Readers may recall my story from last night about the Met office and their spectacular failure of a forecast for April. See Met Office April Forecast: “…drought impacts in the coming months are virtually inevitable.”.
Today I got confirmation of the PR being foisted on the UK public surrounding that forecast, and I don’t think even Josh could outdo this one, it is one for the books.
This is British humor at its absolute finest (FAIL added by AW):
Photo by Delemere Lafferty with a h/t to commenter RichieP
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now we need mea culpas from the rest of the MSM for doing precisely the same for years:
(WITH THE OFFENDING PIC)2 May: Brisbane Times: Judy Prisk: Misleading smoke gets in public’s eyes
Several times in past months the Herald has used photographs of steam rising from power station chimneys with captions or subheads intimating that the steam was a polluting pall.
The most recent example was on the cover of BusinessDay on April 17. The photo, taken at Bayswater power station in July last year, shows funnels of dark steam silhouetted against white clouds and a blue sky…
First, the photographer did not manipulate the image in any way. He says he shot a series of four in the middle of the day using F22, which means a small aperture made the images razor sharp. And the reason he stopped to take the pics on the way to another job was because the scene looked so unusual. He presumes the darkness of the vapour was because it was heavy with moisture.
Second, and for me the most galling, is that the photographer had clearly written in his attached caption: ”Please note that it is NOT smoke coming out of the stacks, it is steam.”
Many readers feel the Herald and The Sun-Herald do not publish enough alternative opinions and stories on climate change and global warming, that they have formed an opinion and will stick with it. If you read the Herald’s editorials, there appears little doubt that it has accepted the scientific consensus on the effects of carbon pollution on climate: there has been a gradual warming of the planet. The Sun-Herald leans that way, too. So when those who question the climate-change science see what they consider examples of the ”old trick” referred to by the reader, they feel their concerns are justified.
The decision to use the image with such a misleading subhead was a poor one, and one which drew a message from the editor to ensure it did not recur. Although it was not the first time it has happened, hopefully it will be the last…
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/misleading-smoke-gets-in-publics-eyes-20120501-1xwzs.html
Oh. I see, a Thames Water ad campaign.
http://www.vaguelyinteresting.co.uk/?tag=cabinet-drought-committee
I thought it was some kind of official announcement system. Like, say “We are fighting the Huns”, “Beware the Zeppelins” or what have you.
It’s worse than we drought!
BargHumer says:
May 1, 2012 at 1:10 pm
“I think the battle of Britain victory was due to the use of foreign pilots, especially Polish. It is a reminder that just because the odds are against you, when you fight a “good” fight, you use everything you have got, and who knows – you might win!”
I would say it was a for its time superiour messaging system, collecting information from the radar stations and guiding the few fighter craft effectively.
Irony Alanis Morissette would understand. Or not.
Its getting to the point where I feel sorry for the Met Office. They freely admit their models are only capable of a 5 day forecast and hope to some day achieve a 30 day forecast. They also freely admit the same models are used for climate projections.
Why are they so determined to undermine their own honesty by making foolish predictions?
It just doesn’t make any sense.
I once asked a question of my UK expatriate friends, “What kind of dry wit criticality incident might occur if too many of you Englishmen were placed inside a room too close together?”
Their answer was, “the British Empire.”
BargHumer says:
May 1, 2012 at 1:10 pm
The wrong kind of rain is a throwback to the paralysed British Rail network blamed on the “wrong kind of snow”. It was joked one autumn that the trains stopped because of the “wrong kind of leaves” on the track.
I think “the wrong kind of …” has become a standing joke here in the UK. I have heard on Brit Rail the “wrong kind of rain” affecting traction. I have heard announcements about the “wrong kind of snow” and it was reported in the paper that the GPS train/platform positioning system used to control door opening on trains failed because of the “wrong kind of clouds”. To cap it all, after enjoying an historic steam train trip to York we failed to make it back to London because they had replenished the train at York with “the wrong kind of coal”. Perhaps it is just the wrong kind of mentality? Time to head back to Aotearoa, “The Land of the wrong white crowd”!
CS says:
May 1, 2012 at 12:08 pm
“Wow – stunning display of misinformed opinion all around. Climate and weather are two completely different concepts. It could continue raining every day for the next 2 months, and we’d still be suffering drought. Thank you all for giving me a good laugh at the end of the day.”
True–Weather and climate are two different concepts, although the alarmists tend to pick and choose when that is the case.
On to your other point… So lets says it rains an inch every 24 hours, at the end of 2 months there would be a total of 60 inches of rain. Outside of the mountains and moors the UK averages ~20-25 inches of rainper year. Are you honestly saying that the UK would still be in a drought after this?!
