OWNERS of tourism businesses in the West Country are complaining that trade is being adversely affected by inaccurate weather forecasts – a complaint heard regularly in the Yorkshire Dales.

But the reverse happened last weekend, when the national forecast on radio and television forecast sunny weather with the occasional shower – but in fact the Dales and the Lake District were savaged by torrential downpours with the sun making only fleeting appearances lasting a few minutes at a time.

The problem is that national forecasts – which many Northerners say pay little regard to this part of the country in any case – are too “broad brush” to take in local variations in hilly areas, where there are often several “mini-climate” zones in twenty or thirty miles.

For more accurate information, people planning days out should seek local weather advice – or take adequate clothing to make the best of whatever occurs.