NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT

By Paul Homewood

https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/av/65640935

Another BBC complaint is wending its way the their Executive Complaints Unit!

You will probably remember their claim after the Bologna floods in May of “half annual rainfall in 36 hours”. The claim was made by weatherman Chris Fawkes, as a lead in to the weather forecast.

He mentioned “over 200mm of rain”, but average annual rainfall in the region is about 1000mm, so the claim was clearly fake.

I therefore complained at the time, and asked them to substantiate their claim. They still have failed to do so.

Their first response was the usual waste of time. The second response states:

I have gone back to Chris Fawkes who is adamant that the information provided in his video was correct and was based on official data. His voiceover said: Storm Minerva brought with it half a years’ worth of rainfall in places falling in just 36 hours.”
He says: “The BBC weather supplier Meteogroup stated “Observations show that Ferrara has seen 207mm in the 36 hours to 06z this morning. Bologna has seen 127mm of rain in the same 36 hour period – this is more than double the May average of 58mm.
“What I can see is that Ferrara is a lowland site in Emilia-Romagna. During this rainfall event the prevailing winds were northeasterly – these winds would have pushed the weather system into the Apennines and would very certainly have brought much larger rainfall totals over high ground. In short the Meteogroup observation would corroborate the statement from Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci that 20cm of rain fell in 36hrs. I don’t have observations for the 500mm of rain he also reported, national meteorology centres often have some observations that aren’t widely available publicly, but I also have no specific reason to doubt his statement either.”

In other words, he actually backs up my complaint, saying that the 36 hour rainfall was “more than double the May average”, not half a year’s worth, and admitting there is no evidence of 500mm falling anywhere.

Of course, 500mm may have fallen somewhere, but they are unable to find any data to that effect. “Maybes” are not facts. And viewers are entitled to the facts, not least when they come from a weatherman, who is supposed to deal in hard facts and not climate propaganda.

I have therefore escalated the complaint to the ECU, with this reply:

Your second response dated 27^th September goes into great detail, but actually confirms my original complaint, ie that there is no evidence that “half of annual rainfall fell in 36 hours”.

As Chris Fawkes notes, the highest rainfall amount recorded appears to be at Ferrara, which had 207mm in 36 hours. Your response states that the average annual rainfall in the region is 1000mm, so 207mm would be the equivalent of about two and a half months.

It may be that higher amounts fell elsewhere, but there is no evidence of this.

Therefore a correction should be published to the effect that the original claims have not been officially confirmed or substantiated. The correction should also include the actual rainfall figures and annual averages mentioned above.

Their first response, by the way, quoted the comment at the time by Italy’s Civil Protection Minister Nello Musumeci that 500mm had fallen in some areas. I replied that I wanted evidence of his claim, and pointed out that it is of course the BBC’s duty to challenge the claims of politicians, instead of merely accepting them as gospel truth.

Their latest response laughingly states that “I am unsure why you feel what the minister said was wrong or untrustworthy”!

Can you imagine the BBC ever accepting to words of a Tory UK minister as gospel?