that's the weather, for now

3rd October

Dan says:
I did a radio interview for Radio New Zealand a few weeks ago and they only got around to broadcasting it this morning.

Make yourself a cuppa and get comfy, the interview lasts for a whopping thirty minutes:

Hear Dan talk to Kathryn Ryan about how forecasting technology has changed, why New Zealand is a weatherman's paradise and find out more about his days tornado forecasting in the USA.

Some brilliant Dan-isms (fan, spaghetti, puzzle) plus The Accent.
Laughed out loud at the question, 'how many ways can you come up with for describing the weather?' Even Dan sounded a little taken aback by that. Ms Ryan; you are talking to Daniel Corbett, weather wordsmith extraordinaire.

An interesting interview, spoiled only slightly by its conversational style cramping some of Dan's answers; once or twice another question was fired off before Dan had fully finished answering the last. Although, to be fair, that's probably more a reflection of how incredibly nosy I am rather than an accurate assessment of her interview technique.

Download it here.

Thanks for the heads up, Dan!

30th September

Weekend Weather
There's so much going on, whatever it might be, maybe out with the family or perhaps you're going to be watching the rugby. And we've got a weather system working in, but you're already thinking, 'oh, it's gonna be a washout, it'll be horrible.'

First off, you look at this lovely lump of colour and you say, 'ah yes, that's pretty,' like we've taken some red crayon [scribbling gesture on hand] and gone, foofoofoo [painting gesture on map], like that.

A tangle of weather fronts, almost like bits of spaghetti thrown onto a plate [plate gesture].

Further south for Dunedin, of course with the roof [puts hands over head in roof gesture].

Of course, all the details for all the matches, you wanna check and maybe you've been writing them down [gestures writing on hand] for the past couple of minutes, wondering, 'what was he saying?' You can at any time go to metservice.com, all the rugby forecasts and planning the weekend, all the details for the weather there too. Have a good weekend. That's the weather, for now.

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

Chris Hawkins
As a regular listener to Chris' show, it was a pleasant surprise to hear mention of Dan this morning while Chris was chatting to Elizabeth Saary before the forecast.

Chris: Our old friend, Dan, has emailed to say, "Just a quick hello to all of you. I'm settling into life well in New Zealand. I act as the liaison for the MetService with the media, doing TV and radio interviews but I'm still keeping my hand in at weather presenting. Please say hello to you guys to you and to Producer Slev and to whoever's forecasting this morning and all of your 6Music listeners." Isn't that nice? From Dan Corbett.

Elizabeth: Aw, that is lovely. We miss Dan. We do miss him.

Chris: Everyone needs a catchphrase and he had the best one, didn't he?

Elizabeth: Yes. I shall finish with it today in tribute.

And she does. Listen on the iPlayer, 42 minutes in, available for 7 days from broadcast.

Vintage Dan
There are two videos of Dan from 2006 up on TV Ark's BBC weather section. It seems that I can't link to them directly, so use the old ctrl+F trick to search for Dan's name on the page.

The first video has mention of an eclipse visible in the UK. Wikipedia tells me the only UK visible eclipse in 2006 was on 29th March.
Dan starts with,
Not the night for the stargazing tonight.

In the second clip, Dan remarks on unusual temperatures for mid-October. Delving right back into the archives, could this be the ~ism-less 18:27 forecast on 18th October in which I noted with surprise that Ms Kaplinsky did NOT talk over Dan's sign-off. For once.

catchup

13th August
On TVNZ, Dan warns of an impending polar blast [42s in]:
Think of it like a layer of treacle that is oozing down from the poles.

15th August
Dan was interviewed about the snow in Wellington by the New Zealand Herald. Here's the video on their website.

Loved the clips of kids sledging on a light dusting of snow.

He also features on a couple more TVNZ videos. First up; Breakfast:

You have to almost think of these polar outbreaks ... like having a layer of treacle that sits at the top of the poles and somebody just gives it a bit of a nudge and it just starts to ooze. In this case, instead of it oozing it's just gone, brrr, straight across much of New Zealand.

Surges of moisture:
Like spokes on a bicycle wheel.

You can't always say we're done with winter until the fat lady sings.

Next, Close Up:

Dan explains what graupel is:
Anyone out with maybe a magnifying glass would've looked at it [gestures doing so - see pic], it didn't have the lovely pretty shapes.

