that's the weather, for now

Dan links - from May 2011

Sigh. Has it really been a year since Dan left the Beeb?
While Dan's off at his Mountain Lair, here's a small sample of some of the online reaction to his leaving.

BBC Points Of View messageboard
AnthonyJ said:

"It's with a heavy heart that I bring you the news that Daniel Corbett the BBQ dog-walking obsessed weatherman has quit to go and work in New Zealand."

There are lots of really lovely responses there, including:

"Oh no, I really liked Daniel Corbett. He was my favourite weatherman ... He was like some kindly old uncle out of Dickens."

"Aww, will be sad to see Daniel go. I'm struggling to think of any other weatherperson who I would 'miss'."

"Whatever the weather outside Daniel always brought a little sunshine with him. Sorry to see him leave our screens."

"Good luck Dan you have been a breath of fresh air, driven in on an anti-cyclone moving west..."

"How on earth am I going to know when to get the picnic basket out now?"

Quite so.

Radio Times - Daniel Corbett: Britain's Best Weatherman
One of the most amazing pieces ever written about Dan, I cannot resist reproducing the entire article here so you can read it in its full, unadulterated glory:

Ever since Man discovered that storms weren't actually the result of Thor riding across the sky on a chariot pulled by goats, there's been a big problem with weather: it's not very funny. But if you're on TV, your duty is to entertain.

Some weatherpeople make a token effort: talking through a doggedly maintained rictus grin, wearing deliberately hilarious clothing or, if they're on ITV in the mornings, pointing to the map with their breasts instead of their hands. Yet there's only one whose performance is worth watching even if you don't care a fig for tomorrow's climate: the cult hero that is Daniel Corbett.

Dan thundered onto the precipitation prediction scene in 1997, when he first appeared on BBC News 24. Initially it was his unique two-part sign off that caught the eye: a bright "That's all the weather!" followed by a stern "…for now." It soon transpired that his whole style - a manic cross between Stanley Unwin, the Great Soprendo and Rudolf Nureyev - is gloriously idiosyncratic.

Dan's old-school. He romanticises meteorological phenomena and even days of the week into sentient, capricious forces who delight in ruining our mundane, middle-class lives. Weather fronts are personified as "he" rather than "it", and described as "troublemakers" who are "lurking" over the Atlantic, the North Sea or "the near Continent", as Dan likes to call France.

Combine this storytelling with Dan's rat-a-tat delivery and gift for malapropisms, and you get gems like: "That little troublemaker may try to put some rains on our barbecues, but I think we'll manage", "Wednesday is the day - look at this thing, it's just a mess" and "Nice day for the afternoon, maybe a picnic or so perhaps in Northern Ireland, into Scotland and 26 for Cardiff."

Dan has a number of obsessions. "Heat-of-the-day bubbly showers" appear regularly, but his chief concerns are temperatures ("let's look at the numbers"), the effect of wind on umbrellas ("hold it probably with two hands"), and what to wear on the way to work. Always on the hunt for a colourful simile, he's compared weather fronts to motorcycles stuck in mud, tumble dryers, glue and "an unwanted neighbour, just hanging there".

All this is accompanied by lithe, Bob Fosse hand gestures - Dan's arms sweeping across the map as he conducts the epic battle between us, trying to get to the office without getting wet, and the evil areas of low pressure that conspire to foil us. He hasn't blamed Thor for spoiling a golf tournament yet, but he's in that ballpark.

Details such as exactly what the weather will be like tend to get lost in Dan's flow, but to complain would be churlish. In Dan's (jazz) hands, forecasting's an art, not a science. He's the latest in a long line of great British TV eccentrics. You'll start enjoying weather almost as much as he does.

AMAZING.

Digital Spy - BBC Weather Changes
In a thread about the changes to BBC Weather, there's eventually mention of Dan's leaving. Then, in message 54, Dancc says:

"We mustn't forget though that this isn't the first time Corbett has left the BBC. Maybe he'll come back again one day when he gets bored of New Zealand. Okay, unlikely but..."

11th May

National AM
We have one low that's spinning around, almost like a car that's stuck in the mud [gestures car wheels spinning].

Auckland AM
The winds, there they are, just swimming their way along like some big fat yellow fish.

Auckland PM
One weak weather front of sorts, a stringy sort of thing, this chappie here ... think of it like a piece of blue plasticine, you pull it apart [gestures doing so], off it goes and then, bmmm [splays fingers - see pic], there it is.

We bring in the next weather system and this has a bit more grunt to it.

Put the old umbrella in the bag [gestures doing so], it's gonna come in handy.

Christchurch PM
The weak weather front:
That is a weak-looking thing, it's almost like you pull it apart [gestures doing so] and go, fmmm, that's it, it disappears.

