³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Weather: Getting More Granular
Post categories: Weather
| 16:23 UK time, Wednesday, 13 June 2012
Since my last blog post 3 months ago the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Weather team have been quietly busy. We have been working closely with our colleagues in the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Weather Centre to move to a new, more complex forecast data model from the Met Office.
This new data set gives us more data, both in terms of the number of forecast points across the UK (a tenfold increase), and in terms of granularity and frequency of the forecasts themselves.
The new data was rolled out in time for the start of the Torch Relay, which enabled the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Weather Centre to give more detailed forecasts along the Torch Relay route. Today we rolled out a change to the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Weather website to make the most of this rich new data set.
A Tight Squeeze
The most dramatic improvement we have implemented today is hourly forecasts for UK locations.
You can see in the image below that 24 hours' worth of data is a lot of information to squeeze onto the page and still make it readable and user friendly.
A 24 hour forecast for Exter Devon, with a graphical layout
We developed and audience tested various layouts, and finally came up with two options.
The first view is a 'graphical' layout which shows the forecast data divided by time on the horizontal axis and the range of temperatures on the vertical axis. The scale of the vertical axis automatically adjusts depending on the maximum and minimum temperatures, maintaining a fixed space on the page.
The first day shown is a moving window, showing the remaining weather for the current day, whereas the following days' forecast shows a full 24 hours of weather.
As you might expect the granularity of the weather data reduces the further ahead in time you go. So as you move fromÌýtwo toÌýthree days ahead, the forecasts go from hourly to three-hourly. In the near future we will also be introducing 'Further Ahead' extending us out to nine days of weather forecasts.
Back to the challenge of space… in addition to the most common forecast data that users want (temperatures, weather icon/type and wind speed) we had the challenge of also displaying additional information like humidity and wind direction.
To keep things nice and compact we've introduced a hover-over state, which shows all the additional forecast data:
Additional weather forecast data which comes up when you hover the mouse over a weather icon.
However we also recognised that many users prefer an expanded tabular view of weather forecast information, which does not rely on the hover-over box, and is therefore more accessible.
This second, 'table', layout (the button to switch between the views is below the "Find a Forecast" box) takes up more page real estate but gives the full detailed forecast at one glance, which may be preferable to some users.
If you're using cookies, the browser should remember your preference the next time you come back to visit the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Weather website.
The detailed table view of the 24 hour weather forecasts
To accommodate the new page design we moved around other elements on the page.
You will now find the regional forecast text summary under the forecast data, in line with the environmental summary data (UV, Pollen and Pollution) and the regional forecast video.
In the near future we'll be further improving this section by adding colour scales to highlight the severity of the environment summary data, much like we use colour for the temperature scales.
Better World Weather
In addition to delivering hourly forecasts for UK locations, we now also haveÌýthree hourly forecasts for international locations - a vast improvement from our previous day/night only forecasts.
You can see in the example below that we have adapted the same layout of graph and table views to work for both UK and international forecast data.
An example of an international weather forecast using the Graph view
Other Improvements
In my last post I mentioned we had implemented RSS feeds on our forecast pages, but one reader keynet pointed out that we had in fact only implemented theÌýthree day forecast RSS feed:
The "Observations" RSS feed appears to be broken since Monday this week, the example given on your RSS page for Manchester () for example gives "Temperature: N/A (N/A), Wind Direction: N/A, Wind Speed: N/A, Relative Humidity: N/A, Pressure: N/A, N/A, Visibility: N/A" London is same. Forecasts are still working though.
In today's release we have also added in the Observation RSS feed to our forecast pages, which is available from the same RSS icon (the unblurred box below).
The observations RSS feed is now available alongside the 3 day forecast RSS feed
We've also added a link directly to the 'UK Monthly Outlook' from the weather homepage as many users didn't know it was accessible from the 'More UK Weather' page.
As mentioned above we've got a few more improvements coming soon -Ìýnine day forecasts and improved designs for the environmental data. I'll come back with another blog update as soon as we release this next set of improvements, and in the meantime I look forward to your feedback and comments.
