Morning:
3°c
It was supposed to be a "barbecue summer", with temperatures in the 30s. But, for the third summer in a row, the Met Office got it very wrong.
Today it officially downgraded its summer forecast, warning that instead of bright sunshine, we are set for a wet and windy August.
This year was supposed to be "warmer than usual with rainfall average or below average".
However, in the first two weeks of July there has been nearly as much rain as expected in the whole of the month, although temperatures have still been higher than average. The average UK rainfall for the first fortnight was 56.6 millimetres - about 81 per cent of the normal July level. "We had a decent June so it has not been a complete washout," said Andrew Sibley, a Met Office forecaster. "But it is very unsettled and that is likely to continue."
But officials say there is still hope - the end of next month may improve.
Forecasters blame the jet stream, the wind that races round the world 10 kilometres above the surface, for the current weather. It has, they say, effectively become "stuck" above Britain, locking in a low pressure system which brings rain and cool temperatures. "We need a strong high pressure system to break through," said Mr Sibley.
It is the third summer in a row in which the Met Office forecast has failed, raising questions over its accuracy.
Reader views (23)
I just put weather forecasters along with newspaper astrologers. Both are equallly useless.
- Frank, Bristol
Yeah, and the government and the rest of the muppets expect us all to believe them when they whinge about 'global warming' ?
If they can't forecast 3 months ahead, why on earth should we believe a word they utter about something decades down the road?
- Eoin Mcgreeghan, Derry, NI
Madgefan, London: "Aren't all tents waterproof"?
Those tin-pot apologies for tents which jump up on their own accord (and are an absolute nightmare to re-pack!) have an hydrostatic head (HH) of zilch!
The common or garden tent has an HH of 1,500.
Better tents have an HH of 2,000.
Quality tents (for expeditions) have an HH of 5,000 - the sort of tents MP's could afford with ease.
- Reuben Camara, Republic of Morecambe, UK
"Errrrm - aren't all tents waterproof??
- Madgefan, London"
No. They have varying degrees of waterproofnessness, but generally if you have enough water, from above, not below, water will find a way.
- Escobar A-Lop-Lop, Mad as hell and not taking it anymore...
I'm sure we had better weather under the Tories....
- George, London
Fantastic. No more BBQ smoke polluting the air for a while - and none of the lager louts who attend the garden BBQs near me. For some reason they seem to think a BBQ gives them license to sing and shout until 3 in the morning.
- Jock, London
ONLY MP's CAN AFFORD WATERPROOF TENTS AND CLOTHING.
- Reuben Camara, Republic of Morecambe, UK
Errrrm - aren't all tents waterproof??
- Madgefan, London
At the time the Government were promoting the 'staycation' to stop in Britain,save money and help the economy.Personally I think the Met Office were working with them to discourage holidaying abroad.
So what's happened?Everyone's still skint and we're still wet.
- Steve, London
Climate Changes forecasts and Weather forecasts and Global Warming forecasts are of course not only impossible but are a devious method of brain-washing the public into parting with their disposable income on nefarious schemes to bolster a mis-managed nation.
- Chris Williams, Cardiff
It was quite funny watching the Met Office's topdog (yet another dour Scotsman) try to blame the Media, on Newsnight. He reckons "it is odds-on for a BBQ Summer" was misinterpreted and what he actually meant was "we may have a better than average summer". Definitely a New Labour man.
- Danny, NW5
If you study the weather for the summer months of June and July you will find that the fist 3 weeks of June were generally dry but cool. The final week of June was dry and sunny with temperatures approaching the average. The early part of July was hot but the heatwave only lasted 3 days and whilst temperatures were maintained for another 2 days we had torrential rainfall. Since then the weather has detioriated to the extent that in the Midlands we have had one fine day in the last two weeks, with temperatures well below average especially at night. I don't believe that anyone has faith in the weather forecasters short or long term and the only reliable guide is to look out the window but what really annoys me is the continued government references to global warming and the way they wait for a hot day before giving us bad news that will impact us all in the pockets. It was during the brief hot spell earlier this month that we told energy prices would increase to pay for wind farms and nuclear installations. We need these because gas will run out but not because of global warming. Any scientist who dares to question whether there is global warming is ostresised from the scientific fraternity which in reality is making a fortune from their perceived doom. Perhaps we should all be encouraged in the UK at least to increase our carbon footprints and you never know the weather might improve.
- Robin Brittain, Wolverhampton UK
The same people who pretend to know what the UK weather will do in advance are from the same school of thinking that is behind those 'experts' who drip feed us the drivel about Climate Change, Global Warming, carbon footprints etc.
The worlds weather is just that - the weather. Trying to guess it months in advance is like witchcraft.
Trouble is there are those who have designs on our disposable income that will not be swayed by the facts. They want our money to, er, offset the effects of the climate and weather!!!
Did I hear God chuckle at their infantile ramblings??
- Chris Williams, Cardiff
About time the Met Office was closed down and the £50m in annual costs was invested in a bit of seaweed for every household.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one
It's worth repeating that the weather simply cannot be forecast more than five days ahead. Anyone who professes to do so is talking rubbish. Long-range forecasts are absolutely pointless.
- John, Biggleswade
It's a typical English summer....must be global warming.
- Kitty, London
The Met Office has about as much credibility as a demented toad.
Joe Public has been conned. Peeps flocked like sheep to stores selling BBQ paraphernalia and no doubt affixed their purchases to their elastic credit cards. For what?
The retailers are laughing all the way to their off-shore accounts - especially the High Street camping shops.
Camping in this God-awful weather?
ONLY MP's CAN AFFORD WATERPROOF TENTS AND CLOTHING.
ON EXPENSES, OF COURSE!
- Reuben Camara, Republic of Morecambe, UK
And these are the same people who claim to forecast that Global Warming will make the Earth uninhabitable.
- Ayliff A Mcnab, Orihuela Costa,
Due to the recession and a promise of a cracking summer, a lot of people went out and spent an awful lot of money on tents and associated camping gear for a cheap, but nicely weathered, summer holiday.
Oh well, at least camping shops have done well.
- Escobar A-Lop-Lop, Mad as hell and not taking it anymore...
Ha Ha !
The Met Office in radio interviews are blaming the press for misreporting, , , , as if
Lets hope they speak up again when the next global warming nutter proposes swingeing taxes on travel for hapless (and skint) Brits.
- Frank H., London UK.
'Today it officially downgraded its summer forecast'
What did they do, look out the window?
What a load of nonsense these summer predictions are - do these people actually get paid for guessing what the weather is going to be like????
- Mistertonymac, Kentish Town, London
The Met office officially refuses to recognise the influence of the sun on world weather. They still think everything can be explained by wind and rain. The disappearance of sun spots is the reason for the cool wet weather, but the Met office can't see it. The good news is, their prediction for August may be as useless as their prediction for July, so perhaps we'll have some sunshine!
- Neil, London, London UK
This summer feels especially wet. I think its Gordon Brown's fault.
- Prototypical Englishman, Wormwood Scrubs
0 for 4 in the last 4 years. Good job guys!
- Peter, London
