§ 79. Sir R. Aclandasked the Secretary of State for Air whether he will publish each day a report on the previous day's weather forecast given by the meteorological Department of his Ministry with some explanation of what went wrong on days when the forecast turns out to be substantially inaccurate.
§ Mr. A. HendersonTo do this properly would be a considerable undertaking, in view of the fact that the Meteorological 123W Office issues weather forecasts four times a day for 48 land and coastal areas, not counting forecasts for special purposes. It would not simply be a matter of labelling forecasts "right" or "wrong," because they cover wind, weather and temperature, and may be right for one and wrong for another. I do not think there is enough public demand to justify issuing such comparisons, or that the Press and the B.B.C. would have room for them. It is already the practice to give the Press and the B.B.C. an explanation of incorrect forecasts if they ask. I should add that the Meteorological Office itself invariably compares forecasts with actual conditions, so that the causes of failures can be studied.