3 News
Unless you've been living under a rock, I'm sure you'll have seen Prince Charles having a go at presenting the Weather at BBC Scotland. 3 News had the brilliant idea of asking Dan for his thoughts:

3 News decided to ask 12-year veteran of the BBC's weather team, Dan Corbett - who now works for the Met Service - what he thought of the Prince’s performance.
“He did a really good job, you know ‘low pressure, get away’ and his mannerisms were very Prince Charles-like. He came across with the story. It's going to wet and windy yes,” Mr Corbett says.

Hmmm, not quite sure they've typed that quote up correctly.

9th May

No idea how long this has been going on for, but I've only just discovered there are now two daily updates to MetService TV. More Dan!

Severe Weather Update AM
Notice how the cloud is rather lumpy, almost like bits of porridge being thrown at the weather map.

There's a severe weather update video on this Nelson Mail page.

National AM
The weather system:
It's almost like a bit of an octopus going like this [bends arms back - see pic].

Auckland AM
You can see the low ... spinning around almost like a washing machine on the spin cycle.

Different parts of the weather system:
Almost like on a washing machine, different lumps of clothing spinning about, different spokes of little areas of moisture.

Auckland PM
This chap, spinning around [spinning gesture], like a car in the mud for a couple of days.

Christchurch PM
It looks like this; it's gonna be a mucky sort of day, you'll wake up and you're gonna go [pulls face - see pic] 'uurgh, gosh'. And you look at the map and say, 'gee, gosh,' you couldn't put any more blue on.

27th April

Severe Weather Update
This is the lump of cloud and it is rather lumpy, like lumps of cloud being thrown at the weather map [gestures doing so].

Referring to the wind arrows:
You see all the pink and you go, 'gosh, that's pretty!'

National
Again, about the wind arrows:
You see all this pink, it's like we've had a sale on salmon or something [see pic].

Saturday:
It's not a washout. You want to plan accordingly if it's the outdoor plans or, say, the carwash or something.

Queenstown; probably OK. An extra log on the fire at night, though.

Auckland
See those little lines, almost lined up little soldiers.

The next weather system is this guy and see how he's squeezing all the lines together like it's a bit of a music session with an accordion.

Wellington
This little high chappie to the north, he'll settle in and just say, [burly gesture, bouncing] 'I'm hanging around for Saturday,' and he does.

You see all these lines just being accordion-ed together [accordion gesture].

Dominion Post
There's a great picture of 'Weather whisperer: Media and communications meteorologist Daniel Corbett at a MetService measurement site' in this article about predicting Wellington's weather. Yes, great picture, shame about the article.

Auckland Now
The small tornado risk has passed. Dan says:

"The big high we've had packed his bags and left the building."

20th April

National
Saturday morning, you're gonna be out and about with the friends, maybe it's a trip to the beach, you never know.

The high, you almost think of it like a big cement block, you sort of sit it in place [gestures doing so], it's heavy and it doesn't really want to move.

Auckland
Another decent-looking day; certainly the day for the old barbecue [barbecue gesture - see pic] or maybe that trip to the beach, very pleasant indeed.

This system here, see how it's just trying to elongate and work its way in, but the high's just sort of sitting here and saying, [burly gesture] 'ha ha, I'm here.'

Christchurch
Nineteen degrees in Christchurch; yeah, you're already thinking, 'maybe a barbecue'.

Wellington
We go beyond that into Sunday and you're thinking, 'well that's the different day'. Not really.

New Zealand Herald
It seems like New Zealand's autumn has been sunnier than its summer:

MetService spokesman Daniel Corbett said the fine weather will continue through the weekend, and even well into next week.

"This is a big, big high. If you look at the pressure - it is almost to the point where you want to put your fingers in your ears. It's almost like a big stubborn ox, it is slow to move."

16th April

National
It's not like you're going to be sitting huddled under the umbrella for most of the week [huddles as he does the two-handed umbrella gesture].

Auckland
The two highs are taking this little lump of wet weather and just squeezing it by the scruff of the neck [gestures doing so - see pic].

See how this high is just this big thing. It's almost like just sort of building in saying, [burly gesture] 'I'm here, I'm gonna do it.'

Christchurch
The weather for the week is like two big fat blokes and one skinny one; two big fat highs [fat gesture] and one skinny little one, a skinny little weather front [indicates width].

Wellington
We say to the high, 'build in,' and it will.

Gisbourne Herald
Some heavy rain in the Gisbourne area:

MetService spokesman Dan Corbett says last week’s event was like someone taking a water-loaded sponge and squashing it against a brick wall.

and

Mr Corbett said this blocking was a bit like a weather traffic jam and resulted in the East Coast getting a soaking.

10th April

National
So the wet-weather gear, dig it out of the cupboard, you will be needing it.

Look at some of these overnight temperatures too. You'll say, 'oooh wow,' yeah, you might be sort of tempted to maybe notch the heating on as well [thermostat gesture].

Auckland
Wednesday; not a day for the washing on the line, it's probably the old raincoat day for sure.

Wellington
We might have to take the sun hats and sun chairs we've had out over the past couple of days, just put them to one side [gestures doing so], grab the wet-weather gear.

Wednesday night, not the night for the washing on the line.

