BBC’s Weather Map Colours
By Paul Homewood
Further to the debate about the weather map colours used by the BBC, this was their “justification” of the changes last year:
We have lots of visual tools we can use to illustrate the weather forecast.
The graphics we choose depend on the forecast and the story about the weather we are trying to tell. One of the most common graphics we use is something called a temperature contour map, as seen in the image above.
The colours on the map match this temperature scale, below.
We use this scale all year around because it is a good way of showing audiences broad temperature differences. You can also see the colour scale reflected in a line at the bottom of the temperature box with the number in it.
The darker the blues or reds the colder or hotter it is. Those colours are an accepted way of expressing heat and cold. They are also easy to see for most audiences.
Have you changed the map colours for greater impact?
No – there have been no changes since 2017, when amendments were made to our graphics because of improvements in forecasting and technology. The quality of weather data has changed dramatically in the last 20 years as has the digital technology we use in the BBC Weather Centre to make our forecasts. At that time we also made the graphics clearer for people who have visual impairments and who see colour differently.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/features/66293839
The colour chart is difficult to read, but runs from –22C to 41C.
But here’s the problem.
The colour maps are nearly always used just to illustrate daily high temperatures. (To be fair, they are sometimes used for night temperatures in winter).
And the annual daily max is around 13 to 14C. Yet the mid point of that chart is the yellow 11 to 12C band. Logically the mid point should therefore also be 13 to 14C.
Yellow, of course, is subconsciously associated with sunshine, and therefore warm weather.
And while daytime temperatures can occasionally reach the mid 30s, they would rarely go much below freezing outside of mountainous or other extreme regions.
Daytime temperatures in England average about 14C in autumn and spring, which most people would correctly assume is also about average for the year. Yet this appears a band above the yellow one.
Surely then it is the 13 to 14C band which should appear in the middle of the chart?
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
They lie, it’s all for effect, for propaganda – they should really concentrate on trying to guesstimate tomorrows weather more accurately
“Surely then it is the 13 to 14C band which should appear in the middle of the chart?”
Absolutely! the bias is easy to spot because the 30C to 35C band is third from hottest whilst the third from coldest is -11C to -15C. For most of us, the latter cold band will never occur, whilst temperatures will exceed 30C several times a summer, every year. Total bias!
I love this as it’s such a giveaway:
“The graphics we choose depend on the forecast and the story about the weather we are trying to tell.“
Yep – it’s all about the narrative, not the data, at the BBC.
Up here in the Dales we frequently see temperatures lower than that, on one memorable occasion in 1981 I observed -27C one morning, my car had an inch of ice on the inside of the windows, I started it and turned the heater up full, put a fan heater inside it and went back inside for another brew while it warmed up!
Yes, exactly it’s ‘Listen with Mother’ or ‘Jackanory’ if you are slightly younger. It’s most definitely not the weather.
The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) indicates that the optimum air temperature for human thermal comfort is around 21°C – 23°C.
Consequently, the BBC really ought to shift its colour palette 4-colours rightwards
I.e. delete the 4 colours on the right-hand side of its artificially chosen palette.
Unless of course, its objective is to mislead the gullible.
Huh color temp contours be-damned. Like the hockey stick rainbow colors ( Ohp, sorry – that’s Shinty with the colored tape) the contours should be to a BS Standard and not be changed on the fly.
‘Yellow, of course, is subconsciously associated with sunshine, and therefore warm weather.’
Hmmm….not sure I agree with that. I think people associate red with hot and blue with cold (as in water taps), and yellow is ‘in the middle’.
The problem, as I understood it, is that temperatures that only merited a yellow some years ago are now awarded a shade of red – the scale has been shifted for better catastrophisation. (?)
Not just the BBC , German public TV also
https://notrickszone.com/2020/08/15/german-tv-propaganda-now-forecast-charts-for-regular-summer-weather-made-to-look-like-images-of-hell/
(this from 2020 , so apologies Paul if you posted this 4 years ago).
