Met Office super super computer

[maen]

Is it really necessary for the Met Office to spend well over a £1Billion on a new computer to predict where the rain will fall. This is a fifth of the money being spent on flood protection. Was it not obvious to satellites in space that a storm was brewing.
Is it just boys and girls with toys rather than getting out and doing the real work involved in helping people.

 

[Chris F]

As was posted in another thread. The last computer predicted something like 20 dry days in October. We got virtually 0. Equate that to extra wheat in the ground and it could soon generate GDP to match the spend.

So the value of this can easily be justified. Whether that is better spent than flood protection, is another question.

Flooding is one of the most vicious forces of nature and the best defence is to not build on flood plains and not to influence the water that arrives on flood plains. Neither of these items have even been considered by recent governments imo.

 

[Still Farming]

Tell you within 100m2 ?
Wet is wet,we still know that ,without a computer?

 

[Chris F]

Tell you within 100m2 ?
Wet is wet,we still know that ,without a computer?

But did you know it was going to be wet for the last 8 months? If you look back on here, in June we were panicking about the drought. Predicting the future is expensive, in more ways than one.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Also they want to station some kit set up abroad, why? Cheap staffing maybe or to get a different angle possibly

 

[Steevo]

Better use of the money than flood protection if you ask me!

 

[DrWazzock]

I'd guess its one of those jobs where 95% of the cost achieves a 5% improvement in performance.

 

[milkloss]

I might be wrong but I thought they also did work for other countries etc that would help pay the way.
The forecast will always be sh1t no matter..