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The Meteorological Office's description of its new weather forecasts has been dubbed 'gobbledygook' by the Plain English Campaign.

The campaign has chosen the UK weather service as the winner of its Golden Bull prize for using phrases such as 'a rash of beefy showers'.

Talking about 'probabilities of precipitation' instead of predicting that 'rain is likely', is baffling, said the Plain English Campaign.

According to the BBC, the Met Office retaliated pointing out that precipitation does not necessarily mean rain.

The change to the forecasts, introduced in November, refers to the percentage chance of precipitation.

Other winners of the Golden Bull awards were the Houses of Parliament 'for their archaic and hampering parliamentary language', as well as budget airline Flybe and government website Directgov, both for overcomplicated English.

The Plain English Campaign says it aims to persuade UK and worldwide organisations to communicate with the public in plain language. The founder of the Plain English Campaign, Chrissie Maher, said: 'Even though most people agree that plain English is plain common sense, our Government needs to make it a legal duty that public communications are crystal-clear.'

Several organisations have received awards from the campaign for their use of clear and concise English.

Channel 4's Fact Check blog and the website of Jo's Cervical Cancer Trust - an organisation which supports women affected by the cancer - have been singled out for their jargon-free information.

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