.jpg) That isn’t party bunting, it’s fucking _weather fronts_. Isobars. You know, things that actually _tell you what’s going on with the weather_ but which the BBC apparently deems us too stupid to understand. Now look at the new graphics: [Yuck.](http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/bbcweather/images/bbcweather_gr_alexdeakinuk.jpg). [No info here either](http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/bbcweather/images/bbcweather_gr_raineurope.jpg). [Nope, still just a lot of beige crud](http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/charts/uk/uk_cloud_05052010.jpg). Oh, and look at this [drivel](http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/bbcweather/features/graphics_whychange.shtml). > [@](#): > > Today’s media industry is like a shark, either you keep moving forward or you are dead in the water. Apart from being ungrammatical, which overpaid empty-headed image consultant circa 1987 wrote that little platitude? They might as well say “Change for change’s sake - otherwise how can you justify paying shitloads of fat executives shitloads of cash to do fuck all?” Wankers. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2005, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-bbc-weather-forecast-is-shit/304307/35 "2005-05-20T07:45:14Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > You’re kidding, right? _Every_main forecast used to show fronts. I’m really not sure that _every_ forecast did. The eight-minute ones on News 24, maybe, but not the half-six bulletin for Grandma. > [@](#): > > [Yuck.](http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/bbcweather/images/bbcweather_gr_alexdeakinuk.jpg). That one’s an excellent example of my point about the old symbols being inaccurate by their generality. What single symbol would you put on East Anglia to represent what you’re seeing? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-new-bbc-weather-forecast-is-shit/304307.md?page=1)