Post by Teddy Bear on Feb 12, 2012 19:06:00 GMT
It's always a good day when any BBC agenda in defiance of its charter returns to bite it in its arse. It's inevitable that each area of its bias will do so similarly, and that day can't come soon enough.
BBC's Weather Test washout: Bid to check accuracy of forecasts vanishes in storm of wrangling that no one predicted
By Robert Verkaik
A row between weathermen threatens to wreck a BBC-funded project to test the accuracy of Britain’s weather forecasts.
The study, estimated to have cost tens of thousands of pounds of licence fee payers’ money, has been devised by the BBC’s senior environment analyst, Roger Harrabin.
But seven of the eight forecasters and bodies asked to take part have not agreed, with two blaming Mr Harrabin for undermining the study’s credibility, claiming that his reputation is tarnished by his close links to green groups who believe in man-made climate change.
Last year The Mail on Sunday reported that Mr Harrabin accepted £15,000 in grants from the university at the heart of the ‘Climategate’ scandal in which scientists were accused of exaggerating the effect of climate change. He used the money from the University of East Anglia’s Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research to fund seminars run by an ‘ad hoc’ partnership of himself and a friend.
The BBC Weather Test was trumpeted as the first assessment of the reliability of forecasting after a series of blunders including the Met Office’s forecast of a ‘barbecue summer’ of 2009 that never was and the failure to warn the public of the very cold winter of 2010.
But the project, supported by BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, has descended into chaos. It has been dogged by disagreements between the BBC and the forecasters from its start nearly two years ago. The Met Office, the national forecasting body, says it won’t commit until it is sure the tests are ‘scientifically robust’ and will not cost any more ‘taxpayers’ money’.
Independent forecaster Piers Corbyn has described Mr Harrabin as an ‘excessively deluded disciple of the warmist brigade’ tainted by his links to climate change groups. Mr Corbyn, who runs Weather Action, also says he will not take part if meteorologist Philip Eden, a former vice president of the Royal Meteorological Society, is involved. Mr Eden was to be on the Weather Test judging panel. But Mr Corbyn said he has made disparaging remarks questioning the accuracy of his and other independent weathermen’s forecasts.
Mr Eden says he has dropped out of the project for personal reasons.
Another independent forecaster, David King, says he has ‘ducked out’ because the project became so ‘factional’ and because of reports that Mr Harrabin has taken money from green groups.
The Press Association’s forecasting service, MeteoGroup, another named participant, said it had not received a formal invitation and still harboured reservations about the study because it favoured Met Office weather stations where it would be unable to properly verify the data.
The name of US climate-change sceptic Joe Bastardi heads the BBC list of invited participants, but he says he has not been invited and his spokesman said it wouldn’t be something he wanted to be involved with.
Positive Weather Solutions, a small commercial forecaster, was also invited but has gone out of business in the past few weeks. Its chief forecaster, Jonathan Powell, said he had reservations about the test’s independence. Last night it was unclear whether Metra, the commercial arm of the New Zealand National Meteorological Service, is still involved.
The project, in collaboration with the Royal Meteorological Society, Royal Statistical Society and Leeds University, was slated for a spring launch. A BBC spokesman said: ‘This sort of research is notoriously complex, indeed we have acknowledged the difficulties involved on-air and said it might not come together, but the project remains in development and we are hoping for co-operation from forecasters.’
By Robert Verkaik
A row between weathermen threatens to wreck a BBC-funded project to test the accuracy of Britain’s weather forecasts.
The study, estimated to have cost tens of thousands of pounds of licence fee payers’ money, has been devised by the BBC’s senior environment analyst, Roger Harrabin.
But seven of the eight forecasters and bodies asked to take part have not agreed, with two blaming Mr Harrabin for undermining the study’s credibility, claiming that his reputation is tarnished by his close links to green groups who believe in man-made climate change.
Last year The Mail on Sunday reported that Mr Harrabin accepted £15,000 in grants from the university at the heart of the ‘Climategate’ scandal in which scientists were accused of exaggerating the effect of climate change. He used the money from the University of East Anglia’s Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research to fund seminars run by an ‘ad hoc’ partnership of himself and a friend.
The BBC Weather Test was trumpeted as the first assessment of the reliability of forecasting after a series of blunders including the Met Office’s forecast of a ‘barbecue summer’ of 2009 that never was and the failure to warn the public of the very cold winter of 2010.
But the project, supported by BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, has descended into chaos. It has been dogged by disagreements between the BBC and the forecasters from its start nearly two years ago. The Met Office, the national forecasting body, says it won’t commit until it is sure the tests are ‘scientifically robust’ and will not cost any more ‘taxpayers’ money’.
Independent forecaster Piers Corbyn has described Mr Harrabin as an ‘excessively deluded disciple of the warmist brigade’ tainted by his links to climate change groups. Mr Corbyn, who runs Weather Action, also says he will not take part if meteorologist Philip Eden, a former vice president of the Royal Meteorological Society, is involved. Mr Eden was to be on the Weather Test judging panel. But Mr Corbyn said he has made disparaging remarks questioning the accuracy of his and other independent weathermen’s forecasts.
Mr Eden says he has dropped out of the project for personal reasons.
Another independent forecaster, David King, says he has ‘ducked out’ because the project became so ‘factional’ and because of reports that Mr Harrabin has taken money from green groups.
The Press Association’s forecasting service, MeteoGroup, another named participant, said it had not received a formal invitation and still harboured reservations about the study because it favoured Met Office weather stations where it would be unable to properly verify the data.
The name of US climate-change sceptic Joe Bastardi heads the BBC list of invited participants, but he says he has not been invited and his spokesman said it wouldn’t be something he wanted to be involved with.
Positive Weather Solutions, a small commercial forecaster, was also invited but has gone out of business in the past few weeks. Its chief forecaster, Jonathan Powell, said he had reservations about the test’s independence. Last night it was unclear whether Metra, the commercial arm of the New Zealand National Meteorological Service, is still involved.
The project, in collaboration with the Royal Meteorological Society, Royal Statistical Society and Leeds University, was slated for a spring launch. A BBC spokesman said: ‘This sort of research is notoriously complex, indeed we have acknowledged the difficulties involved on-air and said it might not come together, but the project remains in development and we are hoping for co-operation from forecasters.’