Jo Wickremasinghe is the Head of Product for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Weather in ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Future Media
Comment number 1.
At 13th Jun 2012, Andy wrote:A bit like this great Android widget - . Do you have any plans for developing an app for Android?
Complain about this comment (Comment number 1)
Comment number 2.
At 13th Jun 2012, Camberley_Chris wrote:Love the new changes, they are what I (and presumably many others) requested in past polls. Looking forward to additional developments. This makes the best weather site even better.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 2)
Comment number 3.
At 13th Jun 2012, Greg Tyler wrote:Excellent changes. Love the design (particularly the first one). I hadn't come across the Weather RSS feed before, that's a great idea!
Complain about this comment (Comment number 3)
Comment number 4.
At 13th Jun 2012, Josh Tumath wrote:It's a really innovative idea! The weather is much easier to scan!
My only complaint is that it looks strange when you're looking at today's forecast and some of the graph columns are empty. Plus, it looses that wave appearance, since it's been chopped in half. It also means that the place where I usually look to see the weather at 9 o'clock now contains the weather for 16 o'clock. Maybe you should show the forecast for earlier times in the day, but make them monochrome, or something.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 4)
Comment number 5.
At 13th Jun 2012, lindymac wrote:Oh dear, am I the only one to not like the new format? I am finding it difficult to take in the information as the page now looks so 'busy'. Shame, I liked the last format better.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 5)
Comment number 6.
At 13th Jun 2012, Wayne0 wrote:I agree with Lindy, im not keen on the overload of information on screen. I have been an avid follower of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Weather website and forecasts, and there is one thing that i still dont understand. When the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ went digital, they dropped the 'old' weather symbols. The Website looked good with better weather graphic icons. Since the update they have gone back... Why?
Complain about this comment (Comment number 6)
Comment number 7.
At 13th Jun 2012, dukeofearl wrote:Much better, but I agree with #4 that past hours could be greyed out to complete a full day.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 7)
Comment number 8.
At 13th Jun 2012, Josh Tumath wrote:@Wayne0
Because they fit with the new GEL theme. I must admit they took some time getting used to again.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 8)
Comment number 9.
At 13th Jun 2012, fr wrote:I agree with Josh that it looks a bit strange in the today view with the empty columns. I also agree with other's that the full 24 hours on a single page looks like a bit too much. Did you experiment with a scrolling view showing for example 8 hours at a time, working something like TV guide sites (eg zingzing) where you can click on a time period or just drag scroll continuosly.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 9)
Comment number 10.
At 14th Jun 2012, Robert Hall wrote:I agree with Linda the page looks too busy and there are empty columns. Also I notice that the post states that the forecasts are based on 'new, more complex forecast data model from the Met Office'. How come then that this forecast doesn't match the Met Office and they seem to now give forecasts for different wards within my town whereas the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ seem to use the same forecast as Portsmouth. I think the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ has some catching up to do in the mean time I will use the Met Office.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 10)
Comment number 11.
At 14th Jun 2012, Beefykeithy wrote:Whilst the new site gives more information . I have great difficulty in printing a copy for use during the day
Complain about this comment (Comment number 11)
Comment number 12.
At 14th Jun 2012, John F wrote:Ohh dear - this new format is just not working for me. I used to print a copy of the page and display it on my Guest House information board. The guests found it easy to use and it gave just the right amount of detail. This new version just has too much information and my guests can find it overwhelming.
Please change it back.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 12)
Comment number 13.
At 14th Jun 2012, Afeichtner wrote:The ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ just can't get it right. Benchmarking would help. Instead of changing the way the weather is presented every 3 months, why not check other services (e.g. weather.com, wetter.de etc) to get an idea how it can be done instead of inventing new and confusing things. Why can't you give 2 options, a summary of daily weather and and an optional hourly forecast instead of forcing an hourly forecast on us which is too small, even for the iPad? Where is the chance of rain? What do the icons mean? A cloud with one rain drop, is it a bit of rain or is it low rain risk? Utterly confusing...