Stuff.co.nz
Easter bunny brings weather treat:

A ridge of high pressure sitting across the South Island grew much bigger than expected, leading to the excellent weather, he said.

"It kind of stretched its elbows in the middle of the week and said, 'You know what, I've had enough of this crowded situation'," Mr Corbett said.

"Keep the barbecue out for next weekend."

5th April

National
You get some decent weather with that high, he's just sort of sitting there [waiting gesture] saying, 'yeah, I'm gonna be here for a couple of days.' Here how it shapes up; we look at things for Friday, maybe you're gonna be at Grandma's or going away or something.

The high's just sort of gone like that [burly gesture? See pic] and said, 'ah, I'm just gonna hang around.'

Christchurch
It's a picnic day, it's a barbecue day, whatever you've got planned.

How about the next couple of days? Because you're thinking, 'well, it's Sunday the day she's coming round,' or whatever you might have planned, still should be OK.

Wellington
We had a stubborn low sitting across the north of the North Island, but high pressure to the south has more or less gone like that [elbowing gesture - see pic] to it and said, 'clear out of the way.'

The low:
It's pretty skinny, it's just more or less being squeezed so it's going like that [skinny gesture - see pic], it's really just not really managing to have much life left to it.

How about the weekend? Maybe that's the day the friends are coming round, the relatives or something?

Dominion Post News
Amazing Easter Bunny Dan-ism in this piece about Wellington's Easter weekend weather:

"You can imagine if the Easter Bunny turns up at most places this weekend he wouldn't be wearing his raincoat, he would be bouncing around all over the place having a lovely time," Mr Corbett said.

Brilliant.

Weather Bomb

The deep low that hit New Zealand this weekend had been dubbed a 'weather bomb'. Dan had plenty to say about it.

One News
Some video featuring the spinning top analogy and a stunning line of prose:

Southern ocean starting to breathe its ugly, cold breath.

3 News
This one's amazing. The Dan-isms flow thick and fast and (the presenter) John Campbell's face is priceless.

Literally many of us would open up the door Saturday morning and probably see the rain going sideways past the window, the wind pelting the windows.

See this little curlicue here and you say, 'well, yeah, that looks nice,' [was that a laugh in the background from John?] but that's a piece of upper-level energy that's going to work into this thing and you almost think of it like the Energiser Bunny, just sort of work in and blmpf, the whole weather system is gonna deepen and explode.

Referring to the wind arrows:
It's almost like a school of fish. You'll say, 'gosh, he's been busy, hasn't he, with all those different colours?'

It's not going to be a picnic day.

Love Dan's car analogy to explain how multiple factors have contributed to New Zealand's poor summer.
It's not as easy as you go in the car repair and you look at your car and say, 'you've got a flat tyre.'

Then, at the end:
John: Lovely to have you in New Zealand, Daniel; both as a meteorologist and as a broadcaster.

Here's Dan's reaction to that.

Breakfast
Dan gives viewers an update on the developing situation:

You think of the analogy as a top. You wrap string around it [gestures doing so], you pull it [gestures doing so] and what does the top do? It just spins and spins, goes mad.

24th February

National
Step out in the morning, say, in Auckland, Paihia, you're gonna go 'ahhh, feels better.'

You almost think of a high as a big bubble; you pump it with air [gestures doing so], it builds in and it keeps all the other weather systems away.

Little dangly weather front to the far south and you say, 'ah, he's not much.'

With the high building in and saying, 'haha, I'm here,' you should have a decent-looking Sunday. That's the weather for now [point], more at MetService-[nod]-dot-com.

Auckland
Saturday morning, step to the outside, you're gonna go [takes deep breath in, exhales], what a different feel.

The high just sort of nestles his way in and says, 'ha ha, I'm here. I'm going to stay for a couple of days.'

Wellington
That fairly active weather system has certainly made itself known over the past couple of days, probably banging the window panes, taking the rubbish bags and throwing them down the road.

Whenever we sort of open up the isobars like an accordion [see pic] that means things will be quietening down.

Bay of Plenty Times
It seems they're waving goodbye to summer in New Zealand. Dan explains the shifting seasons:

"Over the next few weeks, it's not going to be like someone has flicked a switch and bang, it's going to be cold," he said.

Darker mornings are due to the tilt of the earth on its axis.

"It causes different parts of the planet to experience different amounts of sunshine per day," Mr Corbett said.

He gave this analogy: Think of a science teacher shining a torch on a titled globe of the world.

"The area closer to the flashlight stays brighter longer than the places at the bottom of the globe," he said.

Brilliant.

12th January

Severe Weather Update
You look at the cloud and you say, 'yeah, that means business'.

National
A stuck weather system:
That's going to get a bit of a push, almost like taking a car, you shift it into high gear [gestures doing so] and vmmmh, off you go [arms out to indicate movement].

Auckland
Find out where that picnic basket is, you might get to use it come early next week.

Big lumps of blue, like lumps of white plaster being thrown at the weather map.

