• Illegal weather forecast website?

    From liz@liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) to uk.comp.sys.mac on Fri Oct 24 15:14:29 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also
    displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same
    regardless of the choice of cookies.
    --
    ~ Liz Tuddenham ~
    (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
    www.poppyrecords.co.uk
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From snipeco.2@snipeco.2@gmail.com (Sn!pe) to uk.comp.sys.mac on Fri Oct 24 15:40:14 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:

    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same regardless of the choice of cookies.


    Just reject cookies; it will still work but not remember your previous locations.
    --
    ^-^. Sn!pe, PTB, FIBS My pet rock Gordon just is.

    My summer holiday pics: <https://youtu.be/_kqytf31a8E>
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From =?UTF-8?Q?J=C3=B6rg_Lorenz?=@hugybear@gmx.net to uk.comp.sys.mac on Fri Oct 24 17:06:05 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Am 24.10.25 um 16:14 schrieb Liz Tuddenham:
    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same regardless of the choice of cookies.

    This is technically incorrect. You know what session cookies are?
    Cookies are not bad per se and if you do not trust the Metoffice why are
    you visiting their site?
    --
    "Roma locuta, causa finita" (Augustinus)
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Graham J@nobody@nowhere.co.uk to uk.comp.sys.mac on Fri Oct 24 16:08:30 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Liz Tuddenham wrote:
    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same regardless of the choice of cookies.

    This is apparently a new version. I found an option to go back to the previous version which asked why I didn't like the new one.
    --
    Graham J
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From liz@liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) to uk.comp.sys.mac on Fri Oct 24 17:48:37 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> wrote:

    Liz Tuddenham wrote:
    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same regardless of the choice of cookies.

    This is apparently a new version. I found an option to go back to the previous version which asked why I didn't like the new one.

    Did you have cookies enabled at the time?
    --
    ~ Liz Tuddenham ~
    (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
    www.poppyrecords.co.uk
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From liz@liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) to uk.comp.sys.mac on Fri Oct 24 17:48:37 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Sn!pe <snipeco.2@gmail.com> wrote:

    Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:

    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same regardless of the choice of cookies.


    Just reject cookies; it will still work but not remember your previous locations.

    It won't show me the full version without cookies enabled - this is what
    has changed in the last 24 hours.
    --
    ~ Liz Tuddenham ~
    (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
    www.poppyrecords.co.uk
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From richard@richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) to uk.comp.sys.mac on Fri Oct 24 17:13:43 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    In article <1rkpr8a.1h99tyk1xh8qvgN%liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid>,
    Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:
    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also >displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    You only have to turn on the first cookie - "Store and/or access
    information on a device" - so presumably it's using a cookie to
    remember that you want the old version, which is reasonable, though
    there's no reason why it couldn't also have a link to the old version
    without remembering that you want it.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same >regardless of the choice of cookies.

    That can't be true in general, since cookies are used to store your
    preferences about the display. If it were demanding that you accept advertising cookies it would be a different matter.

    -- Richard
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From =?UTF-8?Q?J=C3=B6rg_Lorenz?=@hugybear@gmx.net to uk.comp.sys.mac on Fri Oct 24 21:38:52 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 24.10.25 18:48, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
    Graham J <nobody@nowhere.co.uk> wrote:

    Liz Tuddenham wrote:
    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also
    displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same
    regardless of the choice of cookies.

    This is apparently a new version. I found an option to go back to the
    previous version which asked why I didn't like the new one.

    Did you have cookies enabled at the time?

    You should have cookies always enabled. Throw them away end the end of
    your session. Firefox masters that without a blink of an eye.
    --
    "Roma locuta, causa finita."
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Graham J@nobody@nowhere.co.uk to uk.comp.sys.mac on Fri Oct 24 20:46:25 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    [snip]

    This is apparently a new version. I found an option to go back to the
    previous version which asked why I didn't like the new one.

    Did you have cookies enabled at the time?


    Almost certainly, yes.
    --
    Graham J
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bruce@07.013@scorecrow.com to uk.comp.sys.mac on Fri Oct 24 21:59:07 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 24/10/2025 15:14, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same regardless of the choice of cookies.

