Wrong weather forecasters maybe fined

Dutch councillors have said their weather forecasters are inaccurately predicting gloomy weather, and they should be fined for being wrong.

While Brits endure a miserable summer, according to the politicians, Holland is actually enjoying seasonable weather, despite the fact that forecasts are featuring heavy rain and thunderstorms.
The councillors, in Hoek van Holland, claim that these bad forecasts are negatively impacting on seaside resorts.

Joep Thonissen, head of Recron, the Dutch tourist attraction association, complained incorrect forecasts are seeing visitor attractions suffering 'considerable damage'.

He explained: 'Last week it was really good weather over most of the country but the weather forecasts were full of heavy rain and thunderstorms, so people stayed home.' The tourism expert singled out a weather bureau near Amsterdam whose forecasts are commonly used by Dutch media outlets.

'Heavy rain above Hilversum does not mean that is the case in the rest of the country,' he said.
However, a spokesman for the bureau told Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf: 'TV, radio and newspapers use the raw data we deliver but it is up to them to how their forecasts turn out.'

This comes after tourist attraction bosses in Belgium called on the country's forecasters to stop being so pessimistic and pay as much attention to good weather as they do to bad.


/metro.co.uk/