Tag: Weather

UK Met Office Website Redesign Thoughts

Published on by Klaus HarrisLeave a comment

As a dinghy sailor and instructor, I completely rely on weather forecasts to help me plan activities on the water, and I usually look at forecasts at least a couple of times during the day, pulling data from at least two sources. I also look at synoptic charts depending on the conditions and planned activity.

I’ve found the UK Met Office forecasts to be good, but they’re pushing out a new site design which I fear will make it harder to read the data. The usability issues with the new site are kind of bugging me, and since they seem to be interested in user feedback, I thought I’d write some thoughts down. Who knows, maybe someone will read this and find it interesting or useful.

BTW, all credit to the Met Office for launching the new design with a site switcher to allow users to switch between old and new designs, as well as seeking user feedback via the pop-up mini survey.

Anyway, let’s have a look at the old and new designs.

Continue reading “UK Met Office Website Redesign Thoughts” →

Winters in Germany

Published on by Klaus HarrisLeave a comment

I lived in Germany for thirteen years mostly near Munich and some years we had really great winters. Now back in the UK  it’s basically always wet, cold and windy, it’s winter with none of the good bits.

I remember a lot of snow clearing, the endless fight to get a parking space, clear a parking space from snow  and prevent the car being buried by the daily passing snowploughs. And how after a few days of -10 to -20, a temperature of only -3 or -5 then felt relatively warm. Of scraping ice off the insides of car windows, handbrake turns and drifting around corners, the woods looking like Narnia, that wonderful sound of snow crunching underfoot, snowball fights and sledging. Decent winters.

Houses in Germany are built and insulated really well and cars have winter wheels with a set of winter tyres,  the country is well set up for winter conditions. I miss decent winters but, when it’s mild that’s good too.