Service summary
Contents
Service details
24-hour text forecast for 16 Regions of the UK
| Warning: The UK national and regional forecast datafeed
services are products produced by the Public Weather Service
(PWS). Although this service is permitted to be delivered to
commercial users for use on their websites and intranet sites,
you should be aware that the Public Weather Service could change
aspects of the service, including the format, delivery times
and content. We will try to notify you as soon as possible
of any changes, but it is the service delivery mechanism that
you are paying for and not the actual content. The Public Service
script delivery times are nominal only and other weather events
may delay their routine time of issue. |
Summary of service
details
- General forecast for 16 regions of the UK
- 2-day forecast (out to 2359 on day 2) with a trend for day
3 to day 5
- Text format
- Issued twice per
day
The UK regional forecast service gives a text forecast overview
for 16 regions of the UK. It will give a general weather picture,
commenting upon significant weather like rainfall and temperature.
The 16 regions covered by the service are
specified below.
- Orkney & Shetland
- Highland & Eilean Siar
- Grampian
- Tayside, Central & Fife
- Strathclyde
- Dumfries, Galloway, Lothian & Borders
- Northern Ireland
- Northeast England
- Northwest England
- Yorkshire & the Humber
- East Midlands
- West Midlands
- East of England
- London & Southeast England
- Southwest England
- Wales
About the writing
of the script
A basic weather forecast is made available by the Met Office to
inform the general public of general weather via the broadcast
media (including the internet). These forecasts are the responsibility
of the Public Weather Service.
Script preparation:
- The Met Office prepares daily two (spell-checked) scripts,
each:
- normally issued at the times specified below;
- for the duration and in the periods specified below;
- with normal and mixed capitalisation throughout headings and
text.
- Each script will be in very broad terms without mention,
for example, of specific times of onset or cessation of precipitation.
- Headline. A summary of the forecast in a maximum of 10 words.
- Style of text. The text will be written in normal English.
- Temperatures. Specific temperatures do not appear in the National
forecast.
- Weather is always mentioned, even if simply ‘fine’.
- State of sky. This is always mentioned during daylight hours.
- Wind is mentioned when significant.
Format and sub-headings
Each forecast will begin as follows:
Forecast for the UK [new line]
Issued by Met Office Exeter/Aberdeen [new line]
at time on day and date [new line]
[blank line]
** Valid for broadcast between time and time [new line]
[blank line]
Heading:[new line] etc
- All headings (Headline, Today, Tonight, Outlook for
?) will be followed immediately by a colon (:) and then a [new
line].
- When a time period in a sub-heading spans
a day, then the second day should be named. Similarly, the outlook
will always be for a named day.
- No indentation is
to be used in the layout.
- A single blank line will
separate the main heading and each sub-heading.
- Following
the outlook, and a single blank line, the crown copyright will
have the following format: (C) Crown copyright 200x. Published
by the Met Office [This IPR comment will end the forecast.]
- The
script will not have other extraneous material.
- Note
that both the date and time formats used in the example should
be used.
- The symbol **[single space] or ++[single
space] is to be used to define the comment line (Valid for broadcast
?).
Example script
Forecast For Southwest England
Issued by Met Office Exeter
at 0400 on Thursday 10 May 2007
[blank line]
++ Valid for broadcast between 0600 and 1800
[blank line]
Headline:
Cloudy and wet and feeling rather cold.
[blank line]
Today:
A cloudy, rather cold day with rain, heavy at times, quickly spreading from the
west during the morning and persisting for the rest of the day. Rain may clear
the far west by evening. Maximum temperature 13 deg C (55 deg F).
[blank line]
Tonight:
After a wet start, rain will clear steadily eastwards followed by much drier
weather for the second half of the night. Minimum temperature 7 deg C (45 deg
F).
[blank line]
Friday:
A dry and bright start with some sunny spells in the east at first. Cloud and
rain, heavy at times, will soon spread in from the west. Maximum temperature
16 deg C (61 deg F).
[blank line]
Outlook for Saturday to Monday:
Remaining unsettled with showers or longer periods of rain. Some of the rain
may be heavy at times and temperatures will be close to normal.
