New phone forecasts

Ruapehu Bulletin, 6 August 1991, Page 8

New phone forecasts

A new telephone weather forecast service started recently which includes a mountain forecast. The new system, called Met Phone, provides forecasts for most parts of the country through the Telecom 0900 service for a charge of 99 cents including GST per minute, or part thereof. Different rates apply to calls from cellular phones. The general manager of the New Zealand Meteorological Service, Dr Malcolm Grant, said the Met phone would replace the current telephone weather service with more detailed and frequently updated land and marine forecasts. Dr Grant said that Met Phone would enable people to get accurate weather information for most parts of the coun-

try for a standard charge. "Our new weather service is part of our overall strategy to provide a faster forecasting service that will be updated as our forecasters receive and interpret new information," he said, Initially, the new service covers Auckland, Bay of Plenty /Rotorua, North Island skifields, Taranaki, Kapiti, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin and Southland. Dr Grant said coverage would be extended to the remaining populated areas of New Zealand by 9 September. "Met Phone will then bring the latest land and marine forecasts within the reach of every New Zealander who has access to a telephone" he said. "We expect the new service will appeal to many people, includ-

ing travellers and those who want information on weather in other areas of the country". All numbers are prefixed by 0900-999. Dr Grant explained that the first 10 seconds of a Telecom 0900 service call were free, allowing the caller to hang up with no charge if a wrong number had been dialled. Forecasts would

usually be no longer than one minute. He said that, as with all Telecom 0900 services, children should ask their parents for permission before calling. Dr Grant said the start of the Met Phone service was the culmination of about 18 months' planning by the Meteorological Service.