We learn to live with the weather from almost as soon as we are born. It affects our moods, our health, our work and indeed the relationships we have with others. It is worth understanding a little more about the topic simply because there is little else that has so much of an impact on our everyday lives. We may try and shut it out, create our own micro climates: central heating, air conditioning and double glazing but one way or the other it is likely to affect us. The price we pay for our consumer services is very often in some way dictated, to a greater or lesser extent, by what the weather has been doing in the past month. With the greater emphasis we now place in the 21^st century on understanding climatic change and the influence that this also has on our society, there has never been a better time to understand something of the basics of the science of meteorology; the weather.

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The definition of the science of the weather is ‘study of the physics, chemistry, and dynamics of the

Despite the fact that we are an island race who have been reliant upon ships to leave these shores from time immemorial and, more importantly, have needed ships and some sort of navy to repel the invading hoards; meteorology and the Royal Navy have been seriously linked together for less than two hundred years. In fact the RN has had its own meteorological branch for just short of one hundred years. Through a series of articles it is hoped to reveal some of this fascinating history for the very first time.

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For many years weather was recorded in the Captain's log book every day the individual ship was at sea. This was not just military ships but merchantmen as well. Where did the knowledge come from and what was the training? The answer is simple, the only training was a lifetime’s experience of being at sea and building up the ability to recognise certain signs and situations and the effect they had upon the ensuing weather. Instruments for reading, recording and observing weather were

2004 was a big year for both the UK Met Office and the BBC. The Met Office celebrated its' 150th birthday, having been the first to be set up in the world. The BBC celebrated  50 years of live television weather broadcasts and I celebrated 30 years of  television broadcasting with them.

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Let's look back over those past 50 years. The first broadcast by a meteorologist was presented by George Cowling on 10th January 1954. From 1936, when the world's first television weather chart was transmitted, until then there had only been a script read by an out of vision presenter. George worked at the Public Service office in central London and would draw with wax crayon on large paper charts, roll them up and catch the tube to the BBC. He would then present a live 5 minute forecast before catching the tube back to his office and getting on with his 'proper' job. The Radio Times listing magazine carried the following announcement "from Monday onwards the television

Seen on the BBC’s Relocation, Relocation/Location, Location TV series was a WMR928 Professional Weather Station which we have records showing the system is believed to be supplied by www.weathershop.co.uk

For many years I have been using the expression “Global Warming is the ultimate weapon of mass destruction” Why?

By way of an answer let me say that, without a doubt, it is likely to kill more people than human conflict ever has and is one of the most serious things facing our planet at the moment. It is likely to trigger major catastrophic events, such as flooding, storms, famine and drought. We only borrow the planet and it is our duty to hand it onto our children and grandchildren in better shape, NOT much worse.

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We CAN influence Global Warming if you “Turn Down, Switch Off, Recycle, Walk”

So what is behind Global Warming? The answer in a nutshell is ‘The enhanced Greenhouse Effect’. Without it we would freeze to death as the mean temperature of the Earth would be around -180C. Instead the temperature is around 150C, ideal for life. Carbon Dioxide, Water Vapour, Methane, Nitrous Oxide and other minor gases in the atmosphere act like panes of glass in a greenhouse, or a blanket, keeping

My previous article was about the old BBC graphics systems which I knew something about. Now we move onto the new, which was introduced shortly after I was forced to retire. One thing that is common to both the new and the old is the way the studio operates, which is a unique BBC system introduced in 1985 and was so revolutionary at the time that it is still in use today and is the envy of many Weather Presenters throughout the world.

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Nearly all the broadcasts are live and unscripted and, unlike many organisations, are produced and broadcast by just one person. Indeed it was once estimated that a BBC forecast costs £25 per broadcast whereas some others, with a large team of backroom staff, cost £1250!

In the studio the forecaster switches on the lights and puts in an ear piece so that they can listen to the programme before their broadcast and to any instructions from the director in the network control room (even during the broadcast when the language can get quite blue!!). He also puts