Extreme temperatures: BBC apologizes for weather glitch

Great Britain
404 degrees and extreme storm: BBC apologizes for weather glitch

The entrance to the BBC in London

Due to a data breach, the BBC had very extreme weather forecasts

© Tayfun Salci/ZUMA Wire / Imago Images

Temperatures hotter than in the oven and storms at 20,000 km/h: This was predicted in the British BBC’s weather report for Thursday. The cause was a data error.

More than 400 degrees Celsius and wind speeds of more than 20,000 kilometers per hour: The British broadcaster BBC has apologized for a glitch in its weather forecast, which said the UK was facing temperatures and storms of gigantic proportions on Thursday. “Don’t worry, people! Hurricane ‘Milton’ hasn’t made it to us in Great Britain yet,” assured BBC meteorologist Matt Taylor on the online service X, referring to the tropical storm that is currently raging in the US state of Florida.

The hugely exaggerated numbers are due to a “data error,” Taylor explained. The technicians are in the process of fixing the problem. “No need to panic and buy plywood and candles,” the weatherman added.

BBC weather glitch: 404 degrees in Nottingham

A weather graphic on Wednesday incorrectly showed wind speeds of more than 20,000 kilometers. In addition, technical problems in the weather app and on the BBC website led to overnight temperatures of 404 degrees Celsius being forecast for the central English city of Nottingham. Colder air, rain and drizzle in the south and thundershowers on the east coast were all right for Thursday.

The BBC weather department apologized for “some data issues in our app and website”. The team is working “hard to resolve the issue quickly,” it said in a statement. “We are sorry, please be patient,” it said.

The error brought back memories of a momentous forecast from 1987: At that time, BBC weatherman Michael Fish commented on a viewer warning of an approaching hurricane with the words: “Don’t worry, that’s not true.” A few hours later, the worst storm in three centuries hit southeast England.

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AFP

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