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How to interpret and use the BBC/Met Office forecasts...


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Posted
  • Location: Failsworth, Manchester - alt: 93m
  • Weather Preferences: Hot sunshine and thunderstorms. Mild in winter.
  • Location: Failsworth, Manchester - alt: 93m

This may seem like a pretty pointless thread, but hear me out. It seems like a lot of people have difficulty interpreting the BBC/Met Office weather forecasts in relation to thunderstorms, so I'm going to try and help you. :)

 

As we know, there is a possibility of thunderstorms this upcoming Saturday and into Sunday, and this is currently the forecast that the BBC/Met Office has issued me, at this stage, so we'll use this as an example:

 

post-21671-0-30314900-1439985795_thumb.p

 

As you can see, the BBC/Met Office have given me the "thunderstorm" symbol for 22:00 on Saturday. First thing's first, this does not mean that at bang on 22:00 a massive overhead thunderstorm is going to blow over my area with 100% certainty. Instead it means that there is a risk of me hearing thunder at some point late Saturday, and into the early hours of Sunday. This risk does not even come close to 100% certainty and is simply a warning that the conditions favour thunderstorm development, so that there could be thunder in the vicinity of the Manchester area during the later hours of Saturday/early hours of Sunday.

 

Furthermore let's remember that all of these forecasts are computer-generated. The system has essentially analysed the models itself and produced a forecast for this area, which has had absolutely no human interpretation at this point. This again is the reason why you should take these forecasts with a pinch of salt and a bit of common sense.

 

I hope this has helped you.

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Posted
  • Location: Newton Poppleford, Devon, UK
  • Weather Preferences: Thunderstorms, Snow, High Winds.
  • Location: Newton Poppleford, Devon, UK

Thanks for the post, Scott! As most of you can imagine, this has helped me! LOL :D

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Posted
  • Location: Failsworth, Manchester - alt: 93m
  • Weather Preferences: Hot sunshine and thunderstorms. Mild in winter.
  • Location: Failsworth, Manchester - alt: 93m

Thanks for the post, Scott! As most of you can imagine, this has helped me! LOL :D

 

Cheers William. :)

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Posted
  • Location: Ash Vale, Surrey/Hampshire border
  • Weather Preferences: Sunny Spells or thunderstorms.
  • Location: Ash Vale, Surrey/Hampshire border

Very good,well done

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Posted
  • Location: Wigan
  • Location: Wigan

that thunder symbol will be removed soon for a drizzle symbol regarding the nw , if it hasn't done already , not checked yet , not expecting anything in these parts, whatever the 'risk' is percentage wise

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  • 2 weeks later...
Posted
  • Location: South Norfolk, 44 m ASL.
  • Weather Preferences: Varied and not extreme.
  • Location: South Norfolk, 44 m ASL.

Very useful guide, not only for new members but also, I'd have thought, for the average punter who seems to think that these purely model-driven "forecasts" have human input or are somehow supposed to be "guarantees" that the weather type shown is going to occur.

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Posted
  • Location: Failsworth, Manchester - alt: 93m
  • Weather Preferences: Hot sunshine and thunderstorms. Mild in winter.
  • Location: Failsworth, Manchester - alt: 93m

Very useful guide, not only for new members but also, I'd have thought, for the average punter who seems to think that these purely model-driven "forecasts" have human input or are somehow supposed to be "guarantees" that the weather type shown is going to occur.

 

Cheers. :)

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