Do weather forecasts rule your day!

[swfc]

As a small lad I remeber rushing home from school in winter to check the forecast after the news but more esp country file! Fourty years on and nothings changed esp with the internet and even at work I nip on even for specific runs during the day via meteociel! Radio forecasts also and late night weatherview which my wife finds funny.It may just be me but the winter months and long nights waiting for the various runs do take there toll!Anyone else in this camp ?

[Methuselah]

Same here! I even used to get up in time for the forecast that came on just before Jack Demanio!

[The PIT]

Yup I'm sad as well. My big annoyance is that the country file forecast keeps moving around so I have to catch up on it on here.

[laserguy]

As a small lad I remeber rushing home from school in winter to check the forecast after the news but more esp country file!

 

I was exactly the same as a kid but now they've lost their appeal. Too many forecasters wanting to be teevee stars/woefully incorrect forecasts/frequent mention of sporting events/their own bias or whatever telling me that sunshine is always a good thing and rain is bad, and never any interesting weather to include in the forecast anyway. The best events generally come out of the blue. Oh, and their warnings are very rarely justified. And,er,I don't like the BBC graphics at all - bring back the magnetic symbols! I might think of some more.

[Polar Maritime]

Yes im one of them to, in winter im up all hours for the latest forecasts which the other half used to find amusing, the joke has worn a little thin now...

[Essan]

I very rarely watch TV weather forecasts these days - not now I can see the models on which they're based myself .....

[Mark Neal.]

A few years back i would watch BBC national and BBC local news, then change over to GMTV Weather & then Itv Meridian, nowadays i hardly watch a forecast unless extreme weather forecast, or snow! 

[cheeky_monkey]

Lol when i was a kid i used to sneak out into the hallway and phone the latest forecast..i think the number was 8091 for a recording and was updated 3 times daily..now i couldn't give a monkeys because it snows every winter guaranteed where i live..so the anticipation during winter and the thirst for the latest forecasts have been crushed.

[Methuselah]

Lol when i was a kid i used to sneak out into the hallway and phone the latest forecast..i think the number was 8091 for a recording and was updated 3 times daily..now i couldn't give a monkeys because it snows every winter guaranteed where i live..so the anticipation during winter and the thirst for the latest forecasts have been crushed.

Did you get in trouble when the 'phone bill arrived? I did! 

[J10]

Still watch forecasts on the TV, moreso for imminent events as they have access to better meso scale models than we do. But certainly I don’t watch as many forecasts as I used to.

Edited September 26, 2013 by J10

[Terminal Moraine]

I still watch the t.v forecasts, and listen to radio forecasts, even though I've a pretty good idea what they're going to say as I spend quite a bit of time on here looking at the various model runs.

I'm particularly keen on seeing the t.v forecasts if something extreme is in the offing, just in case they've got some up to the minute information I haven't, or in case their interpretation of the charts is different to mine.

I wouldn't say keeping up with the forecasts rules my life but keeping the detailed records certainly does. Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the commencement of my records and not a day missed.

[cheeky_monkey]

Did you get in trouble when the 'phone bill arrived? I did! 

those were the days when they didn't have itemised phone bills

[Dancerwithwings]

Definitely with you all on what's been mentioned  Especially the winter months inwhich its everything from local/national forecasts and obvious all what the internet offers

Even down to the simple things like lamp post watching

And yes my wife finds it a bit extreme! But also funny as well

[joggs]

My lifes never been the same since the old beebs graphics changed and countryfile moved from the sunday lunch slot!.I even think in some ways it would of been easi.er if the wife had just left instead of the up hill battle of them changes lol.........sob

[johnholmes]

I wouldn't say keeping up with the forecasts rules my life but keeping the detailed records certainly does. Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the commencement of my records and not a day missed.

 

that is a great record TM, not many of us can say 50 years of records and not a day missed. Is the Met O going to give you an award?

You data at such an elevation will be something folks decades on will pore over I'm sure.

[starstream]

I only watch countryfile now and the odd Beeb one if I have plans, but  the very greatest indicator of interesting weather being forecast, is watchig the page count accelerate hourly on the forum!

[joggs]

I still watch the t.v forecasts, and listen to radio forecasts, even though I've a pretty good idea what they're going to say as I spend quite a bit of time on here looking at the various model runs.I'm particularly keen on seeing the t.v forecasts if something extreme is in the offing, just in case they've got some up to the minute information I haven't, or in case their interpretation of the charts is different to mine.I wouldn't say keeping up with the forecasts rules my life but keeping the detailed records certainly does. Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the commencement of my records and not a day missed.

Wow,now thats commitment TM!

[Don]

Did you get in trouble when the 'phone bill arrived? I did! 

