I had been a met assistant 1947-9 at London Airport and was used to forecasters who stuck their necks out with very little current information, particularly for trans-atlantic flights. 1991 and I was "freighting" on a Brussels-Porto-Lisbon schedule. Portuguese comms operators had been on strike for several days so no TAFS or METARS. I phoned the Brussels forecaster and asked what to expect for my 0430 arrival at Porto. He said "no can do" as he had no information and could only forecast if he had TAFS, i.e. using somebody else's forecast. Remembering my previous experience and reading of M.O.630 (A.P.3340) Handbook of Aviation Meteorology I suggested that any met man worth his salt should be able to give a reasoned estimate. All he would say, in a huff, was "probably like last night". Fortunately we had Madrid fuel and when we arrived sea fog was rising over the cliffs making the runway approach interesting.
I'd be interested to know langleybaston's thoughts.