[blank line]
(C) Crown Copyright 2007. Published by the Met Office.
| DELIVERY FREQUENCY
AND TIME |
| Issue time |
Period of forecast |
Sections within forecast |
| 85-140 word scripts for
AM issue & 65-110 word scripts for PM issue |
0400
Monday |
0600 on day-1 to
2359 on day-5
Broadcast between
0600 and 1800 |
| Headline |
Today |
Tonight |
Tuesday |
Outlook for Wednesday
to Friday |
|
1600
Monday |
1800 on day-1 to
2359 on day-5
Broadcast between
1800 and 0600 |
| Headline |
This Evening and
Tonight |
Tuesday |
Outlook for Wednesday
to Friday |
|
|
Description of Service
Each forecast has a maximum word length to be allocated as set
out below.
| MAXIMUM WORD LENGTHS |
National & Regional
Scripts
0400 issue |
Headline
(0600-0600) |
Today
day-1 (0600-2100) |
Tonight
night-1
(2100-0600) |
Tomorrow
day-2
(0600-2359) |
Outlook
days 3 to 5 |
| 85-140 words |
10 word max |
25-40 words |
20-30 words |
15-30 words |
15-30 words |
| |
Temperatures
are NOT included in word count |
|
| |
| National & Regional
Scripts 1600 issue |
Headline
(1800-0600) |
This
Evening
& Tonight
day-1/night-1
(1800-0600) |
|
Tomorrow
day-2 (0600-2359) |
Outlook
days 3 to 5 |
| 65-110 words |
10 word max |
25-40 words |
|
15-30 words |
15-30 words |
| |
Temperatures
are NOT included in word count |
|
|
| FORMAT FOR SCRIPTS |
| 85-140 & 65-110
word scripts |
100
word scripts |
| Forecast for [region] |
Forecast for UK |
| Issued at Met
Office [location] |
Issued at Met Office
[location] |
At [time] on [day] [date]
[blank line] |
At [time] on [day]
[date]
[blank line] |
++ Valid for broadcast
between [time] and [time]
[blank line] |
++ Valid for broadcast
at [time]
[blank line] |
Headline
[forecast text]
[blank line] |
|
Today/This Evening
and Tonight #
[forecast text]
[blank line] |
Here is the forecast
for the United Kingdom until dawn/fro daytime# tomorrow
[forecast text]
[blank line] |
Tonight [day of week]
#
[forecast text]
[blank] |
|
Tomorrow [day
of week]
[forecast text]
[blank line] |
|
Outlook for [xxx-day
to xxx-day]
[forecast text]
[blank] |
Outlook for [day of
week] and [day of week]
[forecast text]
[blank line] |
| © Crown copyright
[year]. Published by the Met Office |
© Crown copyright
[year]. Published by the Met Office |
|
| FILE NAMES |
| Text |
| FPUK42 EGRR |
Orkney and Shetland |
| FPUK43 EGRR |
Highland and Eilean Siar |
| FPUK44 EGRR |
Grampian FPUK45 EGRR Tayside, Central
and Fife |
| FPUK46 EGRR |
Strathclyde |
| FPUK47 EGRR |
Dumfries, Galloway, Lothian and
Borders |
| FPUK48 EGRR |
Northern Ireland |
| FPUK31 EGRR |
Northeast England |
| FPUK32 EGRR |
Northwest England |
| FPUK33 EGRR |
Yorkshire and Humber |
| FPUK34 EGRR |
East Midlands |
| FPUK35 EGRR |
West Midlands |
| FPUK36 EGRR |
East of England |
| FPUK37 EGRR |
London and Southeast England |
| FPUK38 EGRR |
Southwest England |
| FPUK39 EGRR |
Wales |
| |
|
| xml |
| FPUK49 EGRR |
Scotland Regions and Northern Ireland |
| FPUK50 EGRR |
England Regions East |
| FPUK52 EGRR |
England Regions West and Wales |
|
Pricing
The UK regional forecast service assumes a one-year contract. Prices
are based purely on the basis of service provision (not the content)
and the basic graphics package and does not include technical support.
The price for the service provision is £515 + VAT per annum.
Standard terms and
conditions
All Met Office services are subject to our standard terms and conditions,
which can be faxed to you upon request and will be automatically
dispatched with the contract.
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