    Just tried it now using Safari. I declined cookies and was able to enter
    the name of my local area and see a forecast. I was able to click the "detailed forecast" tab and get more information without being asked to
    allow cookies.

    All links seemed to work and none asked me to enable cookies.

    In short, I couldn't reproduce what you saw.
    --
    Bruce Horrocks
    Hampshire, England
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Alan B@alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid to uk.comp.sys.mac on Sat Oct 25 07:55:07 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 24 Oct 2025 at 21:59:07 GMT+1, "Bruce" <07.013@scorecrow.com> wrote:

    On 24/10/2025 15:14, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    <https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/>

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also
    displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same
    regardless of the choice of cookies.

    Just tried it now using Safari. I declined cookies and was able to enter
    the name of my local area and see a forecast. I was able to click the "detailed forecast" tab and get more information without being asked to
    allow cookies.

    All links seemed to work and none asked me to enable cookies.

    In short, I couldn't reproduce what you saw.

    My problem with Safari on macOS26 - Version 26.0.1 (21622.1.22.11.15) is displaying weather warnings. Click on a particular warning on the UK map to
    get more details and a more or less blank window appears. No such problems
    with Firefox. It's probably nothing to do with cookies but I suspect their
    site is not totally Safari friendly. I've not checked for similar problams
    with Safari on iOS and iPadOS yet.
    --
    Cheers, Alan
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From liz@liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) to uk.comp.sys.mac on Sat Oct 25 09:30:53 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    =?UTF-8?Q?J=C3=B6rg_Lorenz?= <hugybear@gmx.net> wrote:

    Am 24.10.25 um 16:14 schrieb Liz Tuddenham:
    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same regardless of the choice of cookies.

    This is technically incorrect. You know what session cookies are?
    Cookies are not bad per se and if you do not trust the Metoffice why are
    you visiting their site?

    Most sites have the option of Functional Cookies only, this one doesn't.
    --
    ~ Liz Tuddenham ~
    (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
    www.poppyrecords.co.uk
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From liz@liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) to uk.comp.sys.mac on Sat Oct 25 09:30:53 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Richard Tobin <richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk> wrote:

    In article <1rkpr8a.1h99tyk1xh8qvgN%liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid>,
    Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:
    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also >displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    You only have to turn on the first cookie - "Store and/or access
    information on a device" - so presumably it's using a cookie to
    remember that you want the old version, which is reasonable, though
    there's no reason why it couldn't also have a link to the old version
    without remembering that you want it.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same >regardless of the choice of cookies.

    That can't be true in general, since cookies are used to store your preferences about the display. If it were demanding that you accept advertising cookies it would be a different matter.

    They don't appear to distinguish between them.
    --
    ~ Liz Tuddenham ~
    (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
    www.poppyrecords.co.uk
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From liz@liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) to uk.comp.sys.mac on Sat Oct 25 09:30:54 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Bruce <07.013@scorecrow.com> wrote:

    On 24/10/2025 15:14, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same regardless of the choice of cookies.

    Just tried it now using Safari. I declined cookies and was able to enter
    the name of my local area and see a forecast. I was able to click the "detailed forecast" tab and get more information without being asked to
    allow cookies.

    All links seemed to work and none asked me to enable cookies.

    In short, I couldn't reproduce what you saw.

    I was using Firefox 129.0.2 I don't know if that made a difference.
    --
    ~ Liz Tuddenham ~
    (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
    www.poppyrecords.co.uk
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From David B.@BD@hotmail.co.uk to uk.comp.sys.mac on Sat Oct 25 12:06:55 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 25/10/2025 09:30, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
    Bruce <07.013@scorecrow.com> wrote:

    On 24/10/2025 15:14, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also
    displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same
    regardless of the choice of cookies.

    Just tried it now using Safari. I declined cookies and was able to enter
    the name of my local area and see a forecast. I was able to click the
    "detailed forecast" tab and get more information without being asked to
    allow cookies.

    All links seemed to work and none asked me to enable cookies.