Complain about this comment (Comment number 13)
Comment number 14.
At 14th Jun 2012, Ivan wrote:Comment 1 by Andy.
I second your endorsement of the Aix weather app and also recommend the Fancy Widgets app ( ) which I use in conjunction with it.
I agree that I would be interested in a ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ version.
On this new weather page format, the wave format works very well in the tight 24 hour granular format for today and tomorrow but is strangely difficult for the eye to follow in the more spaced out 3 hour format for days after that where it might be better to revert to a flat line presentation.
In respect of rain, a percentage figure would be helpful.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 14)
Comment number 15.
At 14th Jun 2012, Craig Smith wrote:Jo, a serious bit of data overload when it comes to the weather but I quite enjoy the new format! I agree with Ivan above on maintaining the flat line style of presentation when it comes to the shorter time (3 hour) formats
Complain about this comment (Comment number 15)
Comment number 16.
At 14th Jun 2012, Alex wrote:@ John F, why don't you just press the picture of the printer and you get a one page summary
Complain about this comment (Comment number 16)
Comment number 17.
At 15th Jun 2012, MrT wrote:If that is how it is supposed to look, it is a complete mess! Perhaps you could give us the choice of hourly or 3-hourly display in the settings menu? I thought the wavy line might be to indicate the height of the sun (when out) or is it temp? It gives a wrong impression when it suggests you can predict every shower - you can't - but perhaps some people welcome the extra data. IMHO the new presentation is a mess.
Incidentally I tried the contact button on the page because I actually thought the webpage was broken and wanted to notify you but only found a closed blog from last year.
You need a simplified view for people in a hurry or with a small screen, plus a more detailed view like your table view for anoraks. What *would* be useful is the ability to merge two local forecasts if you live half way between two towns for example - that would be a lot more useful than messing up the graphics Again.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 17)
Comment number 18.
At 15th Jun 2012, Sue_Aitch wrote:Please would you ask your colleagues at Ceefax to add the Pollen Count page 426 to the Weather Index page on 400: with so many Ceefax Weather pages no longer being updated, it's good to have the Pollen Count report for as long as Ceefax is still running?
Complain about this comment (Comment number 18)
Comment number 19.
At 15th Jun 2012, mrg17 wrote:I think i am going to give the mobile site go for the quick overview (so for example )
Complain about this comment (Comment number 19)
Comment number 20.
At 16th Jun 2012, voice-of-reason wrote:I hate the new layout - the readability of the temperature number itself has been compromised for a silly wavy line that takes up enormous space - who really is going to primarily use a trend line across the day (cooler in the morning and the evening, warmer in the middle bit - duh!) to make judgments about what temperatures can be expected? Isn't the trend immediately obvious when you look across the numbers.
Oh, and as usual if you opt for the option that takes you back some way towards what you were happy with before you are punished. In this case by a madly busy table with far more unrequested detail, redundant headings above each section ('temperature' 'conditions' etc) and wind directions added pointlessly in letters below an arrow that clearly shows graphically where the wind is coming from.
There is huge history on ill-thought-through change on this site, and I happily look forward to the site grudgingly being forced to lose the most childish aspects of these changes over the coming months.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 20)
Comment number 21.
At 16th Jun 2012, stonyb wrote:New hourly format has added nothing of practical use for vast majority of users, and has made the screen far too 'busy' and harder to read.
It has been designed by a weather technophile with no thought for the ultimate customer, and has ignored a first principle of webpage design which is simplicity - ie do not overcrowd with unecessary info.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 21)
Comment number 22.
At 16th Jun 2012, rafmarham wrote:The new look is great, if a bit busy but I am sure that time will solve that problem.
On another note entirely when will the other pages of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Weather website be integrated into the new format - I am referring to the Country guides, Coast and Sea, Winter Sports and the Weather Presenters pages which still use the old layout and which now have links that lead nowhere or in the case of the latter are out of date.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 22)
Comment number 23.
