Verification: How good are our forecasts?

The weather in the UK is often changeable, so accurate public forecasts are vital for many work and recreational activities. The following links show some of the measures we use to assess our performance when forecasting the weather.

Corporate targets
These targets, which are intended to be both challenging and achievable, provide a benchmark against which we and our stakeholders can judge our actual performance.

Gale warning verification
Gale warnings are issued for the 31 sea areas surrounding the UK. Of these sea areas, the warnings issued for Thames, Lundy, Malin and Fair Isle are verified.

Five cities verification
Measuring the accuracy of daily forecasts of temperature, wind and precipitation in the principal cities of London, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff and Belfast.

Comparing forecast accuracy
For many years the Met Office has verified its forecasts by comparing actual with forecast sea-level pressures and calculating a forecast error.