Christchurch
A storm approaches:
You can see it just developing, winding up like you've pulled a lawnmower [same lawnmower *string* pulling gesture as yesterday], vmmm, off it goes.

Wellington
I think Friday is gonna be one of those days where you're certainly going to be holding onto the hats [touches head].

These video forecasts will be gone in a couple of hours, so watch 'em while you can.

New Zealand Herald
Just look at this awesome picture of Dan!

31st December

There's a video of Dan (at his desk? If so; cool view - and tidy desk!) talking about the New Year's Eve weather in this stuff.co.nz article.

Happy New Year!

22nd December

New Zealand Herald
Some excellent quotes from Dan in this New Zealand Herald article about Christmas weather:

"We've got you a nice anti-cyclone for Christmas," said MetService meteorologist Daniel Corbett.

"There's just a few nibbles of moisture letting some showers to pop up - but not the ones where you'd say, 'Oh, the barbecue's off, let's all go inside'. It'll just be those quick little showers."

A large high over New Zealand was stopping "any nasty weather systems" from getting through, Mr Corbett said.

"Pack your sandwiches or whatever and head to the beach or the campground and find some shade.

Noted.

National
You are probably packing the picnic basket and getting ready for a fairly pleasant-looking weekend.

Wellington
Maybe if you are going tramping or camping, could see a few afternoon showers there.

Videos here.

16th December

Weekend Weather: Auckland
Monday, Tuesday; a tick next to those days on the calendar [gestures doing so].

Weekend Weather: Christchurch
Sunday, Monday and even Tuesday; mark those days on the calendar [tick gesture] early next week.

Weekend Weather: Wellington
When can we get some sunshine? I'd put a tick [gestures doing so] on the days early next week.

As I say, tick [gestures doing so] Monday and Tuesday and even Wednesday.

New Zealand Herald
There's a piece in the New Zealand Herald with an amazing quote from Dan:

MetService weather ambassador Daniel Corbett said: "Imagine having a stream of water moving across the Pacific. Put a big couple of boulders in the stream and what happens? All the water just gets blocked up. Think of throwing a sponge against the wall and squeezing it. That's how you can squeeze out 400-500mm of rain and get intense rain rates over the higher ground."

Excellent.

14th December

National Weather Forecast
Blimey, when I said I hoped these forecasts would become a regular feature, I wasn't expecting them to be daily. Not complaining mind.

To go with the swishy new graphics, they now have a green-screen. Chroma key!
Makes it look just like a studio-based forecast.

I'd have thought Dan would've been a little more excited, but serious weather = serious Dan; heavy rain brought flooding to northern parts of the South Island.

Think of it like taking a sponge, you push it against a wall and all the moisture comes out [some off-screen gesturing here].

There's video, below UPDATE: March 2012 - MetService recently deleted all their old video forecasts from their YouTube account.

Flooding in Nelson
Wait, what's this? Yet another extreme weather event in New Zealand?

Dan appeared on TVNZ's Breakfast to discuss the flooding. Forward to around 3m 40s.

Almost imagine taking a sponge and you push it against a wall.

It's not like we can flick a switch and say, 'nasty rain band, go away!'

He's mentioned in the NZ Herald:

"It's just a pipeline of rain coming in from the Tasman," Mr Corbett said. "Instead of the weather going straight through, it's just piling in - almost like somebody with a strong garden hose continuing to spray it on the area."

and on stuff.co.nz:

MetService's Daniel Corbett said the high had been like a big boulder in a stream blocking the flow.

AA

Dan has been interviewed by New Zealand's Automobile Association for this summer's Directions magazine.

Among other things, he was asked to talk about his background, why he chose to live and work in New Zealand and how to predict the weather (in a nutshell) [insert your own poor joke about the limited value of weather forecasting in nutshells here].

It's a bit of a short interview and shockingly lacking in -isms, but the awesomeness of the accompanying 'two hands on the old umbrella' photograph more than makes up for it. See a bigger version of it by clicking on the photo in the article.

ETA: There's another photo of Dan on the main 'Directions' page. You might have to click on the arrows to scroll to the photo. Dan Abbott? Who Hell He?

23rd September

Weekend Weather
Maybe the most Dan-isms we've had in a single video in a long time:

The weekend's upon us, let's take a look at the weather, if you've got the outdoor plans and, as typical for spring, one minute it's lovely blue sky, you're outside saying [looks up], 'yeah, it's coming,' and the next minute, phwww, bonechilling, with cold air.

You'll start off Saturday, many of us and say [looks up], 'yeah, s'OK.'

We've had a big block in the atmosphere that more-or-less keeps the weather system from going [indicates potential movement] like that nicely ... That block will slowly ease through ... allowing what is this weak, wimpy weather system to work away. This one though, here, is more like a bull in a china shop, he'll come barrelling in.

Colder air:
Could bring some snow. And you're saying, 'oh, snow for the hills?' No, it could even to be to lower levels. That's the thing with spring, it's always a bit of a roller coaster ride [roller coaster gesture].