    In short, I couldn't reproduce what you saw.

    I was using Firefox 129.0.2 I don't know if that made a difference.

    The current version of Firefox is 144.0 (64-bit)
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From richard@richard@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Richard Tobin) to uk.comp.sys.mac on Sat Oct 25 11:23:51 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    In article <1rkr65v.1aqaoks1hkl1c0N%liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid>,
    Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:

    That can't be true in general, since cookies are used to store your
    preferences about the display. If it were demanding that you accept
    advertising cookies it would be a different matter.

    They don't appear to distinguish between them.

    The pop-up that appears when I go to the site has 11 different
    purposes you can accept or refuse, 3 of which relate to advertising.

    -- Richard
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From John Hill@watcombeman@yahoo.co.uk to uk.comp.sys.mac on Sun Oct 26 07:59:43 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 25 Oct 2025 at 07:55:07 BST, "Alan B" <alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid> wrote:

    On 24 Oct 2025 at 21:59:07 GMT+1, "Bruce" <07.013@scorecrow.com> wrote:

    On 24/10/2025 15:14, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    <https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/>

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also
    displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same
    regardless of the choice of cookies.

    Just tried it now using Safari. I declined cookies and was able to enter
    the name of my local area and see a forecast. I was able to click the
    "detailed forecast" tab and get more information without being asked to
    allow cookies.

    All links seemed to work and none asked me to enable cookies.

    In short, I couldn't reproduce what you saw.

    My problem with Safari on macOS26 - Version 26.0.1 (21622.1.22.11.15) is displaying weather warnings. Click on a particular warning on the UK map to get more details and a more or less blank window appears. No such problems with Firefox. It's probably nothing to do with cookies but I suspect their site is not totally Safari friendly. I've not checked for similar problams with Safari on iOS and iPadOS yet.

    I tried with Arc and while it had a different "look" it behaved perfectly.
    Mind you, I don't fuss much over cookies. So it may have asked when I first opened the new site; I would have just clicked Accept All and forgotton.

    Old John.
    --
    An infinitely complex system can fail in an infinite number of ways.
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Chris@ithinkiam@gmail.com to uk.comp.sys.mac on Sun Oct 26 08:06:22 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:
    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same regardless of the choice of cookies.


    I have noticed an increasing trend with some sites, particularly news, that require you to either get a subscription or accept all cookies.

    Not sure whether that's illegal or not and possibly a wrinkle that's
    allowed since brexit.

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From David B.@BD@hotmail.co.uk to uk.comp.sys.mac on Sun Oct 26 08:13:58 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 26/10/2025 07:59, John Hill wrote:
    On 25 Oct 2025 at 07:55:07 BST, "Alan B" <alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid>
    wrote:

    On 24 Oct 2025 at 21:59:07 GMT+1, "Bruce" <07.013@scorecrow.com> wrote:

    On 24/10/2025 15:14, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    <https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/>

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also
    displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same
    regardless of the choice of cookies.

    Just tried it now using Safari. I declined cookies and was able to enter >>> the name of my local area and see a forecast. I was able to click the
    "detailed forecast" tab and get more information without being asked to
    allow cookies.

    All links seemed to work and none asked me to enable cookies.

    In short, I couldn't reproduce what you saw.

    My problem with Safari on macOS26 - Version 26.0.1 (21622.1.22.11.15) is
    displaying weather warnings. Click on a particular warning on the UK map to >> get more details and a more or less blank window appears. No such problems >> with Firefox. It's probably nothing to do with cookies but I suspect their >> site is not totally Safari friendly. I've not checked for similar problams >> with Safari on iOS and iPadOS yet.

    I tried with Arc and while it had a different "look" it behaved perfectly. Mind you, I don't fuss much over cookies. So it may have asked when I first opened the new site; I would have just clicked Accept All and forgotton.

    Old John.

    This website appears to work perfectly here using Safari:-

    https://www.metoffice.gov.uk

    My Safari version is Version 18.6 (18621.3.11.19.1, 18621)
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Theo@theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk to uk.comp.sys.mac on Sun Oct 26 10:23:29 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:
    I have noticed an increasing trend with some sites, particularly news, that require you to either get a subscription or accept all cookies.