They likely used this as a textbook:
How to Lie With Maps, by Mark Monmonier
Mr Fahrenheit had much to offer by showing the coldest he got in Poland as 0 F with freezing at 32F and the hottest he got as 100F. This is far more useful than centigrade which is not weather relevant.
BBC again
London seeing more days above 30C, experts say
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx9wprd0kw9o
I love this paragraph.
It uses airport data for consistency across cities, including City Airport in London.
Why do they need “experts”? Are experts now people who can count?
BBC again
London seeing more days above 30C, experts say
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx9wprd0kw9o
I love this paragraph.
It uses airport data for consistency across cities, including City Airport in London.
Gamecock disagrees: there is nothing wrong with their color scheme. IF they are consistent with its use. Which I doubt they have been. I expect the reds to be creeping down.
No. Their colour scheme now deliberately misleads. Note they have eliminated green which used to be for moderate temps 5-25c . Yellow is the new green.
They need distinct colors.
Spectrally, the orange band is too wide, and the red band is too narrow. So what?
Their colour scheme now deliberately misleads. Note they have eliminated green which used to be for moderate temps 5-25c . Yellow is the new green.
Just like they claim male is female, they now claim cold is hot. All BS from the BSBC
They need distinct colors.
Spectrally, the orange band is too wide, and the red band is too narrow. So what?
BS5499 should apply, so yellow background for all, some words, some vertical squiggles above a horizontal line for hot, ice crystal for cold.
Has anyone else seen what I have noticed for many months now. On the BBC forecast, the wind speed is NEVER in the 30 range, but will jump from a 20-something value to 40 or above (with a black background to show it is so high) and back down again to below 30. Almost as if they want to alarm us with high winds. No, it couldn’t be that, could it?
The idea 19-20 is a flaming orange is absurd.
The dramatic colours are probably symbolic of attention-seeking, and possibly a hint of drama queenism.
What do the colours mean? They mean the kids at the BBC have got their crayons out.
It’s a really stupid scale. The key temperature as any farmer and every scientist knows is 0C. The classic way of showing temperatures below 0C is white of “freezing”. We then get into “cold” and then “warm” and then “hot”.
Colours below 0C, should be “washed out” forms, indicating they are below 0C and freezing probably starting white at 0 to -1 and then using variants of purple.
Colours from 0 to around 10C should be “cold” or blue.
Colours from 10 to 20c should be neutral tones like green, because they are not hot. 20C is a typical indoor setting for moderate activity. (Higher for office) So, not until 20 does it get to yellow and then progressively into the reds … probably at 30. And then dark angry reds upwards.
But here’s an idea for the BBC … why not just dispense with the colours and make it red all the time? That way people will believe your narrative of ever increasing temperature … because the public that still watch are really that stupid.
A point worth noting (that Patrick Moore makes in Climate – the Movie) is that at 20°C in the shade and with no clothing (as nature originally produced us) a human being will, sooner or later, die of hypothermia. 30°C, that instigates shock horror warnings from the BBC and Met Office, is more in line with what we were actually designed for.
As with politicians, it is always safe to assume that the BBC is lying. Of course it is to hype the imaginary climate emergency just like everything the BBC does. If it is true that they started using these colours in 2017 then has something happened to bring this to the fore now? As for improvements in forecasting? Anyone think this is true? The problem with the colours is that there are far too many of them. They need at least to be expanded to a 5 degree range and probably centred about an average temperature.
to be expanded to a 5 degree range
The forecasts should reflect the declared inaccuracy of the measuring equipment i.e. plus/minus 5° C = range of 10° C
Colour should be for maximum daytime temperatures and be associated with comfort. Anything below about 15 is cold (blueish) and anything above about 30 is hot (redish). In the middle are the greens and yellows. But I live in NZ and we have slightly warmer temps than the UK. So perhaps the blues could begin at 12 and the reds at 27?