I have certainly seem folks claim just that!

The media should give the metoffice more coverage, and these independant thingies less. 

N Miller keeps mentioning last year,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,with a grin

Just watched One Wild Winter and they were explaining how last years SSW took the Met office by surprise ??? did it?

Showed how the Votex split and never really recovered , hence all our cold air.

Old news but worth a mention

"UK Outlook for Monday 20 Jan 2014 to Wednesday 29 Jan 2014:

Remaining changeable at first, with bright or sunny spells and showers. The far northeast may see some persistent rain, still with a risk of gales, while towards the southeast it may be mainly dry. By the middle of the week, a change to more unsettled conditions is expected with bands of rain spreading eastwards interspersed with clearer, more showery spells. There is a risk of hill snow in the north and perhaps also to lower levels at times. It will become windier for all areas, especially in the north and west, with a risk of gales. Temperatures will be near or slightly below average with overnight frost and patchy fog likely in the clearer spells.

UK Outlook for Thursday 30 Jan 2014 to Thursday 13 Feb 2014:

Current indications point towards changeable conditions persisting through the end of January and into early February. The most likely scenario during this period would see northwestern parts of the UK affected by the most frequent bouts of unsettled and windy weather. Meanwhile southern and eastern regions should tend to see the most prolonged spells of drier and brighter conditions. Some periods of colder weather are likely, particularly between weather systems, meaning that temperatures overall may well be near or a little below normal.

Issued at: 0400 on Thu 16 Jan 2014"

Metoffice forecast. 

D Bett showed Sunday with strong Easterly winds from Northern parts of EA Northwards

Yes, it's noticable that the forecast for Sunday issued by the MetO has changed completely for my neck of the woods. Earlier today it was sunny with a few showers, winds from the west. Now it's rain on and off for most of the day with a stiff wind coming in from the east. Shows how things are changing in the short to mid-term.

I don't think anyone is suggesting mild conditions right into February. Most people seem to be stressing the uncertainty rather than a definite zonal outlook.

D Bett at 22:30

" winds from the South"

Yet the wind arrows were coming across the N Sea from Denmark

Where the forecasters and maps disagree, rule of thumb is to go with what the forecaster is saying. Same on the metoffice website, text forecasts are always the way to go. 

Poor

...and back we go again. Sunday now forecast to be mainly sunny and dry, as the pattern shifts eastward once more. When the music stops, the forecast sticks.

What do you mean? I thought this was standard, the maps the BBC use are going to be based on model data,what the forecasters are saying is the mets intepretation, and perhaps something more up to date which is why its important to listen to forecasts as well as watch the graphics. What do you mean poor? One word answers are never helpful, they just make more effort because they need to be clarified. 

Even if the actual weather didn't

Not the Corporation's fault if the weather is faulty.

I think even the most specific hi res models only update four times a day, perhaps its too much of a hassle to tweak the processed graphics so much, particualrly if they are nearly always fine. I tend to think of the maps more as a guide anyway, and try to listen to what the forecaster is saying. 

I did indeed Rob, how can the forecaster say one thing when the chart behind shows something different

so ...................poor

A guide

How can it be a guide when the winds were from Denmark and Betty boy says " winds from the South"

Come off it Q

Actually the forecaster would be better off saying nothing about wind direction.

Of course he could have been honest and said the chart behind me is crap  so ignore the wind direction.............

Because the models are clearly struggling with the sitation at the moment. I haven't seen so much disagreement in years, and that is saying something considering how much the models have improved, since, say 2005. If the maps have easterly winds, and the presenter says southerly winds; then its best to plump with the presenter. 

Sometimes they do, especially when the maps are showing the Low res UKMO model. I can understand why the BBC doesn't bother to tweak the models that update 4 times a day. The amount of effort would be excessive, when they are usually very accurate. Instead the presenter can just say what the current intepratation is, listening to what the forecaster says gives far more insight than the BBC maps which you can probably get on weatheronline.co.uk under NMM or something. 

I'm not arguing that , I am saying it looks poor, and makes him look foolish IMO