Presenter Mark Sainsbury mentions that Dan has come from the Beeb.
Dan: I've only been in the country for about six to eight weeks so people said when I first arrived the weather was fairly quiet. So literally, I've been here six, eight weeks and to have the outbreak we had in July and now the one in August and people today were tapping me on the shoulder and saying, 'is it something you've brought with you?'.

Jim Hickey [TV One forecaster]: I'm gonna get you re-orientated Daniel, because when we had the last outbreak you mentioned, and I like the turn of phrase, you talked about this cold snap being like treacle oozing, he said oozing down from the pole, and I'm thinking, 'are you still in the northern hemisphere?' we talk about it oozing up in this part of the world, so get yourself sorted will you mate.

Is it just me, or does he do it again moments later?
Dan: The polar vortex [cups hands together as if holding an invisible cup] which is that area of cold air that sits above the poles, I use the analogy to think of it as a layer of treacle, it just sits there and most of the time it's pretty happy just sort of wobbling around. But just imagine giving it a bit of a shove and it just weakens the edge of it and if you vice it enough of a shove and it just starts to ooze towards areas to the south.

Mark: Daniel, tomorrow, where would you not want to be?

Dan: Well, that depends, Mark. Would I want to be building a snowman or would I want to be sitting in my t-shirt and shorts?

Mark: Who is going to be hit the hardest?

Dan: Well, it's not going to be a picnic for anyone.

It's not a picnic by any means. It's going to be an icy blast but I think we'll all say let's put a big check [ticks] next to Thursday or Friday on the calendar and we'll say when they come we'll all have smiles on our faces because we can kick the polar blast out the back door and say goodbye to it.

Dan also appears on this 3 News video [1 minute in] about the record-breaking weather:
The way it's been going you'll probably need long lists and pieces of paper in the sense of not only snow amounts and places that haven't seen snow for a long time.

Finally, Dan talks to Marcus Lush on Radio Live. Speaking of weather systems:
There are several more, almost like buses lined up in a queue waiting to pull into a bus station, they just keep coming.

16th August
Dan talks to Marcus Lush on Radio Live again:
You almost think of a bicycle wheel, you have spokes on the bicycle wheel. This weather system, instead of it just being one big lump or one spoke, it's been several spokes or areas of moisture.

The high pressure which has been sitting, waiting, saying 'come on, give me a chance' it finally builds in and sort of slowly kicks the backside of this nasty weather system out of the way.

17th August
Peter Gibbs tweets:

Just had chat with ex colleague Dan Corbett on 5Live, now in New Zealand. Threatening to send him back cos he's brought British weather.

Many thanks to my lovely friend, Heather, for the recording his appearance on 5Live's Up All Night for me.

The funny thing is, since I've been here, about two months or so, they've actually said, 'our weather was fine until you arrived.'

What's a polar outbreak?
It's just an oozing layer of treacle, the cold air.

You can imagine everyone just sort of dressed like the Abominable Snowman.

Describing a block:
You take a car and it just sort of sits there, it spins its wheels in the sand or the mud and it doesn't move.

18th August
Powder Watch
Ridge of high pressure builds in, settles things down, it takes this weather system and just gives it a boot out the back door [does he gesture doing so?].

If you're going with the neighbours maybe skiing or they say they're going, yeah, they'll have a good time.

Bear in mind extra layers, particularly when you're sitting on that lift if you're going up you'll be [huddles] a-he! Very cold as you finish off.

So you're going skiing, you're already thinking, maybe licking your chops.

19th August
Weekend Weather
At least you won't be like that [touches head] with the hat.

Crunchy, cold, frosty [steps].

Temperatures overnight will go, chmmm, straight down.

Another cold, frosty night, great night for a fire.

Temperatures will finally recover so you'll start peeling off those abominable snowman layers [gestures doing so].

6 Music: Chris Hawkins

There have been a couple of mentions of Dan on Chris Hawkins' 6 Music show over the past few days.

On Thursday (41m in), Chris was talking about Dan's departure to Simon 'not lions' King (as he's known at TTWFN Towers),
Chris: It was a sad and emotional moment, and it came as such a shock, I didn't have time to prepare anything much for him.

Simon: No, it was a shock to us all really.

And this morning (46m in), John Hammond lamented:
Somebody texted me last week and, honestly, I was moved, really moved, cos he's a hero of mine, he really is. I used to watch him when I wasn't at the BBC and I used to watch him and think, 'he is just box office'.

The Secret World

Thanks to my friend Heather for alerting me to a brief mention of Dan on the Radio 4 show 'The Secret World'; an impressions show where the listener eavesdrops on celebrity conversations.

