BBC Celebrates 60 Years of TV Weather Forecasts

BBC celebrates the 60th anniversary of its first ever TV weather forecast today.

George Cowling – a 32-year-old Met Office forecaster – became the first TV weatherman to present the five-minute live broadcast on 11 January 1954 from the BBC studios in Lime Grove.

Liz Howell, BBC Head of Weather, said: “Weather has always been important to the BBC’s audiences and, 60 years on from the first ever TV forecast, there is an even greater appetite for weather information and editorial content than ever – including world weather.

“Seeing the journey weather forecasting on our TV screens has made over the years is fascinating. The future for the BBC’s weather output is exciting too – both in scientific development but also in the visualisation and presentation of weather across all our platforms, from TV to mobile.”

Since that first broadcast in 1954, the number of presenters has grown from two (Cowling shared presenting duties with 42-year-old TH Clifton) into the current team of 19 network presenters and the team of weather presenters across the nations and region.

In the video below, Nick Higham looks back at the last 60 years of weather on BBC TV.