North Island, Saturday is your day, wash the car [gestures doing so], something like that, you'll be in pretty good shape.

In Wellington, Sunday will be the day to hold onto the hats [touches head] and, if you're going to the game, for instance in Wellington on Sunday, you'll want the extra layers, probably the mac, maybe the warm mittens as well.

Guess what? After this weather system, this brief little taste of winter clears away then that, high pressure, is sitting off to the west, just sort of waiting there [waiting gesture] and eventually we're gonna say, 'come on through' [beckoning gesture?]

More details, of course, metservice.com, but that's the weather, for now.

Watch for yourself, the video is embedded below. UPDATE: March 2012 - The video is no longer available; MetService recently deleted all their old video forecasts from their YouTube account.

The Dominion Post
A couple of ~isms quoted in this newspaper article about the mixed forecast for Wellington this weekend.

MetService spokesman Daniel Corbett said Wellington reached 13 degrees today and fans heading to the game should only need a light jacket.

However, the "spring roller coaster" was about to kick into gear, and the weather picture looked totally different for the capital's next game on Sunday.

Fans off to the Argentina match against Scotland would see conditions change after a southerly came into the capital tomorrow evening.

"Sunday will be the day when everyone goes 'oh gosh, yuck'."

Excellent!

13th September

Rugby World Cup
Three new Rugby World Cup forecast videos today, all embedded below. UPDATE: March 2012 - These videos are no longer available; MetService recently deleted all their old video forecasts from their YouTube account.

Hailmageddon
I'm beginning to get suspicious about how many extreme weather events have been happening in New Zealand since Dan moved there.

The latest is 'Hailmageddon', as explained in this 3News video (Dan is 1 minute in).

It’s what we call an upper level short wave in the atmosphere. Think of it like a piece of energy as it squeezes the clouds, [presses hands together in squeezing gesture - see pic], squeezes out the moisture and, in this case, developed quite a thunderstorm that was so intense it was actually able to develop this hail.

There's a similar ~ism in the Wairarapa Times-Age, where Dan is quoted as saying,
Think of it as a pair of hands squeezing the clouds together.

9th September

Well, the Rugby World Cup is here, and with it a flurry of activity on metnz's YouTube channel; four new videos (all embedded below. UPDATE: March 2012 - These videos are no longer available; MetService recently deleted all their old video forecasts from their YouTube account).

Not many ~isms, although there are a couple in the Weekend Weather forecast:

Sunday will be the day where you might be out there with the umbrella [two-handed umbrella gesture]. This is the reason why, this weather-system coming in and you look at the colours and you go, 'Wow! That's pretty!'

Dan was also quoted in The Dominion Post about the weather for the World Cup. Loved the opening line; 'Don't forget your raincoat'.

There are a couple of other choice quotes, including,

"The weather map on Sunday looks a bit ugly to say the least," Mr Corbett said.

"Yes it will be windy at times, but it won't be gut-wrenching."

Thank goodness it won't be gut-wrenching, that sounds like it could be nasty.

14th December

10:55 BBC News
Carrie Gracie: Now what's Dan betting on a white Christmas? Here he is.

Dan: Well I tell you, I was doing a snow dance the other day and God knows what'll happen.

Then we go towards the course of Thursday, and it's like a big two-legged spider. This is the thing. Cold air here and you open the floodgates, there they are [indicates floodgates?] and vmmm [dropping gesture], down you bring the cold air.

Excellent, it's on YouTube (embedded below).

11:29 BBC News
Quite a change in temperature. This air that's not too bad [pulls face] and that air, nah, that's rather cold, that's cold Arctic stuff ... and the whole thing's going to go, vmmm [pushes it through], straight through. By Friday we'll all be like this [hunches shoulders, looking cold] at the bus stop.

11:56 BBC News
Met Office early warning for snow and for ice. You go, 'ohhh gosh'. Yeah. Bear it in mind.

What is initially rain, you say, 'ah, it's just some wet weather.' Look at this, the snow coming down.

So Thursday into Friday, all the mittens, the parkas and maybe even the snow shovel [snow shovel gesture].

12:37 BBC News
Dan's name popped up during an interview with David Williams from Ladbrokes about the odds of a white Christmas:

Rachel Schofield: When you're working out your odds, are you just watching Dan Corbett like we are, our weather presenters on the BBC, or have you got special scientific advisers dotted around in clever places.

[Hmm, don't like the implication that Dan isn't scientific. Shakes fist at Rachel.]

David: Where Dan Corbett leads, the nation follows [they both laugh], simple as that. It's true. The thing is, because we had the cold snap in November and now we're coming to another one, this has been on the radar of customers for much longer. Normally it's around about now that people start, 'you know, will it be a white Christmas?', people were talking about this in November because we had that cold snap. Of course, every single word that Dan issues, every single bulletin we get on the BBC, on the weather forecast, that is what is changing our odds because people are behaving on the back of that. It's not quite science but it's not a million miles off.

Proof that I'm not the only one hanging on Dan's every word.