Why do the Brits announce droughts on buses?
where ever there’s a crisis, there’s money to be made. There are 2 logos on that advert, business logos? They might have invested interest in droughts.
“sadbutmadlad says:
May 1, 2012 at 11:59 am
Yeah, but you can have a huge down pour and still be in drought. Drought is when the resevoirs are not their usual levels,……..etc”
I would have believed you had I not just have read on the Bristol Water website fishing report that the rapidly rising reservoirs had spoilt the fishing and that their group of reservoirs in the Mendip hills were 90% full and rising.
Every Government and quasi government department in this country are habitual liars no matter how grave or trivial the subject may be.
However, as the calibre of recruits to government positions from Prime Minister down is poor in the extreme, their lies lack even the thinnest of veneers that might disguise them.
Sadly we are for the most part sheep, governed by braying donkeys, the only alternative to which are mentally challenged asses.
Both are interchangeable at elections.
Dear British friends,
Not to worry, I’ll be visiting Great Britain soon and that should spell an end to the drought. Everytime I’ve been there, it’s rained 9 out of 10 days.
Don’t let those Met Office folks out in this weather. They’re liable to drown staring up at the rain like their avian cousins, the domestic turkey.
All this British and WW II talk have me pining for a good “Hitler Discovers that Climate Scientists Are Too Stupid to Be Used” vidoe mockeries.
Hahaha! You couldn’t buy that kind of advertising. Oh wait, they did. Hahaha!
more effective without the FAIL
DirkH says:
May 1, 2012 at 11:15 am
>> Why do the Brits announce droughts on buses?
Exactly !
what clearer testament could there be to the propagandist nature of the AGW hype.
Someone (probably the UK taxpayer) is shelling out large amounts of money to have “WE ARE IN DOUGHT” splashed [sic] across the side of London buses.
Forget peer-review, it must be true, I say it on a bus!
Murray Grainger says:
May 1, 2012 at 1:45 pm
How about “wrong kind of forecast”?
Sadbutmadlad – check my site (link above). Post there explains in very simpl language: the reservoirs are all full or over three quarters full as of a week ago.
Wake up a see reality son.
From the UK met office site a few minutes ago
UK Outlook for Wednesday 16 May 2012 to Wednesday 30 May 2012:
Overall there are no strong signals favouring any particular weather type during this period. Total rainfall and cloud amounts during the two weeks are a little more likely to be above average than below average, whilst mean temperatures are more likely to be below average than above average. The balance of evidence does also hint that if we do get a spell of relatively warm, dry weather this is a little more likely to come in the second half of the 15-day period.
This is a weather forecast ? We pay for this ! (BTW this from the same computing goliath in Exeter that predicts with near certitude the EOTWAWKI in 2100)
I seem to recall controlling the water supply was one of the themes in Michael Crichton’s prescient and catalyzing State of Fear.
I can picture a Monty Python sketch with John Cleese and Eric Idle (dressed as a waitress) in a outside Cafe.
The waitress pouring a glass of water:
Cleese “Don’t pour that”
Idle “What? Why not?
Cleese “We’re in a drought”
Idle “A what?”
Cleese “A drought you silly woman”
Idle “But it’s raining”
Cleese “well yes, . . . now”
Cleese “But that’s not the point is it. The BBC and the Met say we’re in a drought and that’s all we really need to know.”
My Sussex water comes from Poverty Bottom pumping station, it fell as rain about 200 years ago. Lack of rain doesn’t affect supply, but there is a limit to how fast they can pump it. Pumping more water puts a dent in the water table, pumping too fast would let the sea water move inland. High water demand due to drought is the problem, not lack of water entering the supply.
At lunchtime I walk my dogs round Friston Forest. All our natural forests were cleared in the Neolithic, probably for sheep, Friston was planted in the 1940’s because forest soaks up more water than grassland. Levels were running low so they had to cut demand which meant declaring a drought.
Seems perfectly logical to me. If it rains you can undeclare a drought. If it doesn’t rain you cannot backdate a cut in demand.
Just a misspelling, the sign should read “We are Dought”
Dought: (from Urban Dictionary)
1. Someone who is a dumbass.
2. Someone with no idea what they’re talking about.
3. Someone who can’t do anything at all.
*Pronounced like THROAT..but with a D instead of a THR sound!
Its a dry rain. Classic wet/dry weather. Nothing to see here.
Sorry guys but can everyone stop going on about the UK like it is run by our politicians it is not, we are now controlled by the the unelected EU http://www.eureferendum.com/fcosovereignty2.pdf the only reason we appear to be separate is because we did not join the Euro.
Oh if you ever meet a British PM ask what is meant by ‘Schools and Hospitals’.