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.