It's events like this one that tend to be in festival organisers' minds:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14586001

That same story references a stage collapse in the US under strong winds the week before, which killed five people.

Yes, Exactly!  Learning from experience can make things more difficult to do but it saves lives.

Remember the M5 firework smoke crash that killed several people?  My above mentioned annual Christmas event included a firework display and after that happened, I had to move the firing site due to new regulations. 

---

The Met Office warning system is excellent. I am sure it has saved many lives and prevented a lot of hardship and financial losses since its introduction.

As a forum of weather enthusiasts who understand the potential of nature's fury versus the balance of probability and risk we shouldn't really be having this discussion....should we ? 

Winds have overnight peaked just shy of 60mph down here, the other week they were gusting around 55mph.

Now the other week the higher gusts were more frequent and caused more damage despite being 5mph weaker. Funnily enough the met couldn't be bothered to issue a weather warning as it was largely a coastal event, unlike fhe current event that is inland 

 

Winds have overnight peaked just shy of 60mph down here, the other week they were gusting around 55mph.

Now the other week the higher gusts were more frequent and caused more damage despite being 5mph weaker. Funnily enough the met couldn't be bothered to issue a weather warning as it was largely a coastal event, unlike fhe current event that is inland 

That may be because the Met Office warnings tend to be regional, rather than local.  But I disagree about the current warning being for inland as I said in a previous post.  On my information it says to ‘expect coastal routes, sea fronts and coastal communities to be affected’.

---

That may be because the Met Office warnings tend to be regional, rather than local.  But I disagree about the current warning being for inland as I said in a previous post.  On my information it says to ‘expect coastal routes, sea fronts and coastal communities to be affected’.

The problem is Caz some people do not, cannot or choose not to read full statements or posts in a form of confirmation bias. 

---

That may be because the Met Office warnings tend to be regional, rather than local.  But I disagree about the current warning being for inland as I said in a previous post.  On my information it says to ‘expect coastal routes, sea fronts and coastal communities to be affected’.

Dorset to East Sussex and IOW all had gales and even mentioned in forecasts but there were no warnings. Had these winds today only been for the coast i doubt a weather warning would have been issued, but since its effecting inland to they wrote a warning and mentioned the coast.

 

This was about as much mention of the gales that hit us the other week, and caused a fair bit of damage.

https://mobile.twitter.com/metoffice/status/1156158013943746560 

no weather warning were issued as like i say it was a coastal thing and i guess it's assumed being coastal these winds speeds are nothing untoward. The top gust was 55mph... this system brought a gust 58mph to Devon.

Dorset to East Sussex and IOW all had gales and even mentioned in forecasts but there were no warnings. Had these winds today only been for the coast i doubt a weather warning would have been issued, but since its effecting inland to they wrote a warning and mentioned the coast.

And that’s another reason why the warnings for this weekend are justified!  People complain when there aren’t any!

---

For my part of the SW well we have just lived through a breezy day and a bit of showery rain with one heavy burst yesterday other than that totally normal for any time of the year. Was the yellow warning justified? maybe but the media from all areas have grabbed hold yet again and blew it into something far worse than it was ever going to be, and some tv forecasters were winding it up a bit as well so there should be a lot of eggy faces around or if not there should be. Right now the weather outside is breezy, warm and sunny so in fact a nice day which is opposite to what was forecast for here today.

---

I would say the warnings were justified lthough I’m sure in some parts of the warning areas people had warm sunshine for at least some of the time. Others did not.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-49304501 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-49305216 

It has been a pleasant, dry, albeit mostly cloudy day here but I suspect a few places in the warning area got a deulge and there is still time.

I can imagine the outcry in the media if the Met Office had not issued warnings and something serious had happened.

---

If I had my way, I would stop giving out official yellow warnings for this area on a Saturday for thunderstorms which inevitably, just never end up occurring on this particular day. This is now the second Saturday in a row where such a warning has been given for this area and once again, we just have clear blue skies with plenty of warm sunshine, only a handful of fair weather clouds in the distance and absolutely nothing showing up on either the rain radar or lightning detector map for miles on end from here.

Curious, then, that I've just seen footage on BBC news of the closure of the main west coast line near Lockerbie closed because of the amount of flood water running down it. The MetO weather radar makes it look as if that storm is about to visit Edinburgh, too - poetic justice!

---

Just got a massive downpour in south edin, only 10 minutes but my gutters are overpouring again even though I pulled out a bucket worth of moss n muck on thursday 😛 thunder/lightning sounded right overhead too

 

Edit: have to say up till then it had been a lovely, mostly sunny day

 

Curious, then, that I've just seen footage on BBC news of the closure of the main west coast line near Lockerbie closed because of the amount of flood water running down it. The MetO weather radar makes it look as if that storm is about to visit Edinburgh, too - poetic justice!

