Seasonal forecasts, which the Met Office stopped producing in 2009, after that year’s predicted ‘barbecue summer’ turned out to be nothing of the sort, may be reintroduced. The European Centre of Medium Range Weather Forecasts has said the research behind long-range forecasting has improved and the forecasts, which could provide benefits for a range of industries as well as for leisure, should therefore be reintroduced. image expired

Accurate forecasts are essential for farmers, who will often consult several weather forecasts in a day. Andrew Brown, an arable and sheep farmer from Rutland said, "[weather forecasts] are a business tool that I use every day of my life."

Professor Alan Thorpe, director general of the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts, said, "We are doing research amongst the scientific community and the forecasting community... the skill of weather forecasting has been improving year on year. That has been result of advances in the science and the way we observe the atmosphere and model it. We are trying to imply these improvements to the seasonal timescale."

He said that, though technological advances will continue to improve the science of forecasting over the next decade, long term forecasting would still focus on giving the probability of certain weather conditions. Although he did say the accuracy would increase with time. "The [long range seasonal] forecast will remain probabilistic, but nonetheless has good information content that, for example, farmers can use."

Such forecasts, if they are reintroduced would help to offer a three month overview of a season. Farming Online provides detailed short-term forecasts for free to help farmers in the field. Subscribers also benefit from hourly forecasts for the next 24 hours, giving details of rainfall, wind speed and direction, min and max temperature and evapotranspiration rate (useful for predicting irrigation needs). In addition to this there is a forecast for the next 14 days giving min/max temp, precipitation rate and wind speed; which are all useful for predicting suitability for field work.

In contrast to the free weather service, which gives a forecast for the next two days as seven 6hour forecasts, Farming online Members can also choose up to five locations to compare forecasts; these can be neighbouring post codes or anywhere else they choose.

The Farming Online weather section is located here.