    Not sure whether that's illegal or not and possibly a wrinkle that's
    allowed since brexit.

    The ICO recently ruled that 'consent or pay' is legal: https://cy.ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/online-tracking/consent-or-pay/

    So of course everyone's at it.

    Theo

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Chris@ithinkiam@gmail.com to uk.comp.sys.mac on Sun Oct 26 21:05:54 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
    Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:
    I have noticed an increasing trend with some sites, particularly news, that >> require you to either get a subscription or accept all cookies.

    Not sure whether that's illegal or not and possibly a wrinkle that's
    allowed since brexit.

    The ICO recently ruled that 'consent or pay' is legal: https://cy.ico.org.uk/for-organisations/uk-gdpr-guidance-and-resources/online-tracking/consent-or-pay/

    So of course everyone's at it.


    That explains it.

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From liz@liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid (Liz Tuddenham) to uk.comp.sys.mac on Mon Oct 27 08:44:45 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:

    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same regardless of the choice of cookies.

    I've looked around at other weather forecasts and found that
    netweather.tv has less eye candy and gives more comprehensive
    information in fewer pages than the Met Office. If it proves to be
    reasonably accurate, I'll stick with netweather from now on.
    --
    ~ Liz Tuddenham ~
    (Remove the ".invalid"s and add ".co.uk" to reply)
    www.poppyrecords.co.uk
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From RJH@patchmoney@gmx.com to uk.comp.sys.mac on Mon Oct 27 09:27:11 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 27 Oct 2025 at 08:44:45 GMT, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:

    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also
    displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same
    regardless of the choice of cookies.

    I've looked around at other weather forecasts and found that
    netweather.tv has less eye candy and gives more comprehensive
    information in fewer pages than the Met Office. If it proves to be reasonably accurate, I'll stick with netweather from now on.

    A bit pared back for me. I've used Windy

    https://www.windy.com

    for a while, and still use the Met Office despite the new design.

    Pic of the phone apps is Apple's Weather app.
    --
    Cheers, Rob, Sheffield UK
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Chris@ithinkiam@gmail.com to uk.comp.sys.mac on Tue Oct 28 11:28:03 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    RJH <patchmoney@gmx.com> wrote:
    On 27 Oct 2025 at 08:44:45 GMT, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:

    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also
    displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same
    regardless of the choice of cookies.

    I've looked around at other weather forecasts and found that
    netweather.tv has less eye candy and gives more comprehensive
    information in fewer pages than the Met Office. If it proves to be
    reasonably accurate, I'll stick with netweather from now on.

    A bit pared back for me. I've used Windy

    https://www.windy.com

    for a while, and still use the Met Office despite the new design.

    Pic of the phone apps is Apple's Weather app.

    I don't find the Apple Weather to be very accurate. I've been using Yr
    recently which been better. Looks good too.

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Alan B@alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid to uk.comp.sys.mac on Tue Oct 28 11:41:09 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 2025-10-28, Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:
    RJH <patchmoney@gmx.com> wrote:
    On 27 Oct 2025 at 08:44:45 GMT, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:

    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also
    displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same
    regardless of the choice of cookies.

    I've looked around at other weather forecasts and found that
    netweather.tv has less eye candy and gives more comprehensive
    information in fewer pages than the Met Office. If it proves to be
    reasonably accurate, I'll stick with netweather from now on.

    A bit pared back for me. I've used Windy

    https://www.windy.com

    for a while, and still use the Met Office despite the new design.

    Pic of the phone apps is Apple's Weather app.

    I don't find the Apple Weather to be very accurate. I've been using Yr recently which been better. Looks good too.

    I don't find any of these forecasting sites particularly good. There's
    too much reliance on satellite data rather than ground observations
    by humans and automatic sites especially when it comes to local area forecasts.
    --
    Cheers, Alan
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From David B.@BD@hotmail.co.uk to uk.comp.sys.mac on Tue Oct 28 14:02:54 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 28/10/2025 11:41, Alan B wrote:

    I don't find any of these forecasting sites particularly good. There's
    too much reliance on satellite data rather than ground observations
    by humans and automatic sites especially when it comes to local area forecasts.