At 17th Jun 2012, jneilh wrote:There may be some who do not like the new format ... however, I think it's great! I regularly go for long walks across country and the quick glance hourly forecast display is just what I need. Thanks ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳
Complain about this comment (Comment number 23)
Comment number 24.
At 17th Jun 2012, clemenad wrote:The Biggest issue with the new web page is the colour of the symbols.
They are very difficult to see . For example , the background is white so WHITE CLOUDS on a white background just disappear, so does the pale yellow sun and the light grey used for the night hours. The only symbols that show up clearly are those for BAD weather , i.e Dark clouds and Rain.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 24)
Comment number 25.
At 18th Jun 2012, clemenad wrote:Regarding my previous post ( No 24 ). Why don't you change the background to Pale ( Sky ) Blue for the daylight hours and Dark Blue for the night hours.
This would make the symbols stand out very clearly and improve the look of the page .
You can already see how it would work, look how clear the information in the " Day Panels " at the top of the page shows up.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 25)
Comment number 26.
At 18th Jun 2012, Jo Wickremasinghe wrote:Thank you all for your feedback. There is a mixture of positive and negative reactions to the hourly forecasts here, but overall the reaction from users mailing us and during audience testing has been positive. For those of you who find the extra information overwhelming, we hope that over time you will come to find the hourly breakdown valuable and useful, giving you a more detailed view of how the weather is changing throughout the day.
Josh and a few others raised the question of the white space on the first day’s moving window. As we move into the afternoon the amount of white space increases as they day gets ‘eaten up’. We did debate about how many hours of the next day we should show on the current day (because you get this same information by clicking on the tab for the next day’s forecast). Our goal was to keep each day consistent, so that you see a 24 hour window every day. That said we will take a look at the white space and see whether there is a less jarring way to use that space.
A couple of people raised issues with printing the forecast pages. There is a print icon underneath the 24 hour forecast which provides a printer optimised 5 day forecast page. We had not previously provided a printer optimised view of the 24 hour forecast but we agree that the previous 3 hourly breakdown did print better with the standard browser printing. We’ll look to implement a printer optimised view of the 24 hour forecast, alongside the existing 5 day forecast print option.
One reader pointed out that some of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Weather website pages are still in the old (pre Nov 2011) format. We are in the process of moving Coast and Seas, Country Guides etc. over to the current ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Weather website look and feel and hope to have this work complete in the coming months.
And finally a few people asked about our plans for mobile and smartphone apps. We definitely have plans to improve our ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Weather experience on mobile and tablets. I can’t share exact details at this time but rest assured we are keen to provide our audience with the best of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Weather across four screens, in line with ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Online’s strategy outlined by Ralph Riviera last year.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 26)
Comment number 27.
At 18th Jun 2012, MrT wrote:If you think the new presentation is an improvement you are living in cloud cuckoo land. By all means leave the table view for those who are fascinated by hourly changes in relative humidity. For the rest of us please revert to a default 3-hour view with an option in the settings menu to show hourly data. What are you going to do next year when you can show data for every 30mins or every 10mins?
This site is supposed to be aimed at the general population not amateur meteorologists.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 27)
Comment number 28.
At 18th Jun 2012, DBOne wrote:The new weather site is a definite improvement - the hourly forecast slots make it a lot easier to see what the weather is likely to be. I don't think MrT_123 that you need to be an amateur meteorologist to be interested in which hour the weather is likely to change!
Complain about this comment (Comment number 28)
Comment number 29.
At 19th Jun 2012, Yenti wrote:It is about time that the weather forecast included The Republic of Ireland it is an integral part of the weather across the Western parts of our country.
It now seems rather childish to just wave your hands past a p;lace that has such an influence on our weather.
Now the Queen has gone there and broken this stupid ignoring the Republic it is about time you did also, Yours Yenti
Complain about this comment (Comment number 29)
Comment number 30.
At 19th Jun 2012, Yenti wrote:Remembering the weather, well stories of the weather in the English Channel on 6-6-1944 did the weather of this June resemble those few days, as they were talking about three depressions arriving one after another on the day before "D" Day and the days following ????Yours Yenti
Complain about this comment (Comment number 30)
Comment number 31.
