Reading University (Wokingham) weather - Met Office (2024)

FAQs

How reliable is Met Office weather? ›

Short-range forecasts provided by the Met Office are extremely accurate and are updated several times a day.

Chance of precipitation

For example, a 70% chance of rain represents a 7 in 10 chance that precipitation will fall at some point during that period. Chance of precipitation represents how likely it is that rain (or other precipitation: sleet, snow, hail, drizzle etc.) will fall from the sky over a certain time period.

We provide forecasts from a few hours ahead to projections more than a century into the future. The timescale of each forecast greatly determines the level of detail we can give.

Weather Forecasts

As part of the tender assessment process, the accuracy of trial forecasts provided by different companies tendering for the contract were assessed. During this process the Met Office was found to be the most accurate of the companies that tendered for the contract.

Somewhat less intuitive than the BBC's easily navigable, at-a-glance site, the government-run The Met Office is nonetheless generally viewed as the most reliable weather forecast there is in the UK.

A forecast of a 20 percent chance of rain means the forecaster believes there is a one in five chance (20 percent) that measurable rain will occur in the time period covered by the forecast.

An “80% chance of rain” means an 80% chance that rain will fall somewhere within the forecasted area. Rain refers to 0.01 inch or more of water falling from the sky.

If we are 50% confident that 100% of the city of Cardiff will receive rain, then there is a 50% probability of rain. So, if in the weather forecast the probability of rain is 50%, it is better to take your umbrella with you!

Even now five-day weather forecasts are about 90% accurate, but 10-day forecasts are more like 50%. Anything beyond that becomes speculative. The Met Office and others do now issue long-term forecasts, but these give probabilities rather than making exact predictions.

How accurate is a 2 week weather forecast? ›

The Short Answer:

A seven-day forecast can accurately predict the weather about 80 percent of the time and a five-day forecast can accurately predict the weather approximately 90 percent of the time. However, a 10-day—or longer—forecast is only right about half the time.

forecasters or by modestsized computers, so it is possible to update the forecasts frequently – every time there are new observations available. Most Met Office nowcasts are updated every hour.

The Met Office weather app is the winner of two awards in the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) International Weather App Awards 2020 for specialised app / weather warnings and for our public weather forecasts, including usefulness, reliability, quantity and quality of information.

AccuWeather gathers the best and most comprehensive weather data to deliver forecasts with Superior Accuracy. Forecasts are pinpointed for every location on Earth and extend further ahead than any other source.

Forecasts are created by estimating the current state of the atmosphere using observations, and then calculating how this state will evolve in time using a numerical weather prediction computer model.