Former BBC weather chief joins storm over corporation's 'miserable' graphics

The man who set up the BBC's Weather Centre has hit out at the corporation's controversial new £1m forecast graphics, concluding that the broadcaster has got it "miserably wrong".

John Teather has turned from ally to foe and very publicly joined the growing numbers criticising the new sunshine-and-showers graphics.

Ten days ago the corporation launched its biggest revamp of the weather since magnetic symbols were replaced by computer-generated maps in the Eighties. But many viewers reacted with horror to the £1m redesign. The BBC was deluged with complaints after doing away with the familiar cloud and sun symbols in favour of less "boring and old-fashioned" graphics.

Yesterday the dissenters recruited a high-profile supporter in the form of Mr Teather. The BBC Weather Centre's former boss said the corporation had "got it wrong" and he felt "depressed" by the new-look 3D weather map, which did nothing to enhance understanding.

He posted a message - which later vanished - on the BBC website message boards, saying that the corporation had shown a "wilful disregard for all that we learnt over the past 25 years, and the loss of the clear responsibility the BBC has to its licence-payers". The message - posted at 9.37pm last night - disappeared from the website shortly after it was posted. A BBC spokesman said it was removed to verify the author.

In his post on the Forecast Cafe section, Mr Teather said the broadcaster needed to get "back to basics". He said: "I fear now that the BBC weather forecasts have become prescriptive 'thou shalt not show a pressure chart - thou shalt not use weather symbols - thou shalt not show any graphic which will help the viewer understand the forecast'."

The 3-D fly-through graphics were nothing new, he claimed, as his own team had rejected them years ago.

Speaking later, Mr Teather said he did not believe the BBC had conducted research, given the public response. "I thought it was time somebody put the record straight. This is going to annoy them, but that's what I expected," he said.

Mr Teather, who now runs a consultancy and forecasting company with the former BBC weatherman Bill Giles, went on to claim that the project leader and the team who oversaw the introduction of the graphics "should consider their positions".

One problem was that the map had to lay back in order for rain to come from the clouds, he explained. The fly-through mechanism meant that people could not see every part of the country and had to "wait their turn" he added.

"The BBC seem to have forgotten everything we have ever learned and chucked it out of the window. There's quite an art to delivering a good, useful forecast and in this case they've failed miserably."

The weatherman dismissed the white clouds on the graphics as "looking like mountain ranges" and returned to the familiar complaint that the land was green and not brown.

"I can't even work out what some of it is," he said. Whereas forecasters previously used their own experience to take information from the model, they now had to talk through what was on screen, he continued.

The BBC has already said it would re-examine elements of its hi-tech approach after hundreds of viewers complained.

Protesters said the new forecasts were harder to follow, drab and dull. Others insisted that the loss of wind speeds and isobars meant that less useful information was being delivered. Viewers in Scotland said that the perspective of the map was biased in favour of the south.

The corporation defended the system, bought from the New Zealand Met Office, saying it had been well received by seven in 10 viewers during audience research.

"This is the first major change to BBC weather since 1985, so it is important to allow viewers time to adjust to seeing a different style of forecast," a spokesman said.

"We are continuing to monitor feedback and if there are opportunities to improve aspects of the system - such as the perspective - we will examine these carefully."

He added that all feedback was welcomed and there was no question that the message had been removed from the website because of its content. "We were seeking to confirm that the author was indeed, as suggested in the message, a 'Previous Weather Centre boss'. This was a temporary measure to ensure that the board was not being misused or was not misrepresenting an individual, in this case a former BBC employee. We think it is appropriate to carry out such checks to maintain the integrity of the message board."

Bank holiday sunshine predicted - but it will not last

Much of Britain will enjoy a bright and sunny start to the bank holiday weekend with temperatures as high as 30C but forecasters say the hot spell will not last.

Temperatures in London are expected to rise to 30C in London today while the rest of the South-east and the Midlands will also bask in sunshine with temperatures o f about 25C.

On Saturday, temperatures will fall although it will remain at around 22C in the South-east - compared to the average for May of around 18C.

By Sunday, conditions are expected to become more breezy and overcast and temperatures will struggle to rise above 22C. Scotland will be cloudier and cooler and there is a threat of rain in the south-east, the Met Office said.

Monday may be even cooler with persistent rain in the north of England and Scotland. As far south as Welshpool in mid Wales, temperatures are expected to fall as low as 11C.

A spokesman for the Met Office said: "The bank holiday weekend will start fine and hot in places but the weather will start to deteriorate before long. Even in the South-east there is a fairly high chance of rain as the weekend goes on."

Forecasters said the South-east would be the region to experience the best weather, especially London and areas around Cambridge and Oxford. Kent will also see some of the worst weather in the second half of the weekend, with temperatures falling to 18C and the possibility of rain.

Northern and western parts of Britain could also experience thunder by the end of the weekend, forecasters say.

Matthew Beard