 

I got into trouble when the phone bill arrived after Winter 1990/91!!  More than doubled it.  Ouch!!

[Methuselah]

I got into trouble when the phone bill arrived after Winter 1990/91!!  More than doubled it.  Ouch!!

It was the mysterious doubling that alerted the olds!

[Tom Quintavalle]

Lol when i was a kid i used to sneak out into the hallway and phone the latest forecast..i think the number was 8091 for a recording and was updated 3 times daily..now i couldn't give a monkeys because it snows every winter guaranteed where i live..so the anticipation during winter and the thirst for the latest forecasts have been crushed.

 

Yes, CM, I was guilty of that too. My fascination for Meteorology began around the age of 11. At Secondary school remember sneaking into the TV room with another weather geek to watch the lunchtime forecast, just before 1.30, especially if cold weather was in the offing and then having to move quick to make afternoon registration.

My Form Master was also my Geography Master and was responsible for the school Weather Station and wanted a volunteer to take morning and afternoon readings, of course I volunteered and got jeered at for being a teachers pet and a geek! Obviously I welcomed any snowfall but knew that I had to run the gauntlet of a barrage of snowballs, whilst trying to measure ppn amounts.

I was an avid listener and watcher of forecasts. As I mentioned in the "Chart Archive" thread, can vividly remember listening to the Shipping Forecast at 12.30 on Xmas morning 1970, whilst a Thames snow-streamer was doing its worst outside the kitchen window. I devoured any forecast I could get my hands on, when there was snow potential. Like previous posters have said, nowadays get all the information I need from NW and being snow-mad but also brontophobic, like to keep abreast of those scenarios but obviously for totally different reasons!

 

Tom.

Edited September 26, 2013 by TomBR7

[Thundery wintry showers]

I was like that with the BBC national weather forecasts during the period 1993 to 2002, especially during 1995-1999, when I would usually make a point of catching the forecast after the six o'clock news and often the nine o'clock news.  Bob Johnson's forecasts for Tyne Tees were another favourite.  During 1996/97 I also watched the ITV national and GMTV forecasts but soon gave up on those as I found that they were irritating me too much with their lack of accuracy and emphasis on putting value judgements on the weather.  I recall, though, that even into 2001 and early 2002, I still watched a large majority of the evening BBC forecasts.

 

My passion for watching the BBC forecasts waned after 1999, partly due to the progressive increase in their use of value judgements on the weather and reducing amount of detail, but it was the increasing amount of data available on the internet for making my own model-based forecasts that really killed it off, starting in late 2002.

Edited September 26, 2013 by Thundery wintry showers

[feb1991blizzard]

Ruled my life definitely in late 80s - early nineties as I hated school and wanted snow to force closure, for some reason this carried on after I finished school until 97 (albeit) on a less of a level, I still had interest from 97 - 09 (late jan 2004 being the peak), but would only look if I saw an Express headline or a Talksport news headline, until missing out in feb 09 rekindled my interest but then I discovered you could get model output online and as expert as these meteorologists are, they are usually reacting to data and a lot of the time when forecasts occur nowadays, there is newer data available online,  and anyway nowadays forecaster interpretation of the data is available on the met office website to guide you along with the models, so I am definitely less interested in TV forecasts and only usually watch when my weather preference is close to or likely to verify.

[Isolated Frost]

Usually when I wake up, I'll have a look at Breakfast and the weather forecast- and at night, if I'm in, I might have a look at Look North. Internet has a lot more data I think now- I remember the good old BBC forecasts though.

[Cheshire Freeze]

Remember Ceefax and that lovely coloured weathermap?? Used to update at 6pm every day- really annoyed my brother as he'd want to watch the Simpsons whilst I was there watching the pages update.

 

Also, remember the 5 day forecast on Ceefax? Watching on in winter as day 5 in Lerwick showed 1C max and a -3 min with 'lt snow' and knowing that cold air may be about to spread south (and wishing there was a day 6 so your hopes could be confirmed )

Edited September 26, 2013 by CreweCold

[feb1991blizzard]

Remember Ceefax and that lovely coloured weathermap?? Used to update at 6pm every day- really annoyed my brother as he'd want to watch the Simpsons whilst I was there watching the pages update.

 

Also, remember the 5 day forecast on Ceefax? Watching on in winter as day 5 in Lerwick showed 1C max and a -3 min and knowing that cold air may be about to spread south (and wishing there was a day 6 so your hopes could be confirmed )

 

Yes that's right - 5 day was your guide as you could only see 5 days ahead on the Countryfile and on Wednesday lunchitime and later on the BBC so you had to rely on that onset spreading south via text.