THE STATE weather forecasting company suspects a private rival of using its data without permission.
The Slovak Hydro-meteorological Institute (SHMÚ) became suspicious when it noted that the data on the Meteo.sk website were frequently identical to its own figures. To verify its suspicions SHMÚ planted some false data, the Sme daily wrote.
On August 7, the SHMÚ website listed the temperature at the Chopok peak at eight Celsius degrees lower than it actually was. Sure enough, the phoney temperature turned up on the other website.
Omega plus, which runs the Meteo.sk website has not responded to the accusations.
According to SHMÚ’s monitoring, temperatures on the both websites were identical in 14 out of 25 localities, which according to them would be highly improbable.
SHMÚ is waiting for a legal opinion as to whether to take the case to the court.