Articles like this in my local paper today make me laugh out loud, quite literally.

Oxford Mail saying weather will be hotter than Tunisia this weekend, with the following RIDICULOUS stating the bleeding obvious quote from a Met Office spokeswoman.

A spokeswoman for the Met Office said: “Warm air will be coming through over the weekend, particularly on Saturday afternoon. Oxford and the surrounding areas look to be around 12, 13 or 14C.

“As we go through the year it is fairly typical and normal to have warmer days as we go into spring.”

No s**t Sherlock. How shocking to hear as we go through the year, it's fairly typical to have warmer days. What a waste of print and paper.

Sorry, but this type of hyperbole annoys me just as much as anything that the Express has to write in the winter when we are destined for the next Ice Age.

Gavin, ever thought about having your own personal thread for posting monthly updates in!

You seem very keen to post them everyday in here.

It was just an observation that's all Gavin.

The local text MO forecast has me down for isolated sleety showers on Sunday. Lucky me!

Actually, no, carry as you are, Gavin, as this is making for an easy one stop peek at the Met Office medium range forecasts. Saves me trawling through another website when I can always pop in here (I've been meaning to say this in any case).

http://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/566179/Cold-spell-last-summer-months

Cold to last until July! OMG! What are da metoffice doing about it? nothing! (and other such LOL-some trolling to enrage the clear-witted )

PS. Wasn't it gonna be the hottest easter last week? 

Any article that starts with the line "There is bullsh*t, utter bullsh*t and Daily Express headlines" is bound to be good.

In fact, it's a superb article, one that had me chuckling away at my desk. It not only fingers Jonathon Powell, but also James Madden - who rants, raves and threatens the Guardian's George Monbiot. But doesn't actually answer the civil questions put to him.

brilliantly written and 100% accurate. I sympathise entirely with that last paragraph

Is the John Mason who helped with that piece the same John Mason of this Parish?

Hahahahahahahahaha

The degree in which some of the more respectable newspapers are indulging themselves in a blatantly warped interpretation (yet again) of the MetO seasonal outlook is becoming quite frankly nauseous.

I seriously despair that we'll ever see sensible, level reporting of the weather in any mainstream newspaper ever again given the depths to which many of them have fallen.

A basic maths lesson would be a good way to start their tortuous education . . . .

I quite agree, but I think the Met are only making a rod for their own backs by saying anything at all. They must know what will happen when they put this kind of information out there.

We know that the people of this country doesn't understand statistics. If they did no-one would do the national lottery (aka tax on stupidity)

On a more serious point I have read some of a book by anthropologist Kate Fox about the English ('Watching the English'). Her contention is that the English are not that interested in the weather per se, rather discussion of it is a way to initiate conversation in situations where our native reserve would normally preclude it (two people at a bus stop for instance). The weather is seen as a 'safe' topic and the conversation is bound by certain rules.

I may not agree with all that she says but it is an intriguing idea - everyone assumes that we are all obsessed with the weather - the reality may be very different. In that context the vast majority of people will see a story in the paper, or on the telly, make an appropriate comment and then move on with their lives. It only really becomes an item of note for weather geeks like us...

I understand statistics perfectly well. I have two A-levels in maths. And I still do the lottery. Yes, the chances of winning anything are minuscule, but it is the difference between having a minuscule chance of winning several million quid, and having absolutely zero chance of winning several million quid. That's worth the price of a takeaway coffee in my opinion.

And now we return you to your scheduled thread about sensationalist weather reporting 

My concern is more for those who probably shouldn't spend their money on the lottery - those who cannot afford to spend on it.

My suspicion (with no evidence to back this up) is that lottery playing is more prevalent among the lowest earners in society.

(BTW - I have two A-levels in Maths too, but neither was in stats... - boring old mechanics! How I enjoyed the ladder leaning against the wall)

The heat appears to have kicked off a fire at Pirbright heathland.

http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/local-news/pirbright-heathland-fire-live-updates-9049283

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3078581/Britain-set-battered-fierce-snowstorms-El-Nino-cycle-five-years-begins.html

I feel dirty for posting this Daily Mail link.  Usual rubbish.