Flicking through my news feed this morning
I found this:

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8173533.stm

I'm utterly unsurprised but it still makes me want to weep with fury and distress. It's supposed to be summer for fuck's sake - yet I could see my breath in the air when I cycled in this morning (wearing a jumper and yes, you've guessed it, my waterproofs)

Does this fill anyone else with the same thunderous despair it fills me? Would you like to mount an expedition to the Met Office and beat them with sticks for filling our heads with thoughts of barbecues and heatwaves earlier on in the year?
(berk, Wed 29 Jul 2009, 10:05, 18 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

I'm up for that
and I can see the place from my office windows.

I don't know why anyone bothers listening to them. they predicted a mild winter and couldn't have got that much more wrong, so why listen when they predict a good summer?
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 29 Jul 2009, 10:07, Reply)

Erm... There was a heatwave and barbeques.
I put the heating on last night. I just hope we get a nice bright August, September and October.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 29 Jul 2009, 10:09, Reply)

if september and october are sunny and dry
then I will be happier than if august was.

something that has just occurred to me: some of the finest weather and climate scientists in the world work for the met office. they can't predict the weather with anything even approaching accuracy and yet the global climate change predictions are believed. just a thought...
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 29 Jul 2009, 10:11, Reply)

I never trust a weather forecast longer than three days.
Long-term modelling based on long-term observations and trends is considerably more reliable than the Met Office's five-day forecasts.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 29 Jul 2009, 10:14, Reply)

long-term modelling isn't that accurate
especially given the number of parameters involved in global models, and that they don't really have long-term observations to base them all on. too many assumptions for my liking.

I don't trust any of the met offices forecasts. there are far more reliable ones out there. and even those aren't very reliable.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 29 Jul 2009, 10:18, Reply)

Very long term forecasting
is based on ice-cores and geological archaeology and many other factors. I agree it's not perfect, but I'd trust it much more than anything the Met Office produces.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 29 Jul 2009, 10:21, Reply)

There may well have been
where you live. I assume that's down south as that gets more media coverage...however up here it was shit then, continues to be shit now and will apparently continue to be further shit for another month.

I know the Met Office doesn't *make* the weather, but couldn't they prepare us for the worst instead?
(berk, Wed 29 Jul 2009, 10:12, Reply)

North Bucks
Are you sure where you live isn't just shit?
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 29 Jul 2009, 10:15, Reply)

Well, yes
I do live in the Midlands after all, mild to moderate shitness is a given. But the incessant rain should not be - I don't think I've been properly dry since bloody June.
(berk, Wed 29 Jul 2009, 10:20, Reply)

As a regular country walker I wholeheartedly agree
and as one who gets low mood during the grey of winter, I'll admit I've felt cravings for sunshine over the past few weeks. This is the country we live in, and the weather is generally shit.

I tend not to whinge about it any more. Just get yourself some proper kit and put up with it.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Wed 29 Jul 2009, 10:24, Reply)

Heres some front-page journalism from the BBC today:
Hargreaves comeback put in doubt

Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves may have to be put his comeback following knee problems on hold.


Just caught my eye tis all
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Wed 29 Jul 2009, 10:12, Reply)

Aha
what a lovely example of proofreading from the beeb there.
(berk, Wed 29 Jul 2009, 10:23, Reply)

I am just
hoping for sun on 21st August! I don't care what the weather does for the rest of the month, but that one day needs to be sunny, just for a little bit!!

Is there an anti-rain dance I wonder??
(Flim-Flam the Magnificent "You is talking loco and I like it!", Wed 29 Jul 2009, 10:18, Reply)

I was watching the weather the other day
and the guy effectively said it's probably going to be raining a lot but I can't really say when so just take an umbrela with you just in case
( TGB checking Off Topic is still shit at, Wed 29 Jul 2009, 10:19, Reply)

It always amuses me
when they do that. They can't just say they don't really know so they put a raincloud symbol with a sun peeking over the top.
(berk, Wed 29 Jul 2009, 10:21, Reply)

"Sunshine with scattered showers" AKA "We dont know"
I dont even bother watching the forecast anymore, I always have an umbrella and a waterproof coat.
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Wed 29 Jul 2009, 11:09, Reply)

Me too
I make my decision based on the weather outside in the morning.

That usually means I always survive the morning unscathed but if it means getting a bit soaked on the way home I don't mind. I like rain!
( whenanimalsattackhumans clad in global hypercolour, Wed 29 Jul 2009, 11:13, Reply)

I'm not sure that I "like" rain, but I dont really notice it anymore
people make small talk with me and bitch about the summer weather, but I keep forgetting that it is the summer. I just dont think about the weather anymore, I think more about what I would do in a zombie apocalypse.

Which reminds me, I must get a wind-up radio for when that happens.
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Wed 29 Jul 2009, 11:21, Reply)