According to a report in the UK newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, a group of French winegrowers is preparing to sue the French weather forecasting service, Meteo France, for failing to warn them of an approaching hailstorm. The hailstorm wiped out around two thirds of the winegrowers’ crop.
It is not yet clear what grounds are being cited in the suit. But given that weathermen generally can hardly be said to have a faultless record of accurate prediction, the idea of anyone suing for damages will be a cause of some unease in meteorological offices the world over. However, their unease would surely be nothing in comparison with the blind panic which could set in if the farmers were successful.