At 19th Jun 2012, Sue_Aitch wrote:Any joy on my request at 18 Above? Ceefax page 400 would then have all the page numbers still available for the viewers in the North East of England and Northern Irelans for them to use for navigating the steampunk version of ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Weather.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 31)
Comment number 32.
At 21st Jun 2012, keynet wrote:Your "weather conditions" feed for London appears to have been frozen since 13:00 yesterday! The website info is similarly frozen.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 32)
Comment number 33.
At 21st Jun 2012, clemenad wrote:Firstly any chance of getting this comment box moved to the top of the blog or the sign in box moved to the bottom!!. Having to scroll all the way down to see if there is anything you want to comment on and then scroll up to the top to sign in then scroll down to bottom to add a comment seems daft!!.
Secondly any chance of a response on my two earlier comments numbers 24 and 25.
I find the fact that the symbols are virtually unreadable makes discussing the amount of data and the layout of the page rather pointless!!
Complain about this comment (Comment number 33)
Comment number 34.
At 21st Jun 2012, Jo Wickremasinghe wrote:Keynet - can you specify the URL for the feed which seems frozen? We'll look into it.
Sue_Aitch we won't be able to make any more changes to Ceefax service before it ends with the digital switch over in October.
Clemenad - we know that some of the icons ('white cloud' and 'partly cloudy' icons in particular) have lower contrast than the rain shower and other icons, but it is a challenge to get all the different icons to work with both the light and dark backgrounds used on the website. However if you hover over any icon you will get the text explanation for the icon, which details the weather type the icon represents.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 34)
Comment number 35.
At 23rd Jun 2012, Sue_Aitch wrote:That's alright, Jo: a kind person has updated Ceefax page 400 in the meantime and Pollen Index 426 is there on Weather Page 400 now.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 35)
Comment number 36.
At 5th Jul 2012, keynet wrote:Jo,
The feed came back to life 24hrs later, but it's gone wonky again today -
is:
Temperature: null°C (null°F), Wind Direction: East South Easterly, Wind Speed: 3mph, Humidity: null%, Pressure: nullmb, Rising, Visibility: N/A
It does seem a bit hit-and-miss since the recent changes...
Could you look at putting a bit more error checking in there?
Thx
Complain about this comment (Comment number 36)
Comment number 37.
At 6th Jul 2012, DaveRP wrote:Checking the local forecast today I noticed there was no consistency between the day summary and the 3 hourly breakdown.
In the day summary the day was showing light cloud (white) but when looking at the detail it was made up of three, three hour blocks, of light rain (black), three blocks of heavy cloud (black) and one instance of light cloud. (white)
How is the day summary decided upon for days where there is variable weather?
The summary temperature also didn't seem to make sense with a min/max for the day of 13/17 the three hour blocks maxed at 14 degrees (at 7pm in the evening) and 3 blocks with 12 degrees as a minimum
Complain about this comment (Comment number 37)
Comment number 38.
At 16th Aug 2012, Gus T Butt wrote:I can't find a key to symbols. What is the difference between a black or a white wind strength symbol please? I would like to know if the wind is gusting.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 38)
Comment number 39.
At 16th Aug 2012, Gus T Butt wrote:I'm unable to play the weather videos on my Samsung S3 even though I uninstalled and reinstalled flash player using the link from your website.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 39)
Comment number 40.
At 17th Aug 2012, Jo Wickremasinghe wrote:Hi Gus - in response to your two questions (38 & 39).
There is no difference between the black or white wind symbol. The wind symbols change between black or white as you move between the forecast tabs. The active forecast tab background is white so we change the wind symbol to black so it is visible. When you change to a different forecast tab, the wind symbol on the inactive tabs are white against the dark blue background. We don't have any indicator for wind gusts, other than the information provided in the forecast summary text.
Regarding video playback - we're not currently running a version of our media player for the Weather videos that will work across mobile devices. We are working on an improved mobile experience for Weather, so please bear with us!
Complain about this comment (Comment number 40)