Met Office pegs hopes on app to help you dry clothes outside

IT IS a conundrum that has troubled us all: when is it safe to hang out the washing without it being soaked by a cloudburst as soon as your back is turned?

Now help is on hand from an organisation that normally concerns itself with more serious meteorological matters – the Met Office is planning to update its mobile phone app to notify users of good clothes-drying weather, or when you need to defrost your car.

It is part of a rebrand of the forecaster, which is partly government-funded, which will include using light-hearted social media videos and lists on the “top 10 most interesting clouds” to attract a new audience.

It comes after the BBC announced that it would be dropping the Met Office for MeteoGroup, Europe’s biggest forecaster, which will take over as its weather provider from next spring.

Nigel Charters, the head of the reprocurement project for the BBC, said the company won the contract because it could “make the most of new technology and science to bring our audiences an even better service”.

Sources claimed that the Met Office was dropped by the BBC following rows over the dumbing down of broadcasts and fears that it could not produce a good enough smartphone app.

Tom Shapland, the Met Office’s head of media, has admitted that there is “room for improvement”.

“We must continue to listen to what the public are saying and listen to what the audience needs and continue to drive those improvements,” he said.

Mr Shapland rebutted claims that the changes had anything to do with the BBC’s decision.

“Regardless of the decision [by the BBC] we have to find all possible ways to reach the audience, that is our job,” he said.

He also failed to rule out the Met Office trying to win back the BBC contract at a later date. “We would work with all media organisations to help us get our forecasts to the public,” he said.

‘The Met Office must continue to listen to what the public are saying and what the audience needs’