We’ve all heard the Met Office’s weather forecasts on the TV, the internet and the radio, but what’s their actual role? What are their main contracts and how do they make money? What does MeteoGroup do, and how does it compare with the BBC and ITV? And who are their biggest critics? Let’s take a closer look at their latest contract loss. And remember, they’re still a public body, and get 85% of their income from public contracts. But this new contract loss is a major blow, and it feels very politically motivated. The Met Office should be a national institution, and I’m afraid that this decision has a huge impact on its future.
MeteoGroup
When the BBC decides to change its weather service provider, they can choose between three companies. The MeteoGroup is the largest private weather business in the UK, providing weather services to the BBC, National Grid and Sky News, among many others. In addition to providing weather forecasts for the BBC, MeteoGroup also supplies data to Channel 4, the National Grid and the Press Association. Its new rival, MetraWeather, is owned by the private equity group General Atlantic.
The BBC is known for its blunder-prone forecasting record. In 2009, it predicted a barbecue summer that turned out to be a washout. In 2014, it predicted a drier-than-normal winter. In reality, the winter was the wettest on record. The Met Office will be watching closely for BBC forecasts. It’s important to note, however, that the BBC has not commented on the value of its MeteoGroup contract.
In Spain, the MeteoGroup has launched the MeteoGroup Espana subsidiary. In 2007, the company expanded to new countries with the opening of weather operations in Poland, Sweden and France. In 2010, it expanded its services into the United States with the acquisition of MeteoGroup’s wholly owned German subsidiary, MC-Wetter. This acquisition was crucial for the company’s growth, especially in the European and American markets.
BBC
The Met Office has provided weather forecasts for the BBC since 1922. The MeteoGroup, a private equity company, took over the broadcaster in mid-2017, but has since failed to get its act together. The Met Office has continued to provide the BBC with the weather forecast until March 2018.
The Met Office’s computer model feeds into government-backed assumptions about climate change. It’s no surprise that their latest forecasts are cooler than what we actually had last month. The coldest December in recorded history is likely to be followed by a period of milder weather. The Met Office says that the weather will be warmer this winter than in previous years. Although there is a small chance of winter temperatures being lower than average, there is still a 60% to 80% chance of temperatures being warmer than normal this winter.
The Met Office’s forecasts are now based on a unified model software package. They gather data from a wide variety of sources, including observations and satellites. Their products include the 36-hour UKV model forecast, 48-hour NAE model forecast, and 144-hour global model forecast. A number of other changes have been made to the website. For example, temperatures are now displayed as text rather than static images. Site-specific data appears in expandable tables showing the forecast for the next four days. Wind, humidity, pressure, and visibility are also shown. Night-time data is separated from daytime data to improve readability.
ITV
The Met Office has signed a deal to produce a new weather service for ITV. It has been providing weather forecasts since 1922 but has recently been replaced by Meteogroup, Europe’s largest forecaster. The move followed disagreements over the Met Office’s “dumbed-down” forecasts and concerns about its use of digital innovations. ITV has said it is delighted to become the broadcast home of Met Office Weather. It hopes this will change the way weather forecasts are presented, and a vote of confidence in the Met Office.
ITV is reworking its weather bulletins to give viewers a more detailed insight into weather patterns. The new design is a result of research into how viewers engage with weather forecasts. The results have shaped the new design and strategy of ITV’s weather services. It also means that viewers can find weather information more easily. The Met Office will continue to offer its popular weather bulletins, but will be based on data provided by other companies, such as Sky.
Amanda Creevey is an aviation meteorologist who joined the Met Office in 2014 for additional training. In 2017, she joined ITV as a presenter and forecaster for ITV Anglia. Des Coleman is an ITV meteorologist who has previously worked as an actor. Before joining the media, she worked as a journalist, radio presenter, and DJ. She joined ITV in 2013 and now appears regularly on regional weather programmes.
Industry
The Met Office is one of the leading providers of weather forecasts in the world. They process over 10 million pieces of weather data every day and issue over 3,000 forecasts to organisations worldwide. Their internal software development projects spend substantial sums of money to ensure that they are able to provide their services. To help them achieve their goals, they use advanced software to produce their products and services. Read on to learn more about the Met Office’s latest developments and how they use software to improve customer service and their ability to compete with other data providers.
In order to remain competitive in the industry, the Met Office has made it a priority to improve their space weather forecast system. This includes adding new data sources and performing a full migration to the AWS cloud. Because the Met Office relies on its space weather forecast systems to provide weather predictions, they need a system that is both highly available and secure, can handle significant amounts of data, and is easy to update and maintain. The cloud-based technology from MongoDB solves these problems and is perfect for the Met Office.
The Met Office is modernising its forecasts, introducing new data and higher resolution maps for broadcasters and news outlets. This will help them focus on critical weather information. They’ll no longer need to use complicated data visualizations to give viewers accurate weather forecasts. With new weather forecasts, the MetOffice’s data is easily accessible, which is a boon for broadcasters. The new MetOffice weather forecasts will also include new data aimed at specific communities, such as soil moisture measurements for agricultural use.
Commerce
The Commerce Met Office has taken the data and insights derived from IGD research and a series of interviews with senior supply chain experts to help it create weather products. The end goal was to gain valuable insights and knowledge about the industry and the consumers who use such products. The following are some key insights drawn from the research. The first insight is that weather-related products are not only popular but also highly relevant to the consumer. The second insight is that the consumers of these products are also highly interested in obtaining and using the information provided by the Met Office.
Met Office
For many years, the BBC has used the Met Office’s forecast for its weather reports. In 2017, MeteoGroup, a private equity firm, planned to take over the business. But the new owners didn’t get their act together in time and the Met Office weather forecast continued to be the official UK weather service until March 2018.
As a public body, the Met Office still relies on government and business contracts for its forecasts. The loss of the BBC contract is a great blow. It feels like a politically motivated decision that’s detrimental to the Met Office’s mission to make weather predictions. After all, the Met Office was founded to serve the public, not just business. Today, its forecasts aid a variety of government and industry entities, from local governments to the NHS.
But the Met Office warns that a series of extreme heat events will soon be more frequent. Today, forty degrees are rare events in Britain. By the year 2100, that number could fall to once every 15 years. Already this year, major wildfires have broken out in Spain, Portugal and France. The Met Office is also warning that extreme heat and wildfire risk will be on the rise. The National Trust and other organisations are attempting to protect the country from the heat and danger.
While temperatures are unlikely to reach the record highs experienced in July, the Met Office is warning of hot and dry weather. While temperatures are not set to reach the level of the July heatwave, they are expected to increase daily, with a period of rain in the northern region and mild temperatures in the southern regions. The heatwave is expected to end by the middle of July, although there is still a chance of rain and cold. So, make sure to plan ahead and follow the advice of the emergency services.https://www.youtube.com/embed/FDpNmBvmekE
