Proclaimers of Cloudy Incantations,
In the wake of last evening’s unusually wicked rainstorms in the Kingdom of Fife, it’s worth considering the presentation of our television weather forecasts. The weather bulletins last around two minutes and they are shockingly bad. If our weather bulletins were more detailed, the public could be more educated and better prepared.
The question of what people want from a weather forecast needs to be asked. The best weather segments on British television are the weekly forecast on BBC1’s Countryfile or Country Tracks, these show the weekly forecast in relation to the pressure sequences and weather systems in the Atlantic are discussed in brief, or Radio 5Live’s World Weather with Philip Eden in the middle of Tuesday night, thus the most detail we are accustomed to is the odd isobar chart now and again (the values of the highs and lows aren’t even given). I say the public deserve more data and information: upper atmosphere trends, sea/ocean temperatures, international weather patterns and more. There is no need to patronise us with what is in essence just a guess as to whether it will be wet or dry tomorrow, if that is all the public want to know, they will have to keep referring to forecasts, but if they were informed of other longer-range data, they might be able to understand and make predictions for themselves.
I think there are some fantastic meteorologists in this country but they are denied the chance to educate the public and display their knowledge when reduced to role of mere presenters. For example, cult hero Sean Batty on STV, I have the impression that he is a real enthusiast of meteorology; when he first began on STV news, he’d prepare many interesting graphics, but as time has passed, he has been reduced to symbols and simply delivering a rain verdict for the next day. I miss the days of classic Sean. Another example is Des Coleman on BBC East Midlands, he started off as an actor and now he’s the morning weatherman, he’s a great character, he’s passionate and he’ll have undergone training but surely, the public deserve a time-served graduate of meteorology who might expand their horizons.
I want to know how things will turn out tomorrow, I’m away to lick my finger and hold it in the air.
The question of what people want from a weather forecast needs to be asked. The best weather segments on British television are the weekly forecast on BBC1’s Countryfile or Country Tracks, these show the weekly forecast in relation to the pressure sequences and weather systems in the Atlantic are discussed in brief, or Radio 5Live’s World Weather with Philip Eden in the middle of Tuesday night, thus the most detail we are accustomed to is the odd isobar chart now and again (the values of the highs and lows aren’t even given). I say the public deserve more data and information: upper atmosphere trends, sea/ocean temperatures, international weather patterns and more. There is no need to patronise us with what is in essence just a guess as to whether it will be wet or dry tomorrow, if that is all the public want to know, they will have to keep referring to forecasts, but if they were informed of other longer-range data, they might be able to understand and make predictions for themselves.
I think there are some fantastic meteorologists in this country but they are denied the chance to educate the public and display their knowledge when reduced to role of mere presenters. For example, cult hero Sean Batty on STV, I have the impression that he is a real enthusiast of meteorology; when he first began on STV news, he’d prepare many interesting graphics, but as time has passed, he has been reduced to symbols and simply delivering a rain verdict for the next day. I miss the days of classic Sean. Another example is Des Coleman on BBC East Midlands, he started off as an actor and now he’s the morning weatherman, he’s a great character, he’s passionate and he’ll have undergone training but surely, the public deserve a time-served graduate of meteorology who might expand their horizons.
I want to know how things will turn out tomorrow, I’m away to lick my finger and hold it in the air.
posted by Leif at 10:30 PM
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