Shipping Forecast excluding the header line, has a limit of 350 words—except for the 0048 broadcast, where it is increased to 380 to accommodate Trafalgar's inclusion—and has a very strict format. It begins with "And now the Shipping Forecast, issued by the Met Office on behalf of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency at xxxx today." This format is followed quite strictly, although some continuity announcers read out the actual date of issue as opposed to the word "today". This is followed by gale warnings (winds of force 8 or more on the Beaufort scale), if any (e.g., "There are warnings of gales
Met Office Unified model, the Met Office has had some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. In November 1997 the Met Office supercomputer was ranked third in the world. Since 2012 the Met Office Contact Centre (known as the Weather Desk) has been part of the 'Top 50 Companies for Customer Service' programme. In 2015 the Met Office won awards in the following categories: • Rated 1st Overall for Combined Channels • Most Improved Overall for Social Media • Rated 2nd Overall for Call Service • Rated 1st Overall for Email Service • Best in Public Sector • Best Extra