Find out more about the changes and the reasons behind them 

Our new web site is currently in Beta. This means that while we aim to support it to the same level as non-beta products, there may be times when it is unavailable for a little longer than normal. The site is also subject to development as we incorporate feedback from users.

The site has been designed to be as intuitive as possible, therefore rather than provide a step by step guide, the aim of this guide is to introduce you to the main features of the new web site.

• Content
• Navigation
• Customisation
• Feedback
• More Information

Content

Content Enlarge

The Beta site contains a range of weather information including:

• Homepage weather
• UK forecasts
• Severe Weather Warnings
• Mountain Area Forecasts
• UK observations
• Leisure forecasts
• Beach safety information^New
• Events forecasts^New
• Surface pressure charts^New

All of these can be accessed through the Weather menu at the top of the page.

Click on one of the links above to find out more.

Each page follows a similar format with the weather content at the top of the page.

A guide in the bottom left of each page provides additional information about the content of each of the tabs and how to use it. You will also find related links to other content which you might find relevant.

Homepage Weather

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The homepage design uses a Widget approach to allow you to choose the content that you want to see on your homepage and where you would like it to appear.

Using the 'Customise' button in the top right, you can select which widgets appear on your screen. You can also choose to close or minimise these using the buttons on each widget.

The homepage widgets aim to give you a quick snapshot of content. Each widget provides a link to take you through to more detailed information of that type.

As we release new widgets we will add these to the bottom of your homepage, these will be highlighted as new. If you are not interested in the new widget you can easily close it by clicking on the 'X' icon.

UK Forecast

All basic UK forecast information is gathered together on the UK forecast page. Tabs across the top highlight the different formats of information which are available including, pan and zoom maps, tabulated, timeline, temperature range and text formats. Simply click on one of the tabs to display that content.

You will find content in the main body of the page and any selectable options, such as what information you would like to display in the right hand panel. Where appropriate you can select the date by clicking on the tabs.

You can change your forecast location by entering a location or postcode in the change location search box in the top right . You can select from 5000 forecast locations across the UK.

Warnings

Throughout the site the warnings status icons will show what warnings are in force for the UK. In addition the homepage will display a message and ticker if any warnings are in force. You can click on any of these to go through to the main warnings page.

The warnings page provides a visual display of warnings which are in force across the UK along with the details of those warnings.

You can either view details of a particular warning by clicking it on the map, or view all warnings for a particular region by selecting a region from the right hand menu. Details of each warning will then be displayed in the central panel.

You can find more detailed information, such as the chief forecaster's assessment and the impact matrix which shows why the warning was assigned its colour by expanding the box. You can use the time-line or the thumbnails to show warnings for other days.

More details on the new warnings service. NB This page will take you to our old site.

Mountain Area Forecasts

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Mountain Area Forecasts are available for a selection of the main mountain areas across the UK. The content in this section is designed specially to meet the requirements of these specialist users and was designed using their input.

Selecting a mountain region from the map will provide a quick overview of the main hazards and weather for the day. The 'Text Forecast' tab can be used to view the full more detailed content.

Observations

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All UK observational information is gathered together on the UK Observations page. Tabs across the top highlight the different formats of information which are available including pan and zoom maps, tables, timelines and regional extremes. Simply click on one of the tabs to display that content.

You will find content in the main body of the page and any selectable options, such as what information you would like to display on the right hand panel. Where appropriate you can select the date by clicking on the tabs.

You can change your location by entering a location or postcode in the change location search box in the top right. Please note that your observation site is driven by your forecast location, you will always be given the nearest available observing site to your forecast location.

Leisure Forecasts

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The leisure section will over time be developed to include a range of forecasts aimed at specific outdoor activities. The first content to be included includes National Park forecasts, beach safety information and the ability to filter forecast sites by type e.g. beach, place of interest, sports venue etc.

Brief text based forecasts are available for each of the National Parks across the UK, simply click on a region on the map to view the forecast.

Our new beach safety information, launched in January, provides additional information relevant to beach locations including risk of rip tide, sea state and an indication of whether the wind is onshore or offshore.

Events

The Events section of our web site provides forecasts for key sports and life style events. A scrollable timeline at the top of the page lets you view current and future events for which we will be providing forecasts. These will also be displayed on the interactive map.

Clicking on an event on the timeline or map will take you to a page where you can view a detailed forecast for that particular event.

Surface pressure charts

An actual analysis chart is issued along with forecast charts out to five days ahead. These are updated every 12 hours around 0730 and 1930, with the exception of charts for days four and five which are only issued once per day at 0730.

Click on the appropriate time step on the timeline to view a chart for a particular time. You can also animate the charts by clicking on the play button located to the left of the timeline.

Navigation

Navigation Enlarge

The navigation of the site has been designed so that you can get a quick view of your key weather information from the homepage and get to more detailed content in less than three clicks.

You will find that all related information has been gathered together e.g. all forecast information, all observations etc. This can all be accessed through the Weather menu at the top of the page.

Data is presented in a variety of forms including maps, tables, graphs and text. You can easily swap between these formats using the simple tabbed approach.

You can easily move around the UK on the mapped view using the pan and zoom maps which are used throughout the site.

Where appropriate a timeline is provided which enables you to select the available time steps. You can also animate your forecast using the play button. The timeline will vary depending on what forecast information is available for that weather element.

Customisation

You can customise your content in a number of different ways using the customise button in the top right of the web site. Options include:

• Units for wind speed, temperature, pressure and rainfall
• Homepage content - which information you would like to display
• Language - English, Welsh or Gaelic (only limited content is available in Welsh and Gaelic)

Changing Location

Change location

You can change your location by using the 'Change Location' search facility, which can be found in the top right of the UK forecast and observations pages.

Simply enter a location or the first part of a UK postcode into the search box and click search. Select the correct location from the drop down menu and then make your choice of forecast location. There are 5000 to choose from. Alternatively you can select one of your five recently used locations.

For web browsers that have geolocation capabilities, you can also use the 'find my location' button to automatically determine your location.

More information on how your web browser can use geolocation:

• Location aware browsing in Firefox 
• Using location sharing in Google Chrome
• What is geolocation and why is it useful in Opera 10.6
• Location services in Internet Explorer 9.0
• About location services in Safari 5 

Feedback

While the site is still in Beta we would like to receive your feedback. You can provide this by completing our feedback form.

More Information

You can find more information on our new beta site in the following locations; click a link to find out more

• FAQs
• Introductory video