GWPF lays into the Met Office

No, the Met Office weren't forecasting a mild winter. So they say.

But now the Global Warming Policy Foundation has called on the Government to set up an independent inquiry into the winter advice it received from the Met Office and the failure to prepare the UK for the third severe winter in a row.

Meanwhile, it has produced a good list of detailed questions to be asked - including:

Although the Met Office stopped sending its 3-month forecasts to the media, it would appear that this service is still available to paying customers, the Government and Local Authorities for winter planning. What was their advice, in September/October, for the start of winter 2010?

P.S. Bishop Hill quotes from the Winter Resilience Review, which reports:

We are advised to assume that the chance of a severe winter in 2010–11 is no greater (or less) than the current general probability of 1 in 20.

The government is likely to seize on this.