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Allways watching the Weather

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Look at the weather  forecast of course but DO NOT take notice of it too much in relation to working....often I can wake up to rain and by the time I've drove to my first job its stopped....

Also a lot of the time the weather is not as bad as the forecast predictions......?

 
Look at the weather  forecast of course but DO NOT take notice of it too much in relation to working....often I can wake up to rain and by the time I've drove to my first job its stopped....

Also a lot of the time the weather is not as bad as the forecast predictions......?
Spot on ?

Nothing worse than getting all twitchy because a they’ve predicted rain/wind etc just crack on! 

 
BBC and the Met office are absolutely hopeless, the Met office are supposed to have spent billions on their set-up.  I use Accuweather, I find it pretty accurate and I've been impressed with it but I'm comparing it to the BBC so anything would probably seem a lot better ?  I don't mind the odd shower but if it's a full day of rain I avoid it if possible, same with the red hot weather, although I've not managed to avoid a red hot day yet, phone always rings when good weather about ?

 
As window cleaners we are All ways watching the sky's well for the past two weeks I've been using the dark sky forecast app and it's been spot on worth checking it out for sure.View attachment 13580

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Good afternoon. That's something I've never tended to do personally other than winter snow threats and the ability to travel.

Come rain or shine I'll work in all weather. 

My motto is keep your pipes warm and the water will flow.

Have a great afternoon 

 
It's much more difficult to predict the weather accurately than we sometimes realise. There are so many elements that influence it: air pressure systems and their temperatures. Is there enough heat out at sea to cause major winds and the amount of evaporation needed to create rain clouds? Is there enough coolness in the local atmosphere to cause condensation of the clouds into rain? How much rain? There's jet streams that shift and alter the course of the systems. These systems and streams don't always go at exactly the speed and direction as was forecast. They are to some degree a law unto themselves with a degree of randomness. I take weather forecasts as a guide to what's likely rather than a promise. I don't expect total accuracy. I expect them to be somewhere near.

I liken a weather forecast to a planned day's work : I can be fairly sure what time I'll get to my first job and how long that job is likely to take. I can be reasonably confident of a rough arrival time for the next couple of jobs, and if all goes to plan I could probably be reasonably accurate for what I'll be doing (washes, gutters) and at what time for a large part of the day. However, get part way into the day and road works cause diversions or delays (as happened today). Get a couple of out of the blue walk ups and jobs to quote and possibly do. Get to a house and they're home but haven't unlocked the gate, so I have to wait for them to get their shoes on and find the keys. The day has not gone precisely as I've forecast but it was somewhere near. Now, sit down and try to forecast exactly how the whole working week is going to unfold at every minute of every day.

No bank of super computers could be expected to accurately forecast how my working week would play out with any certainty. Same with the weather, but the forecasts of both work and weather are usually somewhere near. ?

 
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@Davy G I agree that as a chaotic system it is impossible to predict 100% and difficult to make even less accurate predictions.

Yet what I don't understand is that they have more/better data, more computing power and a better understanding of the underlying processes that cause weather than ever before, but I swear the forecasts seem less accurate than they were when I first started window cleaning. Is it just me or does anyone else think forecasts seem to be getting worse? 

 
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@Davy G I agree that as a chaotic system it is impossible to predict 100% and difficult to make even less accurate predictions.

Yet what I don't understand is that they have more/better data, more computing power and a better understanding of the underlying processes that cause weather than ever before, but I swear the forecasts seem less accurate than they were when I first started window cleaning. Is it just me or does anyone else think forecasts seem to be getting worse? 
It's not just you. Lots of people think the same. From my point of view though, with modern computer systems and data collection from so many sources, I do feel that by and large they are generally somewhere nearer than they were years ago. With using the charts on my phone app, I'm not usually far out when I interpret them myself.

I'm not too fussy for work planning but I'm very diligent when it comes to planning sea kayak trip. We can be two, or sometimes three hours out from a safe landing place so we have to be careful with weather, tides and sea swells.

 
This morning is a perfect example. I checked bbc weather at 7:00 and it said dry all day, whereas its rained all morning since 9:00 continuously. 
I've looked at Windy app and It looks to me that it was somewhere near correct in what it shows for Noon today. Rain to the north of Liverpool, dry to the south.

For today, It shows some rain in Wales moving into the west of England and lessening.

Tomorrow is showing rain moving in to Wales, the west of England and Scotland from the west and getting quite heavy in the afternoon and evening as it spreads across large parts of the country. Winds strengthening slightly. Again, I don't expect 100% accuracy but somewhere near will be do for me. 

 
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Is it just me or does anyone else think forecasts seem to be getting worse? 
Came across an interesting bit of information today listening to an interview on BBC World service while working. They mentioned that their satellite was in great demand for weather forecasting but didn't cover Europe and that Europe was struggling with their forecasts as 90% of their wind data came from aircraft which are now mostly grounded. 

Kinda explains a few things... 

 
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The bbc weather app is usually the most reliable and best i find but dont pay attention to the single rain Drop icons, there will be a percentage below it e.g. 25% 75 % etc. This usually means drizzle, nothing, or a quick heavy shower that doesnt last. Pay attention to the double rain drop icon for consistent hours e.g. 5 or 6 hours with 80-100% and double rain drop icons its more than likely going to be a rough one. They have a knack for predicting the worst and the outcome is less severe but In terms of storms and wind speeds it is very accurate

 
I use the bbc app , Google’s forecast , Xc weather and met office, it really takes you to look at a few and see what all matches up the best.

when out working I use netweather.tv for the live rainfall map. You can track where the rains going easy enough 

 
I was PW a large mansion roof all last week and didn't even realise it was raining most of the time. Then he asked me to paint the small chimney stacks and he would through in a few hundred. I thought this will be easy money and how wrong I was. Three sides were simple but the gable side was a nightmare and had to use the scaffold. Started painting the second one and the rain appeared and washed all the paint down the nicely cleaned tiles so I gave up. Went to tackle it again the next day and the same thing happened but I managed to get it done today. Customer is over the moon because he was thinking about getting a new roof and now it looks new.

 
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