BBC’s dreadful forecast ruined our bank holiday
THE BBC has found itself at the centre of another storm – over its unreliable weather forecasts.
Tourism bosses and day-trippers have accused the Corporation of ruining their late May bank holiday with inaccurate predictions of violent storms.
In fact most of Britain had warm, sunny weather for the long weekend. But the grim warnings persuaded many to change their plans, hitting trade in several resorts.
Critics say the BBC’s weather app and its TV forecasts are frequently wrong since it switched providers from the Met Office to Dutch firm Meteo-Group. Jon Weaver, head of resort marketing and events in Bournemouth, said the Met Office was ‘more measured in their predictions’ than BBC Weather.
‘It’s so frustrating. It’s having a negative impact on businesses,’ he told The Sun: ‘The BBC picture for the [bank holiday] was pretty awful. In the end we had blue skies and sunshine.’
Peter Dale, who runs Grove Ferry Trips in Kent, added: ‘ We’ve stopped using BBC reports – they’re inaccurate.’
Ahead of the bank holiday, David Graham posted on Twitter: ‘Weather: completely different between BBC Weather (Meteo-Group) and the Met Office. I’m betting on the Met Office.’
He showed how the Met Office predicted it would be mild and bright, while the BBC forecast possible rain and thunder. Jay Haych tweeted that BBC Weather ‘left your forecast set to “typical Bank Holiday” by mistake’, showing how the BBC predicted that Sunbury- on-Thames in Surrey would be hit by thunderstorms while the Met Office forecast sun.
Phil Goodall complained he cancelled a day out in Reading on the Monday because of the BBC weather forecast. He wrote on social media: ‘I’m so angry with you! We cancelled our day out because you said it would be thundering. Nothing but blue sky all day. Total incompetence!’
The BBC used the Met Office for 90 years before switching to Meteo-Group, which provides forecasts for Sky News and Channel 4. The Met Office is still used by the Ministry of Defence, Network Rail and the Highways Agency.
A BBC spokesman said: ‘We now use even more weather data from multiple sources through advanced statistical techniques.
‘Meteo-Group combine these sources to create a superior forecast and, on average, the statistics confirm that our users can rely on very accurate forecasts.’