40% chance:You'll get wet from the sprinkler.
60% chance: It might rain
70% chance: It gonna rain.
100% chance: holy shiat, the basements gonna flood.

Stupid article is stupid.
/Although nobody really understands what probability of precipitation is anyway
//The people who say it's 50-50 every day make me stabby

SlothB77: Are they as accurate as their american counterparts?

there 1 for 1 so far

I find weather forecasts quite reliable. They have a 75% of being accurate.

It's England. It's going to rain. Unless it's not.

Pastramification: [30.media.tumblr.com image 500x343]

Came for Ollie Williams, leaving at the wrong airport.

Get Lost: 40% chance:You'll get wet from the sprinkler.
60% chance: It might rain
70% chance: It gonna rain.
100% chance: holy shiat, the basements gonna flood.

This is what I've figured out from it (at least in my area).

10% - cloudy but one cloud in the viewing area might drop a drizzle
20% - pop up thunderstorms, 10% of the viewing area gets a good bit of rain, 90% gets none.
30-40% - a front comes through quickly, less than an hour of rain for everyone
50-60% - a front comes through slowly, half day of rain
70% - front stalls, but not very strong, drizzle all day long
80-90% - strong front stalls, rain including lots of it heavy all day long
100% - rain to the point of flood advisories somewhere in the viewing area, often tropical storms

Pastramification: [30.media.tumblr.com image 500x343]

... and it looks like were done here.

Fluorescent Testicle: Pastramification: [30.media.tumblr.com image 500x343]

Came for Ollie Williams


"WHO WANTS THIS DOG?"

12349876: 100% - rain to the point of flood advisories somewhere in the viewing area, often tropical storms

...and coffins floating down your street, into your house.

Eh. :/

'''''''

I know I pressed it, and the key is working...

FTFA: Plain English Campaign, a pressure group based in Derbyshire

Shouldn't a group dedicated to English be based somewhere they actually speak English?

Oh My Gawd, Trampoleeen!

SlothB77: Are they as accurate as their american counterparts?

I would guess more so, if only because it's likely to rain most of the time in the UK.

buckler: I'm still waiting for an explanation of why British broadcasters insert an unnecessary "r" sound between a word that ends in a vowel, and a word that begins with one.

I remember Vanilla Ice popping up on a show with a British announcer, and he introduced him as Vaniller Ice.

Sticks in my mind for some reason. Think of how many words might have ended with "a," but were cataloged as ending in "er" because of the crazy Britons! And they killed Ben Franklin!

The Council for Plain English or whatever the fark they are called should learn to distinguish between bureaucratese/legalese which is just unnecessarily wordy and obfuscated, and technical language. Which is actually quite precise and clear.

Dogger
Gale warnings - Issued: 0950 UTC Fri 09 Dec

Northwesterly severe gale force 9 decreasing gale force 8 imminent

Shipping Forecast - Issued: 0015 UTC Sat 10 Dec

Wind
Northwesterly backing southwesterly 5 to 7, occasionally gale 8 at first in north.
Sea State
Very rough or high becoming moderate or rough.
Weather
Squally wintry showers.
Visibility
Good, occasionally poor.

Fisher
Gale warnings - Issued: 0950 UTC Fri 09 Dec

Northwesterly violent storm force 11 decreasing severe gale force 9 soon

Shipping Forecast - Issued: 0015 UTC Sat 10 Dec

Wind
West or northwest 7 to severe gale 9 decreasing 5 or 6.
Sea State
Very rough or high becoming rough or very rough.
Weather
Squally wintry showers.
Visibility
Moderate or poor.

German Bight
Gale warnings - Issued: 1542 UTC Fri 09 Dec

Westerly severe gale force 9 decreasing gale force 8 soon

Shipping Forecast - Issued: 0015 UTC Sat 10 Dec

Wind
West or northwest 7 to severe gale 9 decreasing 5 or 6.
Sea State
Very rough or high becoming rough or very rough.
Weather
Squally wintry showers.
Visibility
Moderate or poor.

/concise

12649876--you be from Texa$$?? Sounds like a Houston forecast......

My rule of thumb, based on completely unscientific biased looking at weather.com all the time:

0-20%: it's not gonna rain. Ever. We like making up numbers in case of that microscopic chance it will.
30%-50%: Very small chance of rain and if it does, we'll see very little.
60-80%: It's gonna rain.
90-100%: It's gonna rain. A lot.

/Unless you're talking about the camp I go to on Lake Erie... in which case any number above about 10% means it'll rain all day.

Speaking of probability percentages,

Oooh! "News"!

PEOPLE LOOK LIKE ANTS

Yes, numbers are confusing. Take temperatures, for example. Why say "high temperatures in the upper 80s Fahrenheit, low 30s Centigrade" when you can simply say, "it's likely to be warm"?