    This is just about as good as it gets!

    https://www.metoffice.gov.uk

    What do YOU think is missing?

    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Graeme Wall@rail@greywall.demon.co.uk to uk.comp.sys.mac on Tue Oct 28 14:55:05 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 28/10/2025 11:41, Alan B wrote:
    On 2025-10-28, Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:
    RJH <patchmoney@gmx.com> wrote:
    On 27 Oct 2025 at 08:44:45 GMT, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:

    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also >>>>> displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would >>>>> have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same >>>>> regardless of the choice of cookies.

    I've looked around at other weather forecasts and found that
    netweather.tv has less eye candy and gives more comprehensive
    information in fewer pages than the Met Office. If it proves to be
    reasonably accurate, I'll stick with netweather from now on.

    A bit pared back for me. I've used Windy

    https://www.windy.com

    for a while, and still use the Met Office despite the new design.

    Pic of the phone apps is Apple's Weather app.

    I don't find the Apple Weather to be very accurate. I've been using Yr
    recently which been better. Looks good too.

    I don't find any of these forecasting sites particularly good. There's
    too much reliance on satellite data rather than ground observations
    by humans and automatic sites especially when it comes to local area forecasts.


    Most of the ground observations are done by automatic sites these days!
    --
    Graeme Wall
    This account not read.


    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Alan B@alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid to uk.comp.sys.mac on Tue Oct 28 15:01:01 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 28 Oct 2025 at 14:55:05 GMT, "Graeme Wall" <rail@greywall.demon.co.uk> wrote:

    On 28/10/2025 11:41, Alan B wrote:
    On 2025-10-28, Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:
    RJH <patchmoney@gmx.com> wrote:
    On 27 Oct 2025 at 08:44:45 GMT, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:

    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    <https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/>

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also >>>>>> displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would >>>>>> have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same >>>>>> regardless of the choice of cookies.

    I've looked around at other weather forecasts and found that
    <netweather.tv> has less eye candy and gives more comprehensive
    information in fewer pages than the Met Office. If it proves to be
    reasonably accurate, I'll stick with netweather from now on.

    A bit pared back for me. I've used Windy

    <https://www.windy.com>

    for a while, and still use the Met Office despite the new design.

    Pic of the phone apps is Apple's Weather app.

    I don't find the Apple Weather to be very accurate. I've been using Yr
    recently which been better. Looks good too.

    I don't find any of these forecasting sites particularly good. There's
    too much reliance on satellite data rather than ground observations
    by humans and automatic sites especially when it comes to local area
    forecasts.


    Most of the ground observations are done by automatic sites these days!

    Yes I know and they can give accurate readings of air temperature,
    humidity/dew point , atmospheric pressure, rainfall, wind speed plus any other data not needing human interaction. Automatically reporting visibility and cloud data must be more difficult though.
    --
    Cheers, Alan
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Graeme Wall@rail@greywall.demon.co.uk to uk.comp.sys.mac on Wed Oct 29 08:11:55 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 28/10/2025 15:01, Alan B wrote:
    On 28 Oct 2025 at 14:55:05 GMT, "Graeme Wall" <rail@greywall.demon.co.uk> wrote:

    On 28/10/2025 11:41, Alan B wrote:
    On 2025-10-28, Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:
    RJH <patchmoney@gmx.com> wrote:
    On 27 Oct 2025 at 08:44:45 GMT, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:

    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    <https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/>

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it >>>>>>> displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also >>>>>>> displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would >>>>>>> have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same >>>>>>> regardless of the choice of cookies.

    I've looked around at other weather forecasts and found that
    <netweather.tv> has less eye candy and gives more comprehensive
    information in fewer pages than the Met Office. If it proves to be >>>>>> reasonably accurate, I'll stick with netweather from now on.

    A bit pared back for me. I've used Windy

    <https://www.windy.com>

    for a while, and still use the Met Office despite the new design.

