Forecasting Folly

So, have you all enjoyed the barbecue summer?

It’s difficult to know what was the most bizarre aspect of this summer’s weather forecasting. Perhaps it was the million pound bonus awarded to the Met Office – paid, of course, by all of us long suffering taxpayers – for forecast accuracy; or perhaps it was the feeble justification of the summer forecast: it was a hot summer because “the rain was warm”.

Their reward for all this? Well, Tesco cancelled their Met Office contract and hired their own team of six weather forecasters.