Daniel Corbett
Daniel Corbett (born in Dagenham, Essex) is a British meteorologist, working for the Met Office and the BBC. He regularly appears on BBC One, BBC News 24, BBC World, BBCi, BBC Four, BFBS TV, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio Five Live. He is one of the main weather forecasters on the BBC Six O'Clock News.
He first joined the Met Office and BBC Weather Centre in 1997.
Early Life and Career before 1997
Dan Corbett was born in Dagenham and spent his early life living in Billericay, Essex, before moving with his family to New York in 1974. He earned his BSc degree in Meteorology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1990, and moved on to work for Universal Weather and Aviation in New York and Houston, Texas. Here he undertook weather forecasting for corporate clients, energy companies, the aviation industry and ski resorts amongst others.
Corbett's television career also began in 1990, when he worked for WCFT-TV in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He then moved onto KWTX-TV in Waco, Texas where his English accent proved a big hit with viewers. While he was working for KWTX one of America's biggest tornadoes, an F5, hit close to Waco, and Dan made a name for himself by correctly predicting that the tornado would, contrary to earlier forecasts, miss the city itself.
Career since 1997
In 1997 Dan was invited to join the Met Office and the BBC as part of the weather team for the brand new BBC News 24. Dan was a key member of the News 24 weather team and presented the first ever weather forecast on the channel. He also appeared on a range of other BBC output, including forecasts for BBC Breakfast News in 1998, appearances on BBC One and BBC Two and broadcasts across the BBC's network of radio stations.
In 2000 Dan returned to the USA, where he freelanced as a meteorologist for a number of TV stations across the southern states, including KRIV-TV in Houston, Texas. In 2001 he moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he worked at KGUN-TV as a weather forecaster and feature reporter.
Corbett spent three months back at the BBC Weather Centre in Summer 2003 presenting forecasts on BBC World, before returning to the US. However, he returned to the UK, BBC and Met Office permanently in 2004.
Current TV and Radio work
Dan now presents forecasts across the BBC's TV and radio outlets including BBC News 24, BBC World, Radio 4 and Radio Five Live, as well as appearing regularly on BBC One. He is one of the main weather presenters on the BBC Six O'Clock News, and occasionally appears on the BBC One O'Clock News.
Since 2005, Dan has presented forecasts for the BBC's coverage of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships live from the courtside for two weeks each summer.
Forecast style
Dan is one of the most popular and well-known forecasters on the BBC, having developed something of a cult following due to his personalised style of weather presentation, including his trademark 'point-and-nod' sign-off: "That's the weather... for now". His style is quite different to that employed by most other British Broadcast Meteorologists.
Other trademarks
- Giving temperatures as "the numbers"
- Using creative similes in reference to the weather, such as: "it's like I've gone mad with my crayon here" or or "like cold treacle running down fudge pie". He often refers to rain on the radar as "blobs" or "little chappy/chappies"
- He's also known for giving specific weather-related advice ("so if you're out shopping ...", "nice day to take the doggy out to the park"
- "a lovely day for a picnic".
Trivia
Dan is married to Helen, who he met while working at BBC News 24. She is a BBC make-up artist. The couple married in Ireland in 2000.