[originaltext] In Britain, just after the main television news programs, aud

In Britain, just after the main television news programs, audience figures rise. It’ s weather forecast time.  The BBC broadcasts 44 live forecasts a day, 443 hours of weather a year, using forecasters from the Meteorological Office. The Office makes predictions about the weather seven days in advance. These are based on observations from the ground, from satellites and from radar. The observations are stored in a computer that can do up to 4,000 million calculations a second.
    In Britain the weather is news. The BBC forecasters are professional meteorologists, but they do not have an easy job. They are the only presenters on television who do not use a script, and they cannot see the map that they are describing. Viewers are often critical, especially of female presenters. One woman left her job after rude letters and press reports about her clothes.
    The British talk about weather more than almost any other subjects, so it is a surprise to discover that 70 percent of television viewers cannot remember what they saw on the weather forecasts. "What happens is that people like watching and hearing the forecasts, but they probably only take real notice when they need to--when they’ re going on holiday or wondering what the weather will be like for the tennis at Wimbledon," says one forecaster. "Or, of course, when we make mistakes!"