13:28 BBC One and BBC News
Sophie Raworth: Dan Corbett with the weather. Are we going to have a white Christmas?

Dan: Everyone wants to know and all the children are probably going, 'yes, yes, yes' [rubs hands together?]. It's actually still too early to tell but, the way it's going with the cold air we would say oh my gosh, the snowmen are probably putting smiles on their faces if they could.

The cold air comes, fmmm, straight down [dropping gesture], that is the change by the end of the week - Arctic air. So all those warm parkas, pull them back out.

Did anyone seriously put them away?!

13:55 BBC News
And all the children are saying, 'yes, white Christmas' [rubs hands together].

There was a -99 on the map during this forecast. I wouldn't have mentioned it (like I didn't mention it when there was a -99 the other week, in almost the same location) but the Daily Fail chose to pick up on it.

Notice the image there; the -99 isn't in a coloured box, therefore it isn't temperature. Daily Fail indeed.
The comments are worth a read though.

book

After news of a book about Tomasz Schafernaker appeared on The Schaf blog (which turned out to be a bit of a disappointment) I searched on Amazon for Dan's name.

To my surprise, relevant results were returned.
One of them was for this pile of crap which doesn't even merit a mention here; the other was for Second-Class Male: A Book of Misguided Letters by 'Stan Madeley'.

From the product description:

A farcical collection of spoof letters from a major new comedy talent. Whether he's offering himself up for adoption to Elton John or attempting to hypnotize Derren Brown by letter Stan Madeley (by deed poll) is a fearless and dynamic correspondent. Boldly billing himself as Britain's top Richard Madeley lookalike, he uses his so-called celebrity status as an innovative excuse to plague, pester and pen letters to many well-known faces, politicians and organisations, with hilarious results. Written in the bestselling tradition of the Henry Root and Robin Cooper letters, this is a witty and joyously surreal collection from an extraordinary new voice.

But what has this to do with Dan?

Clicking on 'look inside' reveals there is a letter to, and reply from, Dan [screengrab].

Assuming it was a work of fiction, I promptly forgot all about it.

Inexplicably, it popped back into my head as I walked past a bookshop yesterday. To satisfy my curiosity, I nipped inside to find the book.
It was, in the 'humour' section.
And lo, on page 88, a letter to Daniel Corbett [sneaky photos].

But more intriguingly, on page 89, Dan's reply [another sneaky photo].
A signed photo and a note in Dan's writing. In Dan's actual handwriting (and I know what Dan's handwriting looks like, having received a short note from the great man himself a few years ago).

So, there we are. Dan is in a book.
Given that I've cheekily taken photos of it, perhaps I should now urge you to go out and buy the book. Maybe it would make a suitable gift for the Daniel Corbett fan in your life.

'Storm clouds' indeed

I'm not quite sure why I was so surprised to see this, given that we were tipped-off about it a few months ago:

Three of the BBC's best-loved weather presenters are being axed from TV screens as part of a money-saving drive.

Senior weathermen, including Rob McElwee, Tomasz Schafernaker and Philip Avery, will disappear from news broadcasts next month and moved into back office roles as part of a shake-up in the corporation's weather service

Notice the word 'including' there.
Read on...

Under the Met Office plans, the 23-strong team of weather presenters will be pared down, with some roles lost among backroom staff working within the corporation.

Two other broadcasters are also expected to move off-screen.

Two as yet unnamed others.
Gulp.

All BBC weather presenters were re-interviewed for their broadcast roles in recent weeks as part of a streamlining of the service. But the three stars were told by management they would no longer be allowed on air after failing to impress with their 'team leadership' skills.

They will now be moved into behind-the-scenes roles as 'weather duty managers'.

A BBC insider said: 'They were reinterviewed for their broadcast jobs but they didn't make the cut and where [sic] dropped because they failed at the team leadership interview.

But at least two of them were later offered jobs as 'team leaders' in a production role.

Last night a spokesman for the Met Office confirmed there will be a reduction in the number of on-screen presenters as part of a drive to deliver 'greater benefits' to the licence-fee payer.

He said: 'There is a desire across the BBC to have fewer weather presenters. To improve consistency, four or five broadcast meteorologists will be moving to behind the scenes roles as weather duty managers.

'The changes will also result in the loss of some roles at the Weather Centre, but no decision has been made yet regarding job cuts.'

Read the full article at the Daily Fail Mail.

I wonder how reliable the information in that article is?

Anyway, it seems things are still not settled.
The storm continues to brew.

Heresy

On Radio 4's Heresy, during a discussion about weather forecasts, Janet Street-Porter reveals she has 'an obsession' with Dan.

She talks a bit about her taste in men, and then...

Janet: At the moment I'm completely and utterly-

Mark Steel: How did we get there? From scattered showers to that?

Janet: If you're me, it's very erotic. At the moment I've got two sexual obsessions. One-

Richard Herring: Daniel Corbett, the weatherman?