    Pic of the phone apps is Apple's Weather app.

    I don't find the Apple Weather to be very accurate. I've been using Yr >>>> recently which been better. Looks good too.

    I don't find any of these forecasting sites particularly good. There's
    too much reliance on satellite data rather than ground observations
    by humans and automatic sites especially when it comes to local area
    forecasts.


    Most of the ground observations are done by automatic sites these days!

    Yes I know and they can give accurate readings of air temperature, humidity/dew point , atmospheric pressure, rainfall, wind speed plus any other
    data not needing human interaction. Automatically reporting visibility and cloud data must be more difficult though.


    Visibility is fairly easy, IIRC it is done by measuring the drop in
    intensity of a light beam over a measured distance. Types of cloud is
    the one thing that I believe still needs a human observer.

    Full disclosure: my father was a meteorologist and his last job before
    he retired was organising the setting up of automatic weather stations
    round the world.
    --
    Graeme Wall
    This account not read.


    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Alan B@alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid to uk.comp.sys.mac on Wed Oct 29 11:22:46 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 2025-10-25, Alan B <alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid> wrote:
    On 24 Oct 2025 at 21:59:07 GMT+1, "Bruce" <07.013@scorecrow.com> wrote:

    On 24/10/2025 15:14, Liz Tuddenham wrote:
    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    <https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/>

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also
    displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same
    regardless of the choice of cookies.

    Just tried it now using Safari. I declined cookies and was able to enter
    the name of my local area and see a forecast. I was able to click the
    "detailed forecast" tab and get more information without being asked to
    allow cookies.

    All links seemed to work and none asked me to enable cookies.

    In short, I couldn't reproduce what you saw.

    My problem with Safari on macOS26 - Version 26.0.1 (21622.1.22.11.15) is displaying weather warnings. Click on a particular warning on the UK map to get more details and a more or less blank window appears. No such problems with Firefox. It's probably nothing to do with cookies but I suspect their site is not totally Safari friendly. I've not checked for similar problams with Safari on iOS and iPadOS yet.

    As there's a new weather warning for 30/10/25, I've repeated the above
    and as expected got the same blank (no map) outcome with Safari 26.0.1
    but the map showing the affected area showed OK with Firefox as
    expected. However using Safari on iOS 26 there were no problems at all.
    --
    Cheers, Alan
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Alan B@alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid to uk.comp.sys.mac on Wed Oct 29 11:30:26 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 2025-10-29, Graeme Wall <rail@greywall.demon.co.uk> wrote:
    On 28/10/2025 15:01, Alan B wrote:
    On 28 Oct 2025 at 14:55:05 GMT, "Graeme Wall" <rail@greywall.demon.co.uk>
    wrote:

    On 28/10/2025 11:41, Alan B wrote:
    On 2025-10-28, Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:
    RJH <patchmoney@gmx.com> wrote:
    On 27 Oct 2025 at 08:44:45 GMT, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:

    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    <https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/>

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it >>>>>>>> displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also >>>>>>>> displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would >>>>>>>> have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same >>>>>>>> regardless of the choice of cookies.

    I've looked around at other weather forecasts and found that
    <netweather.tv> has less eye candy and gives more comprehensive
    information in fewer pages than the Met Office. If it proves to be >>>>>>> reasonably accurate, I'll stick with netweather from now on.

    A bit pared back for me. I've used Windy

    <https://www.windy.com>

    for a while, and still use the Met Office despite the new design.

    Pic of the phone apps is Apple's Weather app.

    I don't find the Apple Weather to be very accurate. I've been using Yr >>>>> recently which been better. Looks good too.

    I don't find any of these forecasting sites particularly good. There's >>>> too much reliance on satellite data rather than ground observations
    by humans and automatic sites especially when it comes to local area
    forecasts.


    Most of the ground observations are done by automatic sites these days!

    Yes I know and they can give accurate readings of air temperature,
    humidity/dew point , atmospheric pressure, rainfall, wind speed plus any other
    data not needing human interaction. Automatically reporting visibility and >> cloud data must be more difficult though.