Or, as a fellow passenger remarked to me as our Chicago-Manchester flight was preparing to land, "If you brought any sunscreen, you won't need it."

"The rain will start in the north bay sometime after midnight, and work its way south to about San Jose by your morning commute."

^Local newscasters could just make a recording or symbol for this sentence, as many times as they use it.

No, they're using percentages because when you use them, you can never be wrong. It's impossible. If you say, "It's going to rain," and it doesn't rain, you're wrong. If you say, "There's a 95% chance of rain," and it doesn't rain, well, you said up front that there was a 5% chance that it wouldn't rain, so you're not wrong. I use percentages at work whenever possible, and it works the same way. Best of all, because of the prevalence of weathermen, people don't even question you when you do it. It rules.

UsikFark: buckler: I'm still waiting for an explanation of why British broadcasters insert an unnecessary "r" sound between a word that ends in a vowel, and a word that begins with one.I remember Vanilla Ice popping up on a show with a British announcer, and he introduced him as Vaniller Ice.

Because it flows much more comfortably when speaking than to force a complete stop in between words or mixing vowels together.

I will admit to a minor pet peeve when people pronounce "drawing" as "drawer-ring," however.

/and "skeleton" as "skellington."

Back on subject, I happen to prefer hearing percentages of precipitation. It's information, it helps understand what is going on, and besides weather is all about numbers. I would rather hear "40% chance of rain" than "possible rain" just as I prefer "high of 23 degrees Celsius" over "it will be a bit warm today."

buckler: I also have a pet peeve with them pronouncing foreign words with an anglicised phoneticism.

In American English, we borrow words from other languages, and pronounce them as well as we can with our thick American tongues, because we recognize that we're all immigrants if you go back far enough. The British translate words into English, (often purposely choosing bizarre pronunciations) in order to remind everyone of that fact that they are the greatest nation on the face of the earth, and that whatever they say English is, it is.

/two languages in one head?
//no one can LIVE at that speed!

Gordon Bennett: I would rather hear "40% chance of rain" than "possible rain" just as I prefer "high of 23 degrees Celsius" over "it will be a bit warm today."

So...you actually believe that there is a 40% chance of rain just because the guy says there is? Hey, ok, then. You interested in buying any beachfront property? I've got some land in Arizona you'd LOVE!

/this is what I mean about giving things in percentages
//people believe there MUST be some basis in fact for the numbers

buckler: Gordon Bennett: UsikFark: buckler: I'm still waiting for an explanation of why British broadcasters insert an unnecessary "r" sound between a word that ends in a vowel, and a word that begins with one.I remember Vanilla Ice popping up on a show with a British announcer, and he introduced him as Vaniller Ice.

Because it flows much more comfortably when speaking than to force a complete stop in between words or mixing vowels together.

But for a news organization that prides itself on accuracy, I have to object. There is no "Obamar administration". I also have a pet peeve with them pronouncing foreign words with an anglicised phoneticism. There is no country called "nick-a-RAG-you-ah", for example.

Yes, there is. It's just that people who live there will pronounce it differently from those who speak a different language. Just as every country will have it's own accent, or collection of accents, and that doesn't change the meaning of the word. It's like Americans who lose the H in herb - you're not French, the word isn't French, but you pronounce it as French. Does it really matter, as long as people understand what you mean?

I wonder if they have hired americans to host/voice over all of ther shows as well. I wish I could turn on my television without hearing a farking british accent.

I am waiter hear me roar: buckler: I also have a pet peeve with them pronouncing foreign words with an anglicised phoneticism.

In American English, we borrow words from other languages, and pronounce them as well as we can with our thick American tongues, because we recognize that we're all immigrants if you go back far enough. The British translate words into English, (often purposely choosing bizarre pronunciations) in order to remind everyone of that fact that they are the greatest nation on the face of the earth, and that whatever they say English is, it is.

/two languages in one head?
//no one can LIVE at that speed!

The US has no room to talk on this.

My argument?

Notre Dame.

fo_sho!: I am waiter hear me roar: buckler: I also have a pet peeve with them pronouncing foreign words with an anglicised phoneticism.

In American English, we borrow words from other languages, and pronounce them as well as we can with our thick American tongues, because we recognize that we're all immigrants if you go back far enough. The British translate words into English, (often purposely choosing bizarre pronunciations) in order to remind everyone of that fact that they are the greatest nation on the face of the earth, and that whatever they say English is, it is.

/two languages in one head?
//no one can LIVE at that speed!

The US has no room to talk on this.

My argument?

Notre Dame.

That's nothing... You should try pronouncing the french street names in New Orleans sometime. But to be fair, the french terminal "tre" is hard as hell for americans. I have personal experience with this, as my name ends with that sound and it gets butchered almost without exception.