Janet: Daniel! Daniel! You said his name! Thank God I'm sitting down. Daniel Corbett; spits and spots. It's the way that he reads the weather forecast because he's very, very camp and very clipped. Very. Almost a disciplinarian. And he's got his bulletin and he's going to talk about scattered showers and then he says, 'and next, southern England' and it's the way he does his paragraphs. Oh God! ... He's brilliant. So I've got a whole fantasy going about Daniel and spits- and when he says 'spits and spots' - I wrote about it in one of my newspaper columns [hmm, must've missed that one - perhaps this is it (scroll down)] and I said, 'oh I've given his game away, he won't do 'spits and spots' anymore'.

Mark: Does he still do it?

Janet: No.

Richard: He does it all the time now, now he knows it's getting you going.

Mark: Spits and spots it's going to be, especially for someone who's been a little bit naughty.

We hear that Janet would like to be a weather woman:
Janet: What is the qualification? It seems to be a lot of lip gloss doesn't it?

Richard: They have a process where they go through saying, 'are you only being a weather woman so you can get to Daniel Corbett? Cos you're not coming in! Leave him alone!'

And then, about a member of the audience, Janet says:
Her life is a desert and Daniel says that word, spits and spots, and you're off.

Listen again, around 17 minutes in, available for 7 days from broadcast.

Am lost for words...

teletext

Angela sent this message through to the Yahoo! group:

Just to say that on Teletext Page 317, there are today (you can send them up till 9pm this evening) messages about your favourite weatherforecaster; I have just sent one, there was another in favour of Dan already. The e-mail is ttwo@teletext.co.uk. You have to give your name and home town.

We can't get teletext at TTWFN Towers, what with the state of our satellite signal these days :-( But here's the online version:

Your Weather Favourites
Without a doubt, the most entertaining and interesting weatherman is Daniel Corbett. His weather reports are so easy on the ear, and he seems such a nice guy.
Rosie, Andover

Here's Angela's message:

Dan Corbett is easily the best weather forecaster ever. His charm and easy wit make all his forecasts informative and entertaining.

Am feeling like a bad fan, I didn't even submit a message. Tsk tsk.

Thanks, Angela!

4th March

10:57 BBC News
Notice these lumps here, almost like lumps of flour just sort of bubbling up in a cake mixture mixing.

11:30 BBC News
We all woke up this morning, stepped to the outside and phff, bit of a chilly day.

Notice these lumps off to the west, like taking some lumps of plaster [holding gesture] and throwing them at the weather map [throwing gesture].

13:28 BBC One and BBC News
Can you see how the cloud is sort of bitty, like bubbly, like throwing lumps of plaster at the map [two-handed flicking gesture].

A chilly start, so you might be out there with the scraper [scraping gesture] and certainly with the extra layers.

UPDATE 5/3/09:
It goes to show you how much I'm captivated by Dan and how little attention I pay to the map, that I didn't notice this at the time:

A BBC weather forecast has wrongly predicted temperatures of -99C in Kent for Wednesday.
Daniel Corbett was presenting the weather on the BBC News Channel.

There's a little piece of video too.

It has featured in a couple of today's 'news'papers; the Telegraph and the Daily Mail.
That Telegraph article has possibly the worst picture of Dan I have ever seen - you have been warned.

UPDATE 6/3/09:
It still rumbles on; featuring in the Guardian, the Telegraph (again - but minus scary picture this time), the BBC's Magazine Monitor and also on Oddbox, where Dan is described (quite rightly) as 'brilliant'.

UPDATE 7/3/09:
News spreads to Korea.

And now for the weather

In today's Guardian 'Comment is free' blog there's an article by Leo Hickman about weather forecasters' reluctance to discuss climate change.

The opening paragraph begins with praise of Dan, which is always pleasing;

My favourite weather forecaster on television today, by far, is the BBC's Daniel Corbett. The outlook is always much brighter when Corbett is on-screen. And I always look forward to him bidding farewell with his trademark sign-off: "That's the weather (dramatic pause) for now."

...and it ends with a link to this blog! Yay!
I'd like to think I do a bit more than simply advertise Dan's shifts, though.

He goes on to say;

Corbett puts on quite a performance - his animated hand-sweeps and over-punctuated speech can be mesmerising to watch at times - but sometimes you get so distracted by it that you don't actually take in what he is telling us about the weather over the next three days. That's precisely the reason why we don't see more of the big-persona presenters of yesteryear.

I beg to differ - but then, if Dan's on, I watch several forecasts in one evening; if it doesn't sink in the first time, it surely will after the sixth. And as for the other allegation, perhaps it's just my imagination, but it seems to me that the other BBC presenters are increasingly trying to jazz up their forecasts a bit.
And failing miserably, might I add.

Thanks for the link, Leo. In return I thought I could give you video evidence of the words 'climate change' passing through Dan's own lips but, my mistake, it's 'global warming' he says instead. Close enough, though?

A Change in the Weather

I never cease to be amazed at the things that can be found on the internet. Not sure quite how this article managed to pass me by for so long, given that it states its publication date as May 1998.

