大象传媒

A difficult dilemma, but part of the problem is where "gets it". 大象传媒 News led with the story on Monday, plastered it all over every bulletion (along with most of the other broadcasters), and deployed reporters to every seafront they could find (with limited success... one day you'll learn that your equipment isn't entirely 100% waterproof in a storm) and yet the weather was cold, and damp, but hardly newsworthy in over half the UK.

The result is, unfortunately, that the people who are likely to be hit this time, are the ones who are least likely to pay attention to your warning as "nothing happened" the last time.

I don't have any solution to offer, but I think there may be more casualties today than on Monday because of this. The value of a "severe weather warning" is significantly degraded when they come day after day and you're not in the middle of the affected area.

I'm afraid I have to agree that the "cry wolf" syndrome is effecting how people view the weather warnings. I also accept that weather forecasting is often very difficult and that the media have to try and strike a balance between information and newsworthiness.

I'm sat here right in the middle of the "forecasted area" with gusts at Barrow in Furness suggested at 82Mph+ for 03.00 on Wednesday. This info is from the Met Office, not the 大象传媒 Weather Centre which tells me I will have average wind speeds of 34mph during the same period! I do understand the difference between average and peak gusts but there seems to be a large variation between the two sites!

I think it's a case of needing less "news hype" and more parity of forecasting between the 大象传媒 and Met Office. I will come back tomorrow with an "analysis" of which site got it right!!

The problem I have is not with the warnings themselves, but with the hype that accompanies them. Part of the problem is a lack of 'other' news at the moment, which means the 大象传媒 seem to feel the need to lead every bulletin with the weather. It does get extremely boring.

I think that the 大象传媒's role, in conjunction with the Met Office, is to provide concise factual information about the weather. The severe weather warnings which are issued, along with the endless news reports, lead the public to believe that the weather which is forecast will be extreme and unusual. Whilst we were in the forecast area on Monday for gusts of 70mph+, they turned out to reach no higher than 54mph; winds of a lesser strength than we have already seen here this winter.

People have amnesia when it comes to the weather, and sometimes they need to be reminded that the current conditions are not unusual. In January 2007, we had very windy conditions, where a gust of 73mph was recorded at Heathrow Airport. Have we forgotten that?

Does the 大象传媒 have a public broadcasting obligation to issue weather information? If there is an objective measurement for what merits a severe weather warning from the Met Office, then there can't be any question of choosing not to report it, surely?

We are familiar enough with the vagaries of the British weather to understand the difficulties of forecasting in advance, but it doesn't mean we take the forecast any less seriously.

Our fascination with the weather is so ingrained it's a national joke, but I'd listen with greater interest to repeat weather warnings than I would to several days reporting of Whitehall bickerings or the American Democratic nominations.

Take a look at the MeteoFrance website (https://www.meteofrance.com/vigilance/index.html) - they issue warnings on quite a precise regional basis. Its very clear from their map which areas will be affected.

The areas you use can be quite vague. Where does "Northern England" end and the "Midlands" begin, for instance? Worse still is "Northern UK" - is that Scotland, or does it include part of Northern England?

I see the 大象传媒 is again showing it鈥檚 Southern England / Home Counties basis with its highline news stories. The whether forecast tonight for the North of England / N Ireland / Southern Scotland is at best treacherous and is in fact worse then the forecast that was hammered out to viewers as the top news story on Sunday night / Monday Morning. Why is this the case? And how come a story about mystic asparaguses on 大象传媒 24 News is deemed more import then the storm force winds about to plunge Northern Britain into chaos and the potential danger to life? This coverage is a gross neglect of responsibility, you should be ashamed.

Apparently I saw a twig on the tree move in the wind just now. But no, it must have been an illusion. I don't doubt the forecasters at all, but is this the calm before the storm? My memories of Cheshire this winter are of warnings of snow and wind....and as yet, we really have not had anything to note. Maybe the weather is being quite picky about where it chooses to unleash itself.

I think weather forecasters are stuck between a rock and a hard place - damned if you do, damned if you don't. People don't seem to understand that a forecast is a forecast - ie. by its very nature subject to change. Its best to err on the side of caution and continue to give the warnings - that way, people can take their own precautions as they see fit, and cannot then point the finger afterwards and say they weren't given any advance warning.

I agree with the first poster. There was a lot of 'hype' around Monday's storm but here in Manchester it barely registered above blustery.

