Love Sunshine

Fair weather friends to meteorology

This story made me laugh. I quote it directly:

Tourist chiefs at a seaside resort have accused the Met Office of losing the town £1 million because it got the weather forecast wrong on Bank Holiday Monday.

Bournemouth in Dorset was supposed to suffer thundery showers, according to the Met Office, but instead it actually had sunshine on the hottest day of the year so far, with temperatures hitting 22 degrees. However, tourism bosses said around 25,000 visitors stayed away from the town because of the "negative" prediction for rain. Mark Smith, head of Bournemouth Council's tourism department, said: "We do suffer badly from inaccurate weather reports. "The forecast was for thundery showers throughout the day but after 9am it remained bright and sunny and was the hottest day of the year so far. "The average amount spent by visitors per head is £41, so even for one day that cost us over a million pounds."

Will these be the same British Tourism bodies that will claim the weather is not important for British tourism, as our country has 'so much more to offer', should we suffer another washout summer? Bournemouth in the rain? I've been there. Don't do it.

Full story at: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20090528/tuk-weather-blunder-sparks-1m-storm-6323e80.html