Kitchen Garden Forum

A topic we often discuss, here's a fun game devised by the met office to help us judge what the weather will do

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/weather-game/

OH always gets it right,

True OH?
Did you play the game Geoff ?
I had a go, result - I was as good as a seasoned meteorologist
Not sure what that signifies, OH might be better than them.

Geoff wrote:OH always gets it right,

Indeed he does, Geoff!

His signature - It'll either rain or get dark - is always accurate for NW Wales - on both counts

I believe there is another bucket load on it's way to you at the moment Alan.

Nature's Babe wrote:
I had a go, result - I was as good as a seasoned meteorologist

..................................

I believe there is another bucket load on it's way to you at the moment Alan.

Hmm. I take it you mean by "seasoned meteorologist" the folk at the met office

According to their forecast we should currently be having winds of 32mph rising to 35mph by midday. In fact there has been no more than what I would call a "stiff breeze" overnight continuing now. And it's not raining - but at least they said it would be fine.

I'm sure it's worse further north, but here we are a bare mile from the sea on a south-facing coast in NW Wales. Off to have a look at the sea this morning.

That is why I was rolling my eyes Alan, they are often wrong here too, but then I guess it's not that easy. Actually the game was more about how well we read and interpret their forecasts.

I did eventually have a go. The first time I tried I lost the will to live waiting for it to load on my Internet Lite 960K connection but I had another go during yet another deluge. I came out as a Red hot something or other, I forget the exact words. It left me wondering a few things; are forecasts really based on history (on that basis it is never going to stop raining), what were they trying to achieve (test the IQ of users?) and lastly how much of my money did it cost to create. A total waste of time but it was raining so who cares.
The wind has got here though not too dramatic as yet. I am looking at wind turbines and have been offered a pretty comprehensive weather station for £85 http://www.urbangreenenergy.com/product ... p/features so I should be able to do my own forecasting eventually! Really it is collect data to see if wind generation is feasible, with a North-South roof ridge solar looks doubtful.

It's now a gentle breeze here with blue sky and sunshine

Met office still forecasting winds rising to 35mph.

I seem to be the local weatherman at KG, more because I just take an interest it in, both home and abroad, so I'm always getting asked what the forecast is going to be.

Lincolnshire seems to fair very badly when it comes to the BBC's predictions. We tend to stay dryer then most forecasts predict, so I tend to monitor the Atlantic charts more.

KGAdmin

Alan - this says it has got to you, supposed to be observations not forecasts.

http://www.xcweather.co.uk/

Hi KGAdmin, it's the same down here, our own microclimate.
I'm pretty sure the forecast yesterday said sunny intervals for today, now it shows drizzle and cloud which is actually falling at the moment, however often when they forecast rain we don't get it here, blue skies above and cloud all around on the horizon... which happened a lot earlier in the year

Geoff wrote:Alan - this says it has got to you, supposed to be observations not forecasts.

http://www.xcweather.co.uk/

That's why we wouldn't live at Aberdaron or Capel Curig

We very often don't get the rain predicted for the area as it seems to be deflected by the hills but we are certainly getting the high winds today. I would say that xc weather is pretty accurate for where we are - difficult to walk against the wind today and the roof slates are rattling - kept me awake from about 4 this morning. Sunny though.

Hopefully the wind will drop over the day and I'll be able to sleep tonight.

Diane.

We can see Pendle Hill in Lancashire (12 miles away) from our house and from the allotment and the general rule for predicting the weather is: if you can see Pendle, it's going to rain, if you can't see it, it is raining!
Seems to work pretty accurately.