We saw plenty of images of a big storm brewing out in the Atlantic, received a lot of build up information and a lot of warnings, but in reality, very little out of the ordinary.

The advance warnings were given across the whole of the UK, yet it really only hit the South Coast and South West.

Though if you go back to the terrible storm that hit Manchester and the North West last year, very very little warning was given, yet there are still fallen trees scattered around the neighbourhood that bear testament to how severe that storm was.

So I think it is a question of targeting the storm to the locality with more precision. And not let the media get swamped by a story just because it happens to affect areas closer to London.

Perhaps an American approach to this may help towards a solution. Over there they have regional weather coverage, admittedly their regions are much larger and weather more severe but this weeks storms prove here too severe weather is/can be localised. Every 15mins an update could be broadcast giving an explanation on what the current situation is and the likelyhood of areas to be affected. If we are to believe the scientists that global warming/change is taking place and our weather is set to become more severe and less of a freak event maybe steps toward this might make the public understand enough to sit up and listen.

A spokesman for Dover Coastguard said: "There were recorded gusts of 69 knots, force 12, which is hurricane strength, in the harbour.

The above B.B.C. report from January鈥檚 storm this year, comes from a coastguard and uses the word hurricane, to correctly describe the wind strengths force in the gusts.

In February 2007, too many people lost their lives in hurricane force gusts across England. Had these people been warned appropriately, they may have reconsidered whether their journey was essential.

Warning fatigue is one thing though we do need to be warned. But when we aren't even told the real potential in the first place, (hurricane force gusts) perhaps we cannot trust the policy, let alone the forecast.

I have just checked the 大象传媒 weather forcast for my area Highworth,(the nearest weather station is at Salisbury).
The three day forcast shows heavy showers for today Wednesday 12th March.
The 5 day forcast shows sunshine & showers for today, Yet the 24 hour forcast shows today as being forcasted as clear and bright with no mention of rain.
Which forcast should I believe?
A consistent forcast across the 24hr, 3day & 5 day forcasts would lend the 大象传媒 more credibility.

K Saunders

I really believe that "scaremongering" is becoming more and more evident with these warnings of severe weather. Quite frankly we have heard it all before and do not believe a word of it. We are having a wet and windy day just like we have had on many occasions in the past but you would think we were going to have a national disaster with all the media hype.

Come on you guys, give us the facts!

Is the 大象传媒 responible for the individual safety and dryness and unruffled hair of it viewers/listeners?

The traffic lights on the junction have always carried the same message : Stop, prepare to stop and proceed with caution.

Nowhere have I seen 'This is the reddest traffic light since 1962...cars are stopping quicker.'

Same message millions of times daily and everyone listens.

We will have some heavy weather tomorrow people. Have a care when leaving the house and be prepared for some damage. If you find a tree on your car then feel free to ignore the traffic lights when driving it.

Its bad weather....it can kill you....If you are big enough to be out in it then you are big enough to know.

As others point out, the problem with the 大象传媒 weather presentation is that it is usually over hyped. 5mm of snow expected and one is led to believe that a second ice age is arriving.Similar hyperbolic styles are used for heavy rain or strong winds. 大象传媒 weather has become a triumph of style over content (with a few notable exceptions). Get back to treating people as grown ups and perhaps start including % likelihood for predicted events. That way at least there will be an admission of fallibility. Mr. Fish famously got it wrong - so what! - who amongst us is infallible and what precautions do people take against high winds anyway?

I'm of the impression that there is southern bias, as always, in reporting. Had Sunday/Monday's first storm been forecasted in the north, would it have still made headline news? The fact that the second wave of storms is a lower priority in the news headlines suggests that it is absolutely nothing to do with weather 'warning fatigue'. Simply hark back to last summer's poor initial coverage of the Hull floods, which affected a higher proportion of the population and property than anywhere else in the UK, and I rest my case. And no, I don't live in Hull! Thank you for reading.

Funny how the further south the weather warnings are the more headlines they grab.

"Britain" was going to be battered on Monday - er no ... just the south coast of England actually !

A reporter on 5 live this morning who witnessed windspeeds of 80mph overnight said "no one has ever seen anything like it"

Try living in Scotland dear !

Too much drama and over exaggeration to try and make headlines out of the Met Forecast is a dangerous thing.

