Met Office or Wet Office?
Exeter’s national institution, the Meterological Office, is under fire for the accuracy of its forecasts, especially those sexed-up long-range jobs.
Remember the “barbecue summer” predicted for us in April? Apart from a scorching start and end to June, it’s been squally and wet ever since.
But it’s not only the long-range forecasts that have been wrong. West Country tourist traders are talking of suing the Met Office for predicting a very wet weekend recently, when in fact it was a scorcher. They claim thousands of day visitors stayed away, losing them millions.
The following weekend, we were treated to a replay. Friday’s forecast on the BBC showed a torrential monsoon blanketing Devon and Cornwall all day Saturday. A large area of blue was infilled with a fusillade of stair-rods peppering every part of the English Riviera. The graphics would not have looked out of place on Dr Who or a disaster movie.
Well, it was a rather pleasant day, with just a slight dampening after lunch.
We’ve had ambulance-chasing lawyers for a while. Next up, Met Office-chasing briefs?