It's a real gem, not only because of the snippets of previously unknown information it contains about Our Dan, but also because of the language used to describe him.
Read it and smile.

A CHANGE IN THE WEATHER
Sunday Mirror, May 10, 1998 by TERRY O'HANLON

A HUNK nicknamed The Tornado Kid is about to put sunny Ian McCaskill, the BBC's favourite weatherman, in the shade.

Are you smiling yet?

Dashing Dan Corbett storms on to our TV screens next month in a move to create a new generation of forecasters.

Essex-born Dan, 31, who has been poached from a CBS station in Waco, Texas, takes over from cuddly Ian, who is to retire on his 60th birthday in July.

Dan was the toast of Waco when last May he predicted on TV that a terrifying twister would miss the town.

His cool and calm presentation as the 300mph tornado roared towards Waco - made famous by the 1993 Branch Davidian sect massacre - made him a local hero.

His off-beat broadcasts had already made him a celebrity who could command high fees for speaking engagements.

He first went to live in America as a schoolboy when his father was sent to run a newspaper in New York.

He studied meteorology at New York University and joined a TV station in Alabama before joining the CBS-owned channel in Waco.

"I guess my accent and laid back way of handling the weather was a bit eccentric, but they accepted me," he said. "I had to explain my English, like calling a backyard a garden."

Dan, whose good looks bring in bags of fan mail, returned to Britain last October to lead the BBC's 24-hour news channel.

To start with, the Corporation plan to bring him in one week a month to do mornings on BBC1.

Dan said: "Some of the older hands think my oddball style is a bit over the top.

"I'm inclined to say things like, 'You will need extra hairspray', if it's a windy day or to say, 'It's blowy', instead of using formal Met Office terms."

Makes interesting reading, although I wonder how much of the "quoted" text Dan actually said.

Edinburgh Evening "News"

Today was the most glorious day. A bright, cloudless sky and beautifully warm, with just a slight, refreshing breeze.
But not in Scotland, it would seem;

'Words of weatherman Dan give cold comfort', Edinburgh Evening News.
Anoraks and mufflers in May. What's with this weather? ... For an authoritative explanation I rang Daniel Corbett, my favourite forecaster at the BBC's weather centre, but no joy. "I'm flummoxed if I know," said a despairing Dan.

I can't believe this 'journalist' phoned Dan up, asked him about the weather and that was the only quote suitable for print. This is Dan, for goodness sake!

the greatest person who ever lived

The Education Guardian is not the place you'd usually expect to see Dan's name popping up, but there he is, with the accolade of 'the greatest person who ever lived'.

Corbett is the BBC weatherman whose hands perform an entrancingly eloquent ballet as he rhapsodises about cold fronts coming in from over the Pennines. There is a lot a teacher can learn from Corbett. I suggest importing his techniques at the point when you share lesson objectives with the class. Corbett has injected new verve and passion into my presentation. I'll launch into his right-hand "circle and flourish", which you might expect from the hand of a French courtier, as I present to the class those most seductive words: "Today your lesson objectives are ..."

There is only one fault with the article; the missed opportunity with that final sentence:
"That's your lesson objective, for now."

The Best Weatherman

And that's not just according to me, it's also the opinion of Jack Seale writing on the Radio Times 'The Best...' blog:

Ever since Man discovered that storms weren't actually the result of Thor riding across the sky on a chariot pulled by goats, there's been a big problem with weather: it's not very funny. But if you're on TV, your duty is to entertain.

Some weatherpeople make a token effort: talking through a doggedly maintained rictus grin, wearing deliberately hilarious clothing or, if they're on ITV in the mornings, pointing to the map with their [chest - ahem] instead of their hands. Yet there's only one whose performance is worth watching even if you don't care a fig for tomorrow's climate: the cult hero that is Daniel Corbett.

How ever delighted I may be to see Dan praised to the skies, I must defend Dan's corner with regard to at least one point in the article; the writer is entirely wrong to claim that,

details such as exactly what the weather will be like tend to get lost in Dan's flow,

Isn't Dan is the supreme master of the memorable sound-bite? He knows all the information we need is whether we're likely to get wet and if we'll be warm enough in what we're wearing.

A well written (and researched!) article with some nice Dan-isms, although I thought the tone a bit off in a couple of places; for example, I wouldn't go so far as to call Dan 'eccentric'. Enthusiastic, yes. Quirky, maybe. Eccentric, no.

Radio Times

My friend Heather sent me this snippet from the letters page of the latest issue (6 August - 1 September) of Radio Times;

"Storming performance"
Why stay in and watch TV? Forget all those all-singing, all-dancing reality shows. Who needs second-rate stuff when after the BBC news (on certain nights) you can see the wonderful Daniel Corbett performing the weather forecast! Who else can make a rise in air temperature sound like Shakespeare, or a frontal system positively Brechtian? And since when was "cloud developing from the West" choreographed by Ballet Rambert?

Pat Grimes
Plymouth, Devon

Exactly!