I would argue that the increased level of weather prediction accuracy now afforded by advancements in technology are, in parallel, being off set by an overly cautious approach to reporting.
Nobody wants to do a Michael Fish and say that a hurricane isn鈥檛 on its way only to be featured on Dennis Norden鈥檚 takeouts for the next decade when proved wrong, but I am very annoyed that extreme weather news is now reported almost with sensationalism, striking fear into travellers. Over the past year I have found these warnings to be complete nonsense. It is with reluctance that I now ignore the weather warnings as the odds considerably favour taking the risk to travel. This is not how the public should need to use weather information. A more balanced approach to weather reporting is needed.

MMM weather prediction yesterday for my area was light showerd and 6 mph wind. i think i'll be listening to the met office from now on.

Never mind weather warning fatigue over the last few days my experience is that people have been ignoring them (rightly so)for years now because they are been used too frequently and without justification. My other gripe is that to say "only travel if absolutly necessary" is also used with the same flippancy.Who indeed travels if they do not have to these days?

It really seems to be part of a twenty-year reaction to the '87 hurricane. I don't recall such enthusiasm about incoming bad weather before then. The practise of issuing national forecasts for even somewhere as relatively small as the UK is ridiculous and leads to all sorts of distortions. The weather in Cardiff and Bristol is usually different on a daily basis.

The 大象传媒 should learn to keep its powder dry more often. What you tried hyping-up into something only slightly short of the 'end of the world as we know it' turned out to be just a normal winter storm. Unfortunately there are far too many news networks, with far too much available air-time, but too little actual news to report.

Actually, the 大象传媒 got it right...thanks 大象传媒!! Living on the Lancashire coast, as I do, last nights storm was indeed severe. But as a lot of other people have stated, as it was 'oop North, lad' it wasn't headlined as much as Monday's storm down South. However, I do believe that the 大象传媒 should continue to warn the public of weather warnings as it was the 大象传媒 who warned of this storm and allowed me to prepare...only as long as it is not blamed on 'Global Warning' and the 大象传媒 don't continue punishing reporters by broadcasting from the scene to show us what a storm looks like..!!

your weather reporters should take a leaf out of The Two Ronnies

Agree about serious mismatch between Met Office and 大象传媒 sites but both sites are often internally contradictory. The Met Office site often contains detailed text which differs subtly from forecast summaries.

Agree also with hype complaint and the tone of presentation. A note of hysteria was present. Have forecasters ever thought how their words of warning might sound to an elderly person living on their own in ill-protected housing?

Finally, I see that Tuesday night's weather decided to respect the forecaster's conception of northwest England which invariably leaves out my patch of Cumbria. So the storm headed straight round the coast at Barrow and into Blackpool and on to Manchester leaving us ancient Brigantes with a calm night puncutated only by a few gusts until Wed morning when normal Northern winter weather resumed.

It is untrue to say that the forecasts have had a southern bias, since the predictions of bad weather this week were spread far across the country including central England and the North. Also, those who complain about 鈥渄rama鈥� and 鈥渆xaggeration" and 鈥渙ver-hyped鈥� forecasts are no doubt the same people who routinely criticise the Met Office and the 大象传媒 if the weather turns out to be more severe than expected.

I notice that the title of the headline weather story changed from "Second storm batters northern UK" to "UK pounded by second storm". The use of the vague phrase "northern UK" just sums up the 大象传媒s dumbed down, catch all / one fit weather reporting. Bring back the isobars.

I am actually pleased to see that this issue is being addressed. My children (aged 10 & 13) have a daily competition to see if they can guess what the weather warning will be each day.

It is ridiculous. Warnings every day. Of course people are going to stop listening. Snow warnings when there is no snow, flood warnings every time there is a shower. This is the UK, it rains!

Stop over dramatising and just state the forecast.

The majority of the previous comments say roughly the same thing.....the forecasting has become irritating and over sensitive to the 'London centric' population of the UK.

This is March, early in the year, storms and adverse winds are to be expected. Get on with living in Britain for goodness sake. If we were to take these warnings seriously the country would come to a halt.

Perhaps it would be useful to distinguish between what we used to call 'bad' weather, and what is really 'severe' weather. It would be useful if perhaps we went back to having weather warnings, and then severe weather warnings. I see that the MET Office has now got a new system for Severe Weather Warnings, which looks like it will almost be on permanent warning. May be the criteria for what constitutes severe weather needs to be looked at?