    Visibility is fairly easy, IIRC it is done by measuring the drop in intensity of a light beam over a measured distance.

    I wonder if it can distinguish smoke or other pollutants from water
    droplets in mist/fog/rain etc.

    Full disclosure: my father was a meteorologist and his last job before
    he retired was organising the setting up of automatic weather stations
    round the world.

    Years ago I bought a cheap PWS but it got wrecked in a gale!
    --
    Cheers, Alan
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Graeme Wall@rail@greywall.demon.co.uk to uk.comp.sys.mac on Wed Oct 29 13:02:15 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 29/10/2025 11:30, Alan B wrote:
    On 2025-10-29, Graeme Wall <rail@greywall.demon.co.uk> wrote:
    On 28/10/2025 15:01, Alan B wrote:
    On 28 Oct 2025 at 14:55:05 GMT, "Graeme Wall" <rail@greywall.demon.co.uk> >>> wrote:

    On 28/10/2025 11:41, Alan B wrote:
    On 2025-10-28, Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:
    RJH <patchmoney@gmx.com> wrote:
    On 27 Oct 2025 at 08:44:45 GMT, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:

    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    <https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/>

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it >>>>>>>>> displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also >>>>>>>>> displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would >>>>>>>>> have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same >>>>>>>>> regardless of the choice of cookies.

    I've looked around at other weather forecasts and found that
    <netweather.tv> has less eye candy and gives more comprehensive >>>>>>>> information in fewer pages than the Met Office. If it proves to be >>>>>>>> reasonably accurate, I'll stick with netweather from now on.

    A bit pared back for me. I've used Windy

    <https://www.windy.com>

    for a while, and still use the Met Office despite the new design. >>>>>>>
    Pic of the phone apps is Apple's Weather app.

    I don't find the Apple Weather to be very accurate. I've been using Yr >>>>>> recently which been better. Looks good too.

    I don't find any of these forecasting sites particularly good. There's >>>>> too much reliance on satellite data rather than ground observations
    by humans and automatic sites especially when it comes to local area >>>>> forecasts.


    Most of the ground observations are done by automatic sites these days! >>>
    Yes I know and they can give accurate readings of air temperature,
    humidity/dew point , atmospheric pressure, rainfall, wind speed plus any other
    data not needing human interaction. Automatically reporting visibility and >>> cloud data must be more difficult though.


    Visibility is fairly easy, IIRC it is done by measuring the drop in
    intensity of a light beam over a measured distance.

    I wonder if it can distinguish smoke or other pollutants from water
    droplets in mist/fog/rain etc.

    Possibly, the dispersal pattens would be different.


    Full disclosure: my father was a meteorologist and his last job before
    he retired was organising the setting up of automatic weather stations
    round the world.

    Years ago I bought a cheap PWS but it got wrecked in a gale!


    Hopefully not one of his :-)
    --
    Graeme Wall
    This account not read.


    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Alan B@alanrichardbarker@gmail.com.invalid to uk.comp.sys.mac on Wed Oct 29 14:33:58 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 2025-10-29, Graeme Wall <rail@greywall.demon.co.uk> wrote:

    [snip]

    Full disclosure: my father was a meteorologist and his last job before
    he retired was organising the setting up of automatic weather stations
    round the world.

    Years ago I bought a cheap PWS but it got wrecked in a gale!


    Hopefully not one of his :-)

    I don't think so. It was bought as a present from a Clas Ohlson store
    (remember them? by a relative and was pretty basic.
    --
    Cheers, Alan
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Andy H@thewildrover@icloud.com to uk.comp.sys.mac on Wed Oct 29 22:44:15 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Chris <ithinkiam@gmail.com> wrote:
    RJH <patchmoney@gmx.com> wrote:
    On 27 Oct 2025 at 08:44:45 GMT, Liz Tuddenham wrote:

    Liz Tuddenham <liz@poppyrecords.invalid.invalid> wrote:

    Selecting my local area from the Met Office website:

    https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/

    used to display a fairly comprehensive weather foracast, today it
    displayed a huge animation of clouds and a useless summary. It also
    displayed a message that if I wanted to see more information I would
    have to turn on cookies.

