Deadly US Snow Storm ......

[#1]

OK... I mentioned that "a bit of snow" in the USA would  ( and did ) cause some disruption to life on the east coast..

well, 100,000 homes without electric power.... about 7,000 flights cancelled,... schools closed and several states declaring a state of emergency... betwee 2 and 3 feet of snow, in some place..

Yup.. that`s the yanks.... gotta do it bigger and better than anyone else ! ! ! ..

However.  our friendly Daily Mail, has come up with a headline to get us all scared stiff...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4314678/Deadly-snow-storm-Stella-heading-UK-tomorrow.html

Deadly US snow storm Stella is heading for the UK tomorrow bringing 50mph winds

And continues on this theme that "..... Met Office said it may be forced to issue wind warnings in the North West of UK  "

WOW !>    "forced to issue warnings"... Huh!...  

I thought that was what a weather forecaster was supposed to do... and not be "forced" to do it...

  50mph winds for the North?????  just a strong breeze for them on a normal day.. but.. because it is associated with the "deadly storm" ... they will be worse than normal 50 mph winds I suppose  !..

[#2]

Well according to the weather report yesterday on the BBC it may well get windy up North but no snow is expected, but looking at the source you're citing I'm off to get some salt.

[#3]

Met office forecast for me (SW Sheffield) says winds of 23/25mph, gusts to 40 Saturday/Sunday, so no major problem there, and as for snow - no chance!

YR (Norwegian weather service, which is usually more accurate long term) gives lower wind and gusts (20/35).

As for the Mail -well, I stopped reading that YEARS ago.

[#4]

I used to enjoy reading the comics when I was a kid...

now I read the Daily Mail ...  ! ! ! ... (for the same reasons! ! )..

[#5]

I've pretty much given up reading newspapers to be honest. Just biased bullpoop, but then what is true these days and was it ever? I remember being quite shocked back in the 50s to be told by our teacher not to believe anything we read in the papers. Now of course we just see which way they tell fibs and spin it.

Once a month Private Eye for reading and HIGNFY along with a couple of seemingly well informed and awkward pundits for viewing does it for me 

[#6]

Do our armed forces use the same weather forecasters as the rest of the population? Particularly helicopter pilots, it can be very important to have accurated data.

[#7]

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@shutter wrote:

Yup.. that`s the yanks.... gotta do it bigger and better than anyone else ! ! ! ..

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Only beaten by Canada, but in Canada, they just call it "winter"...

[#8]

@chuffchuff When I was in the Royal Navy, from 1960 to 1972,.... there was a "met branch".. and this was particularly applied to the Air side of the navy,  where carriers would have their own "Met Office" ..they would have radio equipment, separate from the normal communications radio equipment, that could receive FAX pictures from various sources around the world,... once received, they would then collate the information and pass a "local" forecast to the Captain, and to the Flying department. ...  now with just about all ships carrying choppers, I suspect they use the "met office" data . with some, "local" input...i.e. damp finger out the port hole ! ! ...

During my time... ALL ships at sea were required to send "Obs" messages at 4 hourly intervals... these would be "coded" into 5 figure groups, and passed by morse or telex if fitted, from the  ships all around the world, to the met office, and this is how they drew the isobars on the charts, from the information given by those ships.

Nowadays, they use satellite information and ships are no longer required to pass this weather "obs" back to the met office.

[#9]

I just wish they'd get our own weather right given the times they have forecast rain for example and not a drop or dizzle to be seen..... not that I'm complaining mind. 

[#10]

I use this site for my weather info, quite up to date and often a lot more accurate than what appears on TV, also gives you access to Radar and Satellite imagery to see what the weather will be as you watch the clouds move around:

https://www.wunderground.com

[#11]

Looks good, thanks