Well OT - yellow warnings of......Met Office

[David]

This year there seem to be almost daily yellow warnings of rain, wind, thunderstorms from the Met Office.

Now it could be that the weather has become permanently extreme, but in a lot of cases the predicted hail of frogs doesn't materialise.

Has there been some kind of policy change about when to raise a Yellow Warning?

Noting, of course, that in some areas this summer the warnings have been justified.

Cheers

Dave R

[Roger Hayter]

I think ever since they failed to predict a moderate storm in London and the leafy home counties a few years back they have taken a much more proactive attitude to warnings. They are scared of being condemned in Parliament again.

[tim...]

I don't think exaggerating helps your cause here

tim

[Chris Green]

I agree, it a case of crying wolf to my mind.

Not to mention the stupidity of having both 'yellow' and 'amber' warnings, it took me quite a while to realise that there are 'red', 'amber' and 'yellow' (I assume in that order).

How many people seeing an 'amber' warning (before seeing either of the others) will realise that it's a middling sort of warning, whereas 'yellow' ones are pretty mild.

[Roger Hayter]

I'm not exaggerating. Before the London debacle, personified as the unfortunate Michael Fish's error, warnings were rare and usually understated. Afterwards the Met. Office publcally announced that they were going to be more cautious and produce more warnings. Questions were indeed asked in Parliament! Since then, at least in this neck of woods, most of the warnings come to very little.

[Peter Johnson]

I was in Scotland on Tuesday/Wednesday last week and on all the central area motorways the only messages on the VMS were yellow weather warnings. There was a bit of a shower on Beattock coming south.

[Scott]

Is it because the BBC awarded the contract to Meteo Group and issuing alerts keeps the Met Office brand alive on TV?

[spuorgelgoog]

Why don't Meteo Group issue warnings too then?

Owain

[Scott]

I was wondering that. Maybe civil emergencies are the exclusive domain of governments.

[Robin]

if you mean the one in 1987 that caused the deaths of 18 people then I can only assume you have one very large chip on your shoulder.

[Richard]

It's all a side effect of Brexit. Any possibility of a slight hiccup must be blown out of all proportion.

[Steve Walker]

I held off mortaring the steps that I have cut bricks and slabs for today, as there were yellow warnings for rain here and the hourly forecast showed a high chance of rain from 17:00 to 19:00.

What we have actually had is bright, constant sunshine - grrr!

The forecast for tomorrow evening is dry, so I'm now expecting a downpour just after I've finished.

SteveW

[Chris Green]

It would probably be much better for the setting of the mortar to do it in the wet, fast drying out isn't good for cement. Just cover with some sacking or something if you're worried that the rain will actually wash the cement away.

[DJC]

If rain is forecast then I look at the radar on netweather

unlike the pathetic met office effort it is details and shows an animation of the previous two hours, It is generally fairly easy to eyeball the animation and make my own estimate of when and where, if at all, it will rain. For more than a day ahead a the animated jetstream forecast is similarly useful.

[Robin]

I am a little puzzled by that comment as the Met Office's radar, while not offering the same fine resolution of precipitation rates, covers the previous 6 hours (and allows one to pick a time or to play the animation).

[Steve Walker]

The steps are exactly where water will naturally flow down the path, so with heavy rain (as expected) the mortor would definitely wash out, even if covered.

SteveW