    Surely this is illegal; the information displayed should be the same
    regardless of the choice of cookies.

    I've looked around at other weather forecasts and found that
    netweather.tv has less eye candy and gives more comprehensive
    information in fewer pages than the Met Office. If it proves to be
    reasonably accurate, I'll stick with netweather from now on.

    A bit pared back for me. I've used Windy

    https://www.windy.com

    for a while, and still use the Met Office despite the new design.

    Pic of the phone apps is Apple's Weather app.

    I don't find the Apple Weather to be very accurate. I've been using Yr recently which been better. Looks good too.

    For a start I use Weather apps rather than the websites, so no issues with cookies.

    I work outdoors, and check weather apps a fair bit.

    Certain things need consideration. No weather forecasts are accurate past a
    day or two, and none are really accurate at a close local level.

    However, overall, I do find the Apple Weather app isnrCOt too far off most of the time. Enough so that itrCOs my default data on my phone and watch. I
    tried some of the others, such as BBC and AccuWeather, but neither showed significant improvement. The BBC one is about the same, and AccuWeather is
    full of ads, unless you pay to subscribe.

    The MetOffice app, to my surprise, and disappointment, is by far, and consistently, the least accurate.

    One other IrCOve been trying is OpenWeather, which is fairly simplified, but isnrCOt bad for accuracy. ItrCOs open source and truly free as well.
    --
    Andy H
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Bernd Froehlich@befr@eaglesoft.de to uk.comp.sys.mac on Thu Oct 30 07:38:57 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    On 29. Oct 2025 at 23:44:15 CET, "Andy H" <thewildrover@icloud.com> wrote:

    However, overall, I do find the Apple Weather app isnrCOt too far off most of the time. Enough so that itrCOs my default data on my phone and watch. I tried some of the others, such as BBC and AccuWeather, but neither showed significant improvement. The BBC one is about the same, and AccuWeather is full of ads, unless you pay to subscribe.

    The MetOffice app, to my surprise, and disappointment, is by far, and consistently, the least accurate.

    One other IrCOve been trying is OpenWeather, which is fairly simplified, but isnrCOt bad for accuracy. ItrCOs open source and truly free as well.

    Another one you could try is Yr.no.
    As I-|m spending most of my holidays in Norway I use it quite often.
    It does not only cover Norway though, so you can use it anywhere.
    And it-|s free.
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Andy H@thewildrover@icloud.com to uk.comp.sys.mac on Fri Oct 31 06:41:31 2025
    From Newsgroup: uk.comp.sys.mac

    Bernd Froehlich <befr@eaglesoft.de> wrote:
    On 29. Oct 2025 at 23:44:15 CET, "Andy H" <thewildrover@icloud.com> wrote:

    However, overall, I do find the Apple Weather app isnrCOt too far off most of
    the time. Enough so that itrCOs my default data on my phone and watch. I
    tried some of the others, such as BBC and AccuWeather, but neither showed
    significant improvement. The BBC one is about the same, and AccuWeather is >> full of ads, unless you pay to subscribe.

    The MetOffice app, to my surprise, and disappointment, is by far, and
    consistently, the least accurate.

    One other IrCOve been trying is OpenWeather, which is fairly simplified, but >> isnrCOt bad for accuracy. ItrCOs open source and truly free as well.

    Another one you could try is Yr.no.
    As I-|m spending most of my holidays in Norway I use it quite often.
    It does not only cover Norway though, so you can use it anywhere.
    And it-|s free.

    ThatrCOs quite interesting, I had no idea such a thing existed. It doesnrCOt show historical data outside Norway, and doesnrCOt sync between devices (I suspect you have to be able to setup an NRK account for that). However, considering itrCOs really meant for use in Norway, it offers quite a bit of information in the UK too (and elsewhere of course). The watch app works
    fine, but has limited data showing on the watch face complication.

    Definitely worth downloading the app though.

    Cheers.
    --
    Andy H
    --- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2