Met Éireann 'Speak'

crosstownk

I'm a fan of Met Éireann but lately I find their forecast descriptions to be slightly odd - I'm not talking about accuracy, I'm talking about choice of language/words/terminology.

Here's a typical example.......

Met &#201 wrote: »

Tomorrow

The showery weather will continue tomorrow, Tuesday. There will be some very heavy thundery downpours at times in particular down the spine of the country. Coastal areas will enjoy drier and brighter weather. Highest temperatures of 14 to 17 degrees with moderate to fresh northwesterly winds along the west coast, but lighter elsewhere.

What the hell does the bit in bold mean and what part of Ireland does it refer to?

dubhthach

Perhaps they mean the midlands?

crosstownk

dubhthach wrote: »

Perhaps they mean the midlands?

The shape of Ireland is often referred to as a teddy bear - maybe it's the east coast?

You've illustrated my point perfectly with your question mark and the confused icon!

DOCARCH

Yeah where is the spine? I think we all (probably) know they mean the north to south down through the middle of the country but imagine if you were a tourist reading that forecast - especially the Germans (:P) - you'd be pretty stumped wondering where the 'back' of Ireland is!

crosstownk

I imagine they do mean the midlands as the mention that costal areas will 'enjoy' drier and brighter weather. It's somewhat ambiguous.

Jim_Kiy

If there was a mountain range running mid n/s it would make more sense.

The spine of the country is Dublin..as in it carries the rest of the counties (economically)..Galway is the Heart of the country and Co. ******* is the pooper of the country..Donegal is the Head of the country(lack of Brain is disconcerting however) :

clappyhappy

crosstownk wrote: »

I'm a fan of Met Éireann but lately I find their forecast descriptions to be slightly odd - I'm not talking about accuracy, I'm talking about choice of language/words/terminology.

Here's a typical example.......



What the hell does the bit in bold mean and what part of Ireland does it refer to?

This country has no "back bone" so I don't know where they are talking about either ;-)

mike65

It makes no real sense, in Britain the spine is the Pennines but nothing so distinct here.

newmug

I love the way they talk, its more of a working mans language than talking about isobars and anti-cyclones. They only throw in a tiny bit of it anyway, just to liven things up a bit. Yeow!

Su Campu

From a look at the conditions for tomorrow it is fairly clear they mean down the middle of the country, but it is unnecessarily vague and something like "on a line down the centre of the country" would be more appropriate.

pauldry

the spine of the country are in Poland

Super-Rush

Jim_Kiy wrote: »

If there was a mountain range running mid n/s it would make more sense.

The spine of the country is Dublin..as in it carries the rest of the counties (economically)..Galway is the Heart of the country and Co. ******* is the pooper of the country..Donegal is the Head of the country(lack of Brain is disconcerting however) :

What sort of tripe is this?

Are you 12 or something?

Clamball

Today's forecast from Met Eireann starts with "Sunny in places today but overall mostly cloudy with heavy showers of rain or hail and some thunderstorms as well. " It is the first word that jumps out at me but I wake up in Cork this morning to very heavy rain. Would it not be more realistic to say "Cloudy overall with with heavy showers of rain or hail and some thunderstorms as well and it may be sunny in a few places." That way I reach for raincoats for the kids and not the sun-cream.

M.T. Cranium is a lot more realistic with his opening line "Cloudy with a few breaks, but also some heavy showers developing into thunderstorms with some locally heavy downpours"

farmchoice

I bet Siobhan Ryan wrote the ''down the spine'' bit, I can just hear her saying it for some reason.

Now I don't want this to seem like a criticism of Siobhan because it most certainly is not. In fact I think she's great.

tphase

farmchoice wrote: »

I bet Siobhan Ryan wrote the ''down the spine'' bit, I can just hear her saying it for some reason.
.

you're right - she used it on the TV forecast a couple of nights ago

sunset

And what's "thundery rain" when there is no expectation of thunder?

Rikand

sunset wrote: »

And what's "thundery rain" when there is no expectation of thunder?

rain, that is like the kind of rain you get from a thunder storm, except without the thunder.

Bishop_Donal

I can't wait til she comes on some night and tells us there'll be heavy falls of rain over the fanny of the country!:D

I suppose that will be the Vee near Dungarvan.:D:D

Su Campu

Well according to Angela Merkel on Après Match there, "ze Met Office will be done away with, afterall, you already know ze forecast - it's BLEAK!" :pac:

Rougies

Su Campu wrote: »

Well according to Angela Merkel on Après Match there, "ze Met Office will be done away with, afterall, you already know ze forecast - it's BLEAK!" :pac:

Jean Byrne's outfit, the best yet!

Joe Public

I was playing golf out in the rain and some of it went down the back of my neck and on down my spine. Could that be it?

carfiosaoorl

I read the last few posts in a Ted Crilly accent hehe

Joe Public

Met eireann used to give a blight warning on their TV news when warm humid conditions were forecasted at this time of the year. They have a warning on the website but I don't recall hearing it on the TV weather. Have they changed policy or did I miss it?

Su Campu

Evelyn mentioned it on the Farming Forecast today, and said the next couple of days will be suitable for spraying.

ZX7R

They had it on the farming forcast earlyer today.

Joe Public

Thanks but I think they used to mention it on the other forecasts as well like 6pm & 9pm news.

Ferrakins

maybe this is o/t but "scattered showers" is one that makes me smile, i dont know if theres any other way they could put it, but im convinced they have a bet going on how many times it can be said on TV in the one report

Su Campu

Scattered (SCT) is an official term used in aviation meteorology to describe 3-4 okta of cloud coverage.

Similarly

Sky Clear (SKC) = 0 okta
Few (FEW) = 1-2 okta
Broken (BKN) = 5-7 okta
Overcast (OVC) = 8 okta

M.T. Cranium

LOL at this thread, but "thundery rain" I believe should mean a steady rainfall with the odd rumble of thunder, so to convey the idea that it won't be a "thunderstorm" as generally perceived but there could be thunder with the rain. I don't think it is forecast as rain of thunderstorm intensity without thunder, may be wrong on that as we don't use that term at all in North American forecasting. You may have noticed from my forecasts that we have some different terminology that probably makes sense on first reading, such as "variable cloud" which basically means intervals of overcast, broken and scattered cloud without any real clear spells expected. There is also the uncertainty about "scattered showers" -- should that mean everyone gets a shower sooner or later, or some areas get one, others don't -- when I use it, I mean some get a shower, some don't. But I think some people read scattered showers to mean widespread showers, more like "dispersed" showers perhaps. That's not what it means in forecasting (I believe).

Hazy sunshine means sunshine that isn't as strong as what you might expect in clear skies, either due to mist or high cloud. Partly cloudy verifies in the forecaster's mind when sunshine for the day is around 50% of possible.

I suppose the cynic might say that "partly cloudy with scattered showers" would verify about two days out of three in Ireland and so the challenge is to improve on that random expectation.

M.T. Cranium

By the way, spine -- that's where English people go to get a sunburn. :D:D

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater

Jim_Kiy wrote: »

If there was a mountain range running mid n/s it would make more sense.

The spine of the country is Dublin..as in it carries the rest of the counties (economically)..Galway is the Heart of the country and Co. ******* is the pooper of the country..Donegal is the Head of the country(lack of Brain is disconcerting however) :

You there! Go away