“The Met Office Bullhockey“. Anthony Watts joins the Met Office criticism that is suddenly, but purely by chance, reappearing across the denialist blogosphere. Anthony says (I think he’s talking about the Met Office, not the denialist assault):
The spin you are about to witness is Maytag quality spin. It is shameless, stupid, and beyond anything I’ve ever seen. Both James Delingpole and Autonomous Mind take the Met Office out for a spin cycle that ends up in a full stop. The propaganda is shameless, the smell odious, and the public relations disaster is even worse than before. They apparently just don’t know when to stop talking.
So what are the charges? Apparently the Met Office was incompetent because they were making long-term predictions, and now they’re incompetent because they’re not making long-term predictions. Their long-term predictions were bad because they were wrong, but now they’re bad because they are right. Pavlovian conservative pundit James Delingpole at the Telegraph says so, and he’s alway on the up-and-up.
You know what this means, don’t you? There’s a conspiracy afoot! Can’t win for losing…
Wott's Up With That? 
“Their long-term predictions were bad because they were wrong, but now they’re bad because they are right.”
Sums it up.
What *are* they on about? Is it just that the Met Office is Gubmunt controlled and also can understand reality? Are there really people out there who (get this) think Piers Corbyn can do a better job and is talking sense about anthro you know what?
Looks like there are…
Corbyn routinely places bets on his long range forecasts and wins them so often he has been banned by UK’s leading bookmaker, Ladbrokes. Try taking the Met Office long range forecasts and placing a few hundred bucks on them-you’ll soon lose your shirt! BTW check your facts- the MO are saying they predicted both a warm AND a cold winter(!) – that about sums up the non-science beloved of your doomsaying warmist cult.
[“doomsaying warmist cult”, eh? So nuanced. I guess you can back up your claim that Corbyn’s long-range forecasts are the bee’s knees with a few credible references. – Ben]
Corbyn’s 85% success is proven by independent peer review – see Dr Dennis Wheeler, University of Sunderland, in the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Vol 63 (2001) p29-34. In 4,000 Weather Test Bets over 12 years with William Hill, Weather Action forecasts made a profit of some 40% (£20,000). The Odds were statistically fair and set by the Met Office before being shortened by William Hill by a standard 20%; the results were then provided by the Met Office for William Hill to settle each bet. Piers Corbyn was excluded by the bookies from such account betting in 2000.
More here: http://www.weatheraction.com/pages/pv.asp?p=wact5&fsize=0
[Self-promotional hearsay. Dr. Wheeler’s analysis, relentlessly promoted by Piers, was done in 2001. I find William Connolley’s perspective in 2007 and Tim Lambert’s last December enlightening. – Ben]
Like I said, if you think his forecasts are really so great, put your money where your mouth is and bet on them. You have nothing to lose, right?
What? No peer review papers to prove me wrong? Tut, tut! You’re scraping the barrel when you have to cite your warmist buddies’ “opinions” over Ladbrokes bookmakers who banned Corbyn. Why would they ban him if they were beating him?
It’s time to quit your doomsaying propaganda-the world now sees it’s all based on junk science!
[“Prove me wrong” tells us that you can’t prove that you are right. Sweeping accusations of “junk science” are an excellent indicator of a slippery defense. Watch out for that nasty skydragon! – Ben]
The Met office are a national joke, from their barbecue summer predictions(turned into one of the wettest summers ever)to this winters going to be mild, reality was the coldest december for a century.
The biggest joke is that we pay nearly 200 million a year to listen to this bullshit.
All done in the name of where’s the global warming gone, over to you to whitewash Benny.
John well said, the voice of reality
Piers Corbyn said it, so it must be true. That’s how skepticism works. It’s not like he’s trying to sell forecasts or anything, right?
Look, if you really think his forecasts are even close to as good as he says they are, go ahead and buy a few (they’re not that expensive), place some bets based on them, and get filthy stinking rich. Fair warning though, other people have looked at the accuracy of his forecasts and they’re not especially good- nowhere close to what he claims.
Does anyone else enjoy the irony of a spin-master complaining about someone elses spin?
I find the spin of Delingpole odious and smelly as well. I’ve not come across that other crowd – the stench probably keeps ordinary people at bay.
Down where I live the weather is mostly influenced by ENSO. So when there’s an active event coming we have a fair understanding of what to expect a good way ahead of time (our weather bureau keeps us up to date). One reason for the excellent preparation for the horrible floods in Queensland – and now through NSW, Victoria and Tasmania, though not as widespread as Qld.