British weather maps have changed for better accessibility
British weather maps have changed for better accessibility
(Reuters) - British weather maps over the years have been adapted to be more accessible for viewers, particularly those who live with colour blindness, according to the UK’s national weather service, and broadcaster, who both spoke to Reuters. The comments came in response to widespread social media shares of a meme comparing two heatwave forecasts on two different years in the UK, suggesting it was proof of the national media stoking baseless fears of climate change.
The first forecast (left image) shows a green map of the British Isles, with wind patterns and sunshine icons. Temperatures appear to range mostly between the mid- to late 20s and early 30s Celsius (here).
The image can be traced back to at least August 2003 to a Flickr album named “screenshots” by photographer Stuart Axe (here , here). Axe has a history of uploading screenshots of weather reports with comprehensive details about the context, date and source. He said the 2003 image was a screenshot of a BBC report. While it has not been independently verified, the August date aligns with an historic heatwave across Europe, which killed 20,000 people (here).
The second (right image) shows similar temperatures; but this time the British Isles is shaded largely red and dark red. Yellow and orange patches are placed in parts of Scotland along the coastlines of Ireland. Reuters traced this image back to a Facebook post by the UK’s Meteorological Office (Met Office) in July 2016 (here).
“LEFT – Old school weather forecast. Happy and sunshiny. RIGHT – New style weather forecast. Designed to look like fear and destruction. IT’S CALLED SUMMER,” said text superimposed onto the meme.
Verified Twitter users also shared the comparison (here and here), with one writing: “UK heatwave maps past and present. Past: Cheery sunshine graphics. Present: Scorched earth.”
In the comments section underneath the post, one user replied: “They’re desperately pushing the human-caused climate change hoax hysteria, playing the usual psychological tricks and games.” (here).
Another wrote (here “Everything has to terrify us now and be a crisis - why is that? Climate, energy, food, heatwave, flu-like virus - you name it, it’s an emergency. Only it isn’t.”
The posts were all published in mid-July and coincided with health warnings released by British authorities ahead of a record-breaking heatwave, which peaked on July 19, after reaching an all-time high of 40.3C (104.5 Fahrenheit) (here and nL8N2Z01T0).
However, the suggestion made by social media users that updated graphics on weather forecasts are designed to stoke baseless fears about normal summer temperatures is not true, according to the Met Office and the BBC, who both spoke to Reuters.
CHANGES MADE TO IMPROVE ACCESSIBILITY
Professor John Marsham, Met Office joint-chair at the University of Leeds, told Reuters via email the adaptations had been made to help people living with colour blindness.
He said: “The (Facebook) post is misleading as it claims the Met Office has changed its colour schemes so that temperatures which before did not look scary now do. In fact, it was actually done for colour blind people.”
Likewise, the BBC told Reuters via email that it adapted its weather forecast maps from 2017 to make them more accessible to viewers, particularly those who live with colour blindness.
Aiden McGivern, a Met Office meteorologist, also wrote on Twitter that “we changed the temperature colours to make the maps easier for people who are colourblind” (here) and that the national weather service does “still sometimes post happy sunshiny maps on social media” (here). However, he also later noted that a previous claim he made in the same thread about the meme containing a doctored image did not appear to be true (here).
Meanwhile, the chair of Imperial College London’s Grantham Institute for Climate Change, Professor Sir Brian Hoskins, told Reuters via email how the new style also simplifies the forecast for viewers.
He said: “The new format immediately tells the viewer it is extremely hot compared with what they are used to in their area. The old format meant the viewer had to read the numbers on the map, be aware of past very high temperatures they have experienced in their area and then be able to compare them.
“The message about very high temperatures with sun needs to be put across as people need to be aware of them. They do not need to be made to appear jolly.”
MEME DOES NOT UNDERMINE CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENCE
Marsham said that, despite the efforts of the meme, it did not discredit the facts around climate change.
He wrote: “It’s all a classic attempt at trying to discredit a reputable source, as the facts of climate change, as they stand, can’t nowadays be denied.”
Likewise, Hoskins added that “the hot extremes are becoming more extreme”.
Meanwhile, Professor of Meteorology Douglas Parker, of the University of Leeds, told Reuters via email that “the situation we are experiencing today (July 19, 2022) is not normal”, despite what the meme is suggesting.
“It’s no coincidence that deep red (dangerous) colours are used for temperatures in the high 30s because these are life-threatening,” he said. “If we pretend otherwise, people will not be warned of conditions which threaten the lives of their loved ones and the weather services would not be doing their duty to the population.”
Parker added that heatwaves caused thousands of premature deaths among both vulnerable and healthy people and that it “is insane, and inhuman, to consider otherwise”.
“It’s frankly childish to say that these situations are normal, and that we should all get used to it as we did in past years. The human body has a temperature of about 37 degrees and there are certain absolute temperature (and humidity) conditions which cause us harm. It’s not something the body is going to get acclimatised to – although we can do a lot more to design our built environment to protect us from the heat in future.”
He said: “To these nay-sayers who think that the forest fires and evacuations on the continent are also mass delusion: on the continent, they are getting it even worse than us, but as temperatures continue to rise, events in the UK will get worse and worse too.”
Reuters published a similar fact-check about Swedish weather forecasts earlier this month (here).
VERDICT
Missing context. Weather forecast maps have been adapted for accessibility purposes.
