A Perthshire business owner says he is losing money due to “misleading” weather websites.
Andrew Donaldson says Comrie Croft is hit with late cancellations from campers whenever sites indicate the weekend will be wet.
But he says much of the time the actual forecast is for a pleasant and sometimes sunny period of weather.
This is because the forecast summary is often wetter than the hour-by-hour detail.
And most people “just look at the headline rather than the details,” Andrew believes.
Comrie Croft owner says websites give ‘bad impression of the weather’
On Tuesday he posted on the company’s Facebook page a BBC forecast summarised by a graphic showing Comrie suffering light rain that day.
But the more detailed run-down predicted a mixture of sunshine and clouds, with the only threat of rain – a 27% chance – coming briefly at 4pm.
“The headline is quite different to the detail of the forecast,” Andrew said.
“It does affect us.
“We get phone calls on a Thursday with people cancelling their stays if the forecast is not good for the weekend.
“It gives people a bad impression of the weather because they have just seen the headline.
“They say they are cancelling because of the forecast when it is actually quite good.
“It happens most weekends when there is a bad headline.”
‘Crude’ symbols an agenda item at big business event
As well as offering accommodation, Comrie Croft has a farm shop, cafe with outdoor seating and offers bike hire.
“The cancellations are the tip of the iceberg because many will be seeing the forecast and just don’t come to visit,” he added.
“On a bigger scale, people can think this summer is rubbish because of the bad weather headlines so they choose to go to the Mediterranean.
“But this summer hasn’t actually been that bad.”
The topic is so concerning that it was an agenda item in a UK Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA) conference held in Glasgow in May.
ALVA represents major museums, galleries and activities across the UK.
Director Bernard Donoghue said: “People look at apps and even if there’s the mildest chance of rain on a day there will be a crude graphic on an app that is not reflective of the forecast.
“The weather can cost businesses billions of pounds a year.
“It even affects some indoor attractions.
“This is a genuine problem and we are raising it with the Scottish and English governments.”
BBC says summary reflects ‘greatest impact on people’s lives’
The day symbol on the BBC website and app is generated through an algorithm using weather models from commercial data provider MeteoGroup.
A BBC spokesperson said: “BBC Weather updates every hour to give audiences the most accurate reflection of the conditions at any time across national and local broadcasts and digital weather.
“The day symbol reflects the weather conditions likely to have the greatest impact on people’s lives.
“This may give emphasis to a short, specific spell of weather on any day, and is designed to be read in context with the broader picture and hour-by-hour detail which changes according to the latest data.
“The accuracy of forecasts is independently monitored, and we are continually reviewing our service with our data provider to improve our forecasts for users.”
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