I think the MetO was right to abandon the use of public seasonal forecasts like this but IMO it was mainly a problem of format and presentation and I would hope that given a better way of presenting the data, they mighr return some day
The general public are OK with the use of probabilities when it comes to horse racing odds and betting but not for seasonal weather forecasting
The fact that a 70% chance of an average or better summer also means a 30% chance of a worse than average summer is a tricky concept for most people when you're trying to plan you're July holiday and is not really of any practical use
I agree the media just latched onto the "barbecue summer" tag line but if someone could come up with a better way of including this uncertainty in the prognosois they might be able to start up again
Originally Posted by: lanky