Well I supose that bashing the weather men is a bit of a national pastime but this year they seem to have been particularly bad. There was the barbeque summer of course that turned out to be another washout and earlier in the 'summer' we had a couple of days where severe weather warnings for heavy rain were given out, that turned out to be some of the best of the summer (the tourist industry wasn't happy as apparently a lot of folk stayed at home). Their strike rate since seems to have been dismal, not just a bit inaccurate but way off the mark.

So I suppose that I shouldn't be too suprised that after the weather report on the tv and the met office and BBC weather websites forcast good weather all day today, to find myself out on my bike under a thick, dark grey cloud bank that seemed almost to stretch from horizon to horizon (but not quite) in fairly heavy rain (it's still raining now after I've got back and looks set in for a while, while the websites are still forcasting good weather), it seems a fairly large feature to have missed. It doesn't seem any more inaccurate a forcast than many this summer, I'm just annoyed that I'm now wet rather than enjoying a sunny ride.

Is it me or does the forcasting seem to be getting worse, there hardly seems any point in bothering looking any more? Interestingly not long ago I read a book called "Isaac's Storm" relating to events in the early stages of the science of weather forcasting in the US. The procedure was forcast the weather then observe the actual weather, see what was different and adjust future forcasts accordingly. Does this sort of approach still go on or is it just a case of punching numbers into supercomputer models and reeling off the output (and assuming that that's as good as it gets)? The BBC seems more interested in sending its weather reporters of to Ascot to model hats than improving its reports.

Oh well, let's hope that the autumn is bright and crisp.

No idea, but it's clear blue skies from horizon to horizon where I am.
Do you live up north? The forecast yesterday was for general grimness up there.

Down south in Somerset, it should be lovely but it's not.

What forecast are you using? mwis has been pretty accurate for me generally.

I'm in Bath and it's wall to wall sun here, unfortunately I'm working.

Still Quantocks was loverly yesterday 😀

We live on an island on the Eastern side of the Atlantic & as a consequence have a maritime climate, which is – at best – unpredictable when trying to pin point exactly where any particular piece of weather is going to be.
A forecast is just that – predicting future weather is not an exact science.

Anyway, you won't melt

Superb weather here just outside Edinburgh. A wee bit breezy if I was being really fussy.

As for these "long-range" weather forecasts, you can completely forget the whole concept.

I was supposed to holidaying in Scotland next week. Binned the idea and booked flights to France after 'hail and thunderstorms' were forecast for yesterday into next week. Yesterday was a glorious day, today as Druidh says ain't so bad. Wonder if the MetOffice does flight refunds?

Blue skies up north here pity I'm on nights just woke up and too tired to ride.

I've got a bike. You can ride it if you like. It's got a basket, a bell that rings and things to make it look good. – Member

No idea, but it's clear blue skies from horizon to horizon where I am.
Do you live up north? The forecast yesterday was for general grimness up there.

No fine here in the North West, bit breezy but I'm out on the patio posting while waiting for some friends to call round for bike fettling & food (might even crank up the BBQ!)

Looking at the radar

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/radar/index.html

you have been particularly unlucky.

south west : showers are possible later today produced by high ground dartmoor/exmoor

Looks like the quantocks kicked one off early.

Met office claims their forecasting is increasingly accurate. I think this is mostly due to the equivocal nature of what they produce.

If I say that your region is likely to have some dry spells interspersed with rain in places, I'm likely to be laughing.

Someone once told me that the most reliable weather forcast in percentage terms is tomorrow will be pretty similar to today. Admittedly not much use for planning next weeks activities.

As far as I've been able to see today's been lovely, lots of sun, nice cloudscapes, but pretty windy and cool. I live in Chippenham, and I was in Bath this afternoon, where it was really warm.

Yet again the office came up trumps today with a perfect forecast F5/6 for a bit of windsurfing down on the sarf coast. Didn't kick in til mid arvo but I was prepared.

Maybe you lot don't understand the forecast or live somewhere weird.