Of course, I didn't say that these storms never happen here at all and merely was just saying that they never seem to impact us on a Saturday despite the fact that we have had yellow warnings for that on the last two Saturdays.

That storm which you have mentioned on that Met Office radar map did just reach the south of Edinburgh but once again, it is missed the very part of Edinburgh where I live which means that once again, there is no impact from that here.

I can hear the distant rumbles of thunder from that in the distance, but that is no different to what I experienced on this very same day during last weekend when those storms missed us to our west.

Now, that storm has passed over and the Sun is trying to come out once again, without impacting here one single bit.

Another point here which is worth noting is that this yellow warning has been in force ever since midnight and yet, it is only just been in the last hour or so that these storms have started to appear. In fact, these storms were never really forecast to even develop here until some time during this afternoon, so that has been more than 12 hours where that warning has been a complete waste of time because in my books, it should never have came into effect until the point in time during this afternoon where those thunderstorms were expected to develop, rather than being in effect straight from midnight.

 

---

The Met Office warning system is excellent. I am sure it has saved many lives and prevented a lot of hardship and financial losses since its introduction.

As a forum of weather enthusiasts who understand the potential of nature's fury versus the balance of probability and risk we shouldn't really be having this discussion....should we ? 

  Some of the posts on here baffle me!  It’s almost as if some people take forecasts and warnings as personal, one to one readings!  How can anyone really believe a warning is wrong just because it didn’t happen in their back yard?

Here’s a clue!  If a warning says weather could most likely affect coasts, disrupt road and rail services etc, and your back garden isn’t on a beach or you don’t have a train line or a motorway running through it, then it isn’t personal and unique to you!  

This is a yellow warning and I think they’ve called it well, especially at such an early stage!  

---

Just got a massive downpour in south edin, only 10 minutes but my gutters are overpouring again even though I pulled out a bucket worth of moss n muck on thursday 😛 thunder/lightning sounded right overhead too

 

Edit: have to say up till then it had been a lovely, mostly sunny day

Yet in this part of Edinburgh where I live, it continues to remain completely bone dry and no doubt just like last Saturday at that same time, the rainfall readings at both Edinburgh Gogarbank and the botanic gardens in Edinburgh will continue to give that same old reading of 0.0 mm for this time as a result.

EDIT:

That storm must have just reached Edinburgh Gogarbank as 3.8 mm of rain has just been recorded for there during that hour, but I can bet my whole house on the fact that nothing at all will be recorded at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh for that same period.

There was only a very narrow gap between that storm over the south of Edinburgh and more heavy rain to our north over Fife, and it is just incredible how such a narrow gap managed to pass right over here and leave this part of the world completely bone dry.

 

---

Another weather warning for rain for Edinburgh (and down to the borders) today

---

Another weather warning for rain for Edinburgh (and down to the borders) today

It's also forecast to not get above around 15°C here. However, it's not raining here just now and given the recent performances by the official forecasts, I still don't fully trust them.

What's the betting therefore, that the Sun comes out here in a short while with temperatures getting above 20°C once again, and with maybe a little bit of rain towards this evening if we're lucky?

 

---

What's the betting therefore, that the Sun comes out here in a short while with temperatures getting above 20°C once again, and with maybe a little bit of rain towards this evening if we're lucky?

 

Very unlikely.

---

 

Very unlikely.

True but then, you just never know at the end of the day (we can generate the best forecasts in the world, but that still won't stop the weather from doing what it is going to do anyway).

That after all, was exactly what happened eight days ago when I met up with a friend on a day when it was supposed to be raining but was instead, a day with blazing sunshine and temperatures of around 23°C.

 

---

In an ideal world the graphics which show a shower giving the Dog and Duck a soaking whilst your garden 1000m away basks in sunshine would be dropped. They are ridiculous and should be replaced with either a) a shower symbol covering a wide area b) a map of the UK with regional percentage chances of showers and nothing else on it. For quite obvious reasons neither will happen.

---

For my part of the SW well we have just lived through a breezy day and a bit of showery rain with one heavy burst yesterday other than that totally normal for any time of the year. Was the yellow warning justified? maybe but the media from all areas have grabbed hold yet again and blew it into something far worse than it was ever going to be, and some tv forecasters were winding it up a bit as well so there should be a lot of eggy faces around or if not there should be. Right now the weather outside is breezy, warm and sunny so in fact a nice day which is opposite to what was forecast for here today.

Showers, heavy shows, gusty showers, are, by definition, not something everyone gets.

 

---