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Meteorology

Volume 923: debated on Thursday 23 December 1976

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asked the Secretary of State for Defence what steps he will take to improve the weather forecasting service.

The Meteorological Office maintains a continual review of its forecasting methods and is always striving to improve them. It devotes a good deal of effort to research which is directly or indirectly aimed at improving the techniques used in forecasting and the quality of the forecast.There has been steady improvement in the accuracy of short range forecasts in recent years particularly in respect of the outlook for two or three days ahead. However, there is a limit to what can be achieved with the present state of knowledge and there is no simple step which can be taken to obtain a rapid and dramatic improvement.