14 August 2015
United Kingdom
New research released today from the Met Office lays bare the UK's obsession with the weather. It shows that the average UK adult checks the weekend weather at 4:17pm on Thursday and one in five of us (20 %) check the forecast for the upcoming weekend by the time we go to bed on Monday.
The first thing we do in the morning
Seven per cent of UK adults said 'checking the weather' is the first thing they do when they wake up in the morning. In total, 58% of adults say they check the weather either within an hour of getting up or before leaving the house in the morning.
Most talked about subject
UK adults talk about the weather on average six times per week and for women, it is the topic they talk about more frequently than anything else (68 %). Overall, 61 % say they talk about the weather regularly with friends, family or colleagues. In fact, more of us talk regularly about the weather than money (44 %), relationships (37 %) and even celebrity gossip (15 %).
Met Office gets children interested in the weather
In order to encourage children to learn about the weather and spend more time playing outside, the Met Office has launched its Weather Observation Website (WOW). The site helps children and adults alike learn about the weather by encouraging them to measure and observe the weather around them, and allowing them to submit observations to the Met Office. This also helps the Met Office provide more accurate local forecasts.
Derek Ryall the Head of Public Weather Service at the Met Office said; "Everyone knows that the weather is a uniquely British obsession so it was great to put some hard figures on this and find out just how much we really do talk and think about the weather.
"It was also interesting to see that many parents feel their children don't spend as much time outdoors as they did when they were young, and therefore have less of an interest in the weather. Our aim with the WOW website it to get children more interested in the weather by taking part in it. We use the observations entered into the website to verify the Met Office's weather forecasts and make them even more accurate, so the inputs you or your children make could really make a difference."