Outlook: heated

The people of the Isle of Wight have been up in arms because a label marking Plymouth on the new BBC weather map is so big that their island disappeared beneath its -mouth. Others complained, too. Bill Giles, the weather veteran, is also disappointed. Britain is shown smaller, while the climatic life of Schleswig-holstein has elbowed its way in. Yet all is not lost. An occasional isobar is still to be seen and even the cheery bunting of an occluded front. Abroad, weather, such as it is, can be quite confusing; Spain’s state broadcaster, RTVE, for example, shows areas with 100 per cent chance of snow in bright red. Some blame the new BBC oddities on its abandonment of the Met Office. But as long as viewers take such a fierce interest in weather maps, the outlook for British weather, this changeable spring equinox, remains bright.