Met Office attempt to distance themselves from the Boardmasters cancellation

[xmetman]

Courtesy of Cornwall Live.

The Met Office were quickly on the offensive today in an attempt to distance themselves from having anything to do with the cancellation of the Boardmasters festival in Newquay. I'm sure that they didn't have anything to do with the cancellation itself, but in these days of health and safety, the Met Office surely realise that event organisers must act if when they issue yellow warnings like this. It's interesting that the yellow warning for strong winds talks of gusts of 50 mph on the north coast and 60 mph on the south coast, that big tent might well  have had problems coping with that.

[Brian Wakem]

Certainly looks blowy.

Icon 12Z peak gusts (kph):

[xmetman]

That chart would suggest the north coast is more at risk than the south for 60 mph gusts.

[Graham Easterling]

I posted a bit about this today on USW for anyone interested.

Once the MetO issued are warning there would be insurance implications for the organisers if they ignored it and something happened, the MetO know this. Whats the point of a warning if they suggest it can be ignored?

Absolutely gorgeous day down here today, less breezy and much sunnier than the last 2.

Graham
Penzance

[Graham Easterling]

I should add the the Boardmasters Surfing Contest has NOT been cancelled. It is the music side that has been. It has been running for 28 years and it's the 1st time the whole event has been cancelled. The only other cancellation being the final day in 2014 due to an ex hurricane (orange warning)

The surf has been pretty good of late.

Graham

Penzance

[xmetman]

Hi Graham

Sorry I didn't mean to cross post. I do scan UKSW but I missed your post. I was taking a slightly different tack than you did. The Met Office have to be a little more forceful in defending their decision than just saying its nothing to do with us when it patently had everything to do with the warnings they had issued.

Bruce.

[Freddie]

I think what the Met Office is saying is that they supplied a weather forecast, and that the organisers of the festival acted on that forecast. They are just pointing out that they did not say "you must/should cancel the festival". It's a bit like when trains get cancelled when there's a snow warning out - it's the TOC that cancels the trains, the Met Office just provide the warning.

--
Freddie
Dorrington
Shropshire

[xmetman]

Yes I agree totally, but if low Yap hadn't appeared and they hadn't issued a yellow warning the event would still be going ahead, ergo blame Yap!

[Freddie]

On Thursday, 8 August 2019 08:30:32 UTC+1, xmetman wrote:

Yes I agree totally, but if low Yap hadn't appeared and they hadn't issued a yellow warning the event would still be going ahead, ergo blame Yap!

Indeed.  Don't shoot the messenger!

--
Freddie
Dorrington
Shropshire
115m AMSL
http://www.hosiene.co.uk/weather/
Stats for the month so far: https://www.hosiene.co.uk/weather/statistics/latest.xlsx

[Graham Easterling]

I think its a bit more than that. The whole point of issuing a warning is that people can take appropriate action. Following the warning the insurers and police (they were called to an emergency services meeting) leant on them, they had little choice but to cancel, the warning was the trigger.

I suspect the lawyers are involved, distancing the MetO from the decision &any possible blame.

Graham
Penzance

[Freddie]

On Thursday, 8 August 2019 09:27:26 UTC+1, Graham Easterling wrote:

I think its a bit more than that. The whole point of issuing a warning is that people can take appropriate action. Following the warning the insurers and police (they were called to an emergency services meeting) leant on them, they had little choice but to cancel, the warning was the trigger.

That's how the system is meant to work.  Met Office advises on potential weather conditions and likely impacts.  Event organisers seek advice from safety advisors and emergency services regarding weather impacts.  The advice was to cancel.  The event organisers cancelled.  You see the same pattern with the transport industry, on military airfields, agriculture and even whether or not gardeners put out their new seedlings in the Spring.

I suspect the lawyers are involved, distancing the MetO from the decision &any possible blame.

The decision to cancel was made by the organisers - as a part of their risk management process.  I doubt that lawyers were involved on the day - precedent has been set many times in the past.

