Great balls of ire! BBC's new weather blobs get a blasting from bemused viewers

For many viewers they looked like giant snowballs about to descend on the UK.

Meanwhile in the bottom corner of the screen it seemed like the lottery numbers were about to be flashed up - but they never materialised.

In theory, these visual devices were meant to explain the wind-chill factor on the BBC's weather forecasts over Easter.

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In reality, they left viewers very confused. And very angry.

The corporation has received a flurry of complaints about the white ball symbols, six of which appeared in a row at the bottom of the screen below the bewildering phrase "FEELS LIKE".

This was apparently meant to alert viewers to the other white balls hovering over the map of Great Britain.

These contained celsius figures - giving not the real temperature but what the temperature would "feel like" with the wind chill factored in.

In short, the aim was to tell viewers they may feel colder than the official temperature might suggest.

But weather watchers have accused the corporation of adding "pointless screen litter" and complicating reports with the technique.

Others claimed the new method is another step in the dumbing down of the corporation's weather bulletins.

One viewer complained to the BBC's message board: "Absolutely terrible. We sit looking from the screen to each other in confusion.

"The white discs look like they should have the numbers in, but they never do.

"What is wrong with just saying, "The wind chill will make it seem two degrees colder.

"Perhaps they have just discovered their fancy software will generate-this graphic and feel they must use it."

Another viewer said: "It appears that they first of all show us the white circles with the "feels like" caption.

"Then they show us those white circles placed on the map with the figures in them.

"I think the initial row of white circles is to familiarise us with the symbols.

"It's a very poor way of telling us about wind-chill factor.

"Why they don't just put a temperature in brackets after the one shown on the map I don't know.

"Perhaps that's not trendy enough for the graphics geeks."

Yesterday the BBC said that it uses the graphic from time to time when there is an issue with the wind- chill factor. It claimed the method was based on proper scientific data.

But traditionalists have called the moves patronising and say it treats all viewers like children.

Others claim that, rather than simplify the reports for viewers, they actually make them harder to understand. The BBC has frequently come under fire for being obsessed with gimmicks for its weather reports.

There was a storm of complaints in 2005 after it introduced a tilting 3D map which appeared to have "shrunk" the northern parts of the country so people could not see the weather there.

As a result of the protests, the map was re-tilted so Scotland and the North of England were more accurately represented.

In all there were more than 4,000 complaints after the introduction of the hi-tech graphics, many of them about the colour of the land - which was a muddy beige.