Meteorological Office appoint CEO with no experience of weather forecasting - service should improve
The Met Office have just announced that an outsider, and not a career meteorologist - John Hirst, has been appointed as the new Chief Executive. John was CEO of Premier Farnell from 1998-2005, and previously with ICI where he was CEO of the global Speciality Chemical Division during a period of high revenue growth, and undertook a series of successful acquisition and merger negotiations.
Sir Ian Andrews Second Permanent Under Secretary for Defence said “The Met Office under Mark Hutchinson’s leadership has seen exceptional success - "....importantly delivering outstanding forecast advice ahead of the recent flooding. "
Which considering the UK Met office issued their weather forecast for Summer 2007 on April 11th. which said ......
Precipitation
"Prospects for rainfall are uncertain. However, there are currently no indications of an increased risk of either a particularly dry or a particularly wet summer."
This forecast was "derived using global forecasting models and statistical methods." ... which doesn't seem like " outstanding forecast advice " in fact in this neck of the woods it is called piss poor. Apparently in June and July , large parts of the country experienced rainfall in excess of 4 times the average for the month - and the worst flooding since records began in the 18th Century.
3 comments:
He was brought in not because he promised better forecasting, he promised better weather.
Last December the Ministry of Defence was asked to look into selling off the Met Office. It could potentially net the government a tidy sum as it is widely regarded as the best forecaster in the world (a fact that will come a shock to pretty much everyone in the UK).
They decided not to – though it was already a 'trading fund' - run on semi-commercial lines and expected to contribute to the Exchequer. Worryingly it lost £4.5 million in a commercial venture in 2006
Adam Smith Blog
http://tinyurl.com/3xduhf
27th August 2007
Your criticism of the forecast is very very unfair - they did update it after April 11th you know!! This on 12th June for example http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/corporate/pressoffice/2007/pr20070612.html
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