[Graham Easterling]

I think its a bit more than that. The whole point of issuing a warning is that people can take appropriate action. Following the warning the insurers and police (they were called to an emergency services meeting) leant on them, they had little choice but to cancel, the warning was the trigger.

That's how the system is meant to work.  Met Office advises on potential weather conditions and likely impacts.  Event organisers seek advice from safety advisors and emergency services regarding weather impacts.  The advice was to cancel. 

I would totally agree Freddie, it's a good system & that's what happened. But, for the MetO to then issue a press release basically saying 'it's nothing to do with us' is a denial of reality as far as I can see. They should be pleased people have taken note of what they say.

I bet the organisers are hoping it gets a lot worse now they've cancelled it! So far, in Penzance 29/7 & 30/7 saw stronger winds, and even the cliff tops are well short of gale force. I realise it's set to get worse

In fact, it's not that bad an either coast. Pics @ 09:00

Mousehole (SE aspect)

Porthmeor (N facing)

One issue is the lack of much swell for the surfers, but that's arriving now, could be really good at Tolcarne (Newquay) this afternoon

https://magicseaweed.com/Newquay-Tolcarne-Wedge-Surf-Report/1336/

Lack of swell for the Boardmasters so far 

https://www.facebook.com/wslqs/

Graham

Penzance

[Graham Easterling]

Apologies for inserting the non cropped screen grab!

Graham

[xmetman]

I totally agree with you on that one Graham (the one before your screen grab comment!)

[Freddie]

On Friday, 9 August 2019 09:30:00 UTC+1, Graham Easterling wrote:

I think its a bit more than that. The whole point of issuing a warning is that people can take appropriate action. Following the warning the insurers and police (they were called to an emergency services meeting) leant on them, they had little choice but to cancel, the warning was the trigger.

That's how the system is meant to work.  Met Office advises on potential weather conditions and likely impacts.  Event organisers seek advice from safety advisors and emergency services regarding weather impacts.  The advice was to cancel. 

I would totally agree Freddie, it's a good system & that's what happened. But, for the MetO to then issue a press release basically saying 'it's nothing to do with us' is a denial of reality as far as I can see. They should be pleased people have taken note of what they say.

I disagree with the second sentence.  This is why:

(1) There was no press release.

(2) The Met Office, when asked about the event organiser's social media announcement, replied with this statement:  "We provided Boardmasters with a forecasting service with the information yesterday and they made the decision to cancel with a number of different elements with the advice.  All we can provide is factual forecasting information." (quoted from the yellow highlighted section in the first post).

(3) It was Cornwall Live who made the statement "Following the announcement a spokesperson for the Met Office said it was the organisers decision to cancel the festival, and that they had nothing to do with it." (also quoted from the yellow highlighted section in the first post).

Therefore (3) was Cornwall Live's interpretation/spin of (2).  As I stated in a couple of responses above, the Met Office weren't attempting to distance themselves from the chain of events that led to the decision to cancel, they were just stating that it wasn't them that made that decision.

I'm sure you wouldn't disagree with the fact that it is Cornwall Live's interpretation of (2) that has triggered this thread, rather than anything that the Met Office actually said.

[Julian Mayes]

Apologies for inserting the non cropped screen grab!

Graham

Not at all -  it is good to know that Nina is having such a lovely relaxing holiday! 

Julian  

[Graham Easterling]

A cropped version, just before 2pm

Still not too bad with a bit of shelter, the offshore wind is strong enough to blow it flat. 

Very different where exposed to the generally F5-6 wind, you wouldn't be keen to venture into the sea at Porthleven

https://www.aspects-holidays.co.uk/webcams/porthleven . It's amazing the difference going around a headland cam make in these conditions.

No further measurable rain in Penzance since 09:00 & it's just topped 21C despite the wind.

Graham

penzance

 

[Len W]

The issue is the reliability of the forecast.

Anybody but a numbskull knows the Met Office did not cancel Boardmasters.

But if the wind forecast turns out to be too extreme then the Met Office will be blamed.

Did the Met Office attach a probability to their wind forecast like they do for rain?

They need that as a get-out clause.

Len

Wembury