TURBULL. .No offence taken or meant. Appologies.
Issues such as you speak do figure highly in our minds. We would love to give you 100% acurate guesstemates all the time, from fully manned offices on site, with people who do have good local knowledge.. .However, I think those days are gone (look to the civil world as a possible pointer where ATC have/are taking over the observers role for METARS, and TAFS are produced almost automatically from the computer in Bracknell) The powers that be in the Office are looking for further treasury led cuts, and forecasters and observers are seen as a soft option that can be replaced by automatic observation systems, and centralised services.. .So the situation that you speak of may just be around the corner, but it will be cost/price led, not lead by what the customer (aircrew) at the front line wants! <img src="mad.gif" border="0"> <img src="mad.gif" border="0"> <img src="mad.gif" border="0">