BBC weather glitch shows 13k mph winds in London, 404℃ in Nottingham

We'd know if it were true, and our reporters are just fine

Those who rely on the BBC's online weather forecasts to plan their day would be forgiven if they woke up this morning and thought the world was ending, but those 13,508 mile-an-hour winds in London and 404℃ lows forecasted for Nottingham tomorrow are an obvious error.

Visit the BBC's online or in-app weather forecasts as of writing, and you'll see some startling data being forecasted across the globe: Hurricane force winds appear to be battering cities everywhere - including this vulture's home in the US - where they're forecasted to routinely exceed 10,000 mph today and as far into the future as next Wednesday. 

louisville-end-of-world-bbc-forecast

The forecast for Louisville, KY, from the BBC. Gonna be hot and windy. - Click to enlarge

In cities where winds aren't a hundred times as strong as Hurricane Milton, which recently passed over Florida, the forecasted lows are reaching nearly as high as the surface of Mercury. Highs, mysteriously, are still appropriate.

For those curious, the fastest-ever recorded wind on Earth was captured in 1996 at Barrow Island off the coast of Australia. That gust, a blistering 253 miles per hour, puts in perspective just how damn fast and destructive a 10k+ mph gust would be - much less sustained for days.

london-end-of-world-bbc-forecast

London's deadly weather won't include excess heat, but that wind is going to bite! - Click to enlarge

"Oops, don't be alarmed by some of our @bbcweather app data this morning," BBC meteorologist and weather presenter Simon King said at around 6:30 AM local time. "Be assured there won't be 14,408mph winds, hurricane force winds or overnight temperatures of 404°C." 

As of writing, it's going on 1630 in London, and the issue still isn't resolved everywhere. Some cities - London among them - are beginning to show signs of a return to normal, though. 

"We're aware of an issue with our third-party supplier, which means our Weather app and website are wrongly predicting hurricane wind speeds everywhere," a BBC spokesperson told The Register. "That is incorrect and we apologise. We're working with our supplier to fix this as soon as possible.

While the BBC didn't name names in its email to us, a story published by the news service pointed the blame at DTN, a US-based meteorological forecasting company that supplies data for the BBC's weather app and website. 

DTN didn't respond to our requests for comment, but did admit to the BBC that there was an issue, adding that it had no estimate for how long a fix would take.

Live forecasts from the BBC aren't affected, so you might want to turn on the tube to get your weather, or just go somewhere else entirely, until this whole thing blows over - hopefully slower than forecasted. ®

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