I simply don't plan. Weather is variable. Just wake up, look outside and decide whether it is time for the beach or not.
Fine weather forecasters? Have those people become so ignorant that they don't know that meteorology is not an exact science?

The forecasters do seem to get it wrong a lot of the time. We rent out boats in Amsterdam and our phone is constantly going with people worried about the weather. But there hasn't really been much rain - and anyway, our boats have roofs we can put up if it does turn nasty.

Generally I'm not looking at the weather forecast when making the plans for a day.
Forecasts for tomorrow and the rest of the week are not reliable at all in NL, so not worth spending time on.
Good source of information about rain/no rain is buienradar.nl, but only for the coming few hours.

Let's make the government responsible for weather forecasting. Our politicians won't be shy about taking on yet another task even if it is best left to God.

My strategy - plan for the worst, hope for the best.

We went to Efteling on a day when poor weather was forecast, only to find that it was warm and sunny and the park was blissfully empty!

If they start fining weather forcastors who get the forcast wrong, can we start fining the politicians that get it wrong as well? Brilliant idea I think!

No such thing as bad weather, just the wrong choice of clothes... So instead of 60% chance of rain, we should have 40% chance of sun?!

I don't understand the european aversion to summer rain. If it rains, we get wet, so what? Especially in Holland where it rains, on average, 17 days per month, too long to be arbitrarily stuck indoors.

Some places in the north of England have had boats in the streets because of all the flooding, a bit like Venice, with thunderstorms, you don't know where they are going to be exactly.

its like that in all countries. it seems as the meteorologists have more forecasting tools to use , there often wrong in predicting the weather. they were more accurate a few years ago with less data at there disposal. I rarely listen or watch the local weather forecast and prefer to use several smart phone weather apps and extrapolate my own forecast. I usually get it right. if I were to not go to the beach based on "there" forecast, I would never go.

The forecasts in NL are pessimistic, rather than optimistic. This is certainly the right way round, far better to be pleasantly surprised than caught out with bad weather having committed to going out! In the UK it is the other way around, resulting in people continually complaining about the weather.

Thank you. One of the funniest news items I've read in a long time. This would be perfect for a weekly "proefballon" section on DutchNews:-)

The forecasts are surprisingly accurate in my opinion (24 hours away), certainly the rainfall they generally get right. Maybe you are looking on the wrong sites.

It's of course a ridiculous idea that forecasters should get punished for wrong forecasts.

However, I do believe something is very wrong there lately. I "predict" the weather much more accurately than the forecasters do, while all I do is look at a map with cloud movements and let loose common sense like "alright, the clouds are moving towards us at that speed, so it will start raining at X hour of X day". That works for at least up to 3 days in advance, and I'm always quite right (at most 2-3 hours off).

I think it's quite clear they're counting too much on computer calculations, and are not using their own knowledge. Hopefully something will be done about THAT.

The fact is weather in Central Europe is often unrealiable, if you are planning a vacation on the North Sea Coast in July/August you can't really calculate on having stable sunny summer weather for three weeks in a row.

I understand it if the forecast is simply wrong, but what if the forecasts become too optimistic and people get annoyed about getting a heavy downpour- instead of the predicted sunny weather.

Forecasters are almost always wrong in any place that has four seasons. Given the shaky economy and lackluster quality of service, no one should be surprised if people aren't shelling out the Euros.

Yes the weather reporting has been completely inaccurate I late, I run a business and work outside. This had affected me as a few times I have changed plans due to forecast then for it to be a great day that I could have been out working. Back on the UK the weather forecasts are pretty good despite being a much bigger country.

Well I didn't come to the Netherlands to live because of better weather!

Every lousy day is a good idea to just stay indoors & save your money.

All those expensive day-trips per year add up to a months vacation in South East Asia. Every year I sacrifice day-trips since 2007.

The weather is like employment lol, you have to put yourself out sometimes and go get it!!

All over the world the weather has become more erratic as well as more extreme due to atmospheric pollution. The weather forecaster will soon join the dynosaur. No computer can handle such erratic data and put out a relavent prognosis.

Refusal to accept comments on politically sensitive issues, such as Muslim immigration, smells of political correctness and feel good politics. Not the sort of thing a free press should be concerned with.

I can't get over how absolutely ridiculous this is. Can YOU forecast the future perfectly!?! The weather is a chaotic system, it's not like the forecasters are doing a "bad job" on purpose - it's built into the physics of our planet. This idea to make meteorologists pay for getting it wrong is so ignorant, it makes me sick. And how about economic models? They're just as unreliable and their mistakes probably cost a lot more money than a few made-of-sugar tourists too scared to go out in the rain!! *shakes head*

I just look at the buienradar, and determine from the movement, roughly when and where the rain or good weather will be. I find it the most accurate method, and can only blame myself if it is wrong. It's time to stop pointing the blame finger at others, and start taking responsibility for your own choices in life.

It's the Netherlands, it's going to rain, buy an umbrella.

as an analogy: try to predict to the exact euro (not even going to the 0.01 euro) just how much your global assets are in 3 days. Oh, and don't forget to account for the odd unexpected disruptive event, such as spontaneous restaurant visits, trips to the doctors, direct debits, partner/kids out shopping, etc. You might find it's harder to predict even something as simple as that where you have very good visibility of the system. Now imagine the global weather system, where you only see 1-10% of the system.

I don't think the politicians could do it...at least from evidence of their budgetary prowess.