First we hear David Beckham attempting to buy a rainbow from James Cameron. James advises him to contact a meteorologist, which David does, just before 18 minutes in.

Hello, you're through to the voicemail of Daniel Corbett at the BBC Weather Unit. Please leave a message after the tone.

It isn't entirely clear whether that was supposed to be Dan, but everyone does their own voicemail message, right?

Listen again on the iPlayer. The part with James Cameron is 3 minutes in, the voicemail is just before 18 minutes in. Available for 7 days from broadcast.

So it seems Tomasz Schafernaker still reigns supreme as Britain's premier Daniel Corbett impersonator. He was at it again the other day, this time pinching the -isms.

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...

sound effects

Matt Taylor mentioned Dan on Janice Long's show last night (well, this morning. You know what I mean).

Start listening around the 1h 48m mark.

Janice: Wouldn't it be great if you could do the weather ... on the telly with sound effects? Would they let you?

Matt: Er, Dan Corbett does his own, though. Dan Corbett manages to get some of them in.

Janice: Does he?

Matt: Yes, he does a few sound effects in there. I couldn't go on his territory.

Janice: Well, I've never heard him do them.

What planet has she been on then?

(BTW - Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Taylor on their new arrival!)

21st May

Not quite sure what happened with the TBT today. Perhaps it hadn't been updated by the time I left for work this morning. At any rate, the only reason I knew Dan had been on today was because a little bird told me:

The weather on the Today programme is usually a very measured affair. But that all went out of the window after a shortage of forecasters meant weatherman Daniel Corbett had to sprint halfway across Television Centre to read the weather on the Today programme.

"I had to do a five or six minute walk in 40 seconds. I really sprinted," says Daniel.

"But I'd rather be there and breathy than miss it."

The people at the Today programme have kindly uploaded the clip in question.

It later got a mention on PM (but we already know Eddie Mair is a Dan-fan) with a little feature about how to talk when out of breath. Listen again, about 54 minutes in, available until 28th May.

Well, I thought his breathing was remarkably controlled. It says on his BBC bio that running is one of his hobbies, but I suspect he doesn't usually combine running with weather.

10:56 BBC News
The speckles of blue, like taking lumps of blue and going like that [flicking gesture], pfff, at the weather map.

Maybe you're going away for the bank holiday weekend, pack the kids in the back of the car [the accompanying gesture reminded me of the brolly-in-bag].

11:33 BBC News
Then they lose the heating of the day and, fmm [dropping gesture], the showers die away.

13:28 BBC One and BBC News
High pressure, almost like having a pot on the stove [see pic] and the bubbles boil up.

Our clumps of showers almost like taking lumps of paint and going, fmmm [with a rather slow flicking gesture], like that at the weather map.

The main energy with this weather system is going to ease north and as it does, think of it as a piece of blue plasticine you pull it apart, it stretches [gestures doing so], fizzles out.

Got two great screengrabs during this bit. Click on the links to see 'em:
If you are going to be outside you might want to be lapping on some sun lotion [touches hand] because the UV levels they will be high, but at lest that's probably better than standing there with umbrellas [umbrella gesture].

13:56 BBC News
Well how about a nice-looking bank holiday weekend? If you're saying, 'alright', then let's get to it.

It was forecast to be unseasonably cold in Aberdeen but it seems that no-one else has noticed, unlike last time. See pic.

Brackish Water

After my accidental 12 hour nap last night, I was up before 9am this morning and poised to join Black Squadron by listening to Adam and Joe's 6 Music show live right from the start (instead of just listening to the podcast as I usually do), but I forgot to click 'play' before switching tabs. Duh!

However, my friend Heather was listening and she sent me a message to say Dan was on the show. But it wasn't quite what I had been expecting...

It was Cassetteboy's Brackish Water from their Carry on Breathing album. You can listen to a little clip of it there by clicking on the little headphones next to track 11.

Genius.
Lots of great Dan-isms in there, and love the way some of them have been cleverly altered. Wonder how many forecasts they had to listen to to make it?!

Thanks, Heather!

UPDATE:
I've subsequently managed to get a copy of the album (currently in stock at Amazon and Play) and was pleased to discover additional snippets of Dan on tracks 20 and 53.

This show is no longer available on the iPlayer, but my friend George tells me you can download it here. Brackish Water is played about 8 minutes in. Thanks for the tip off, George!

11th January

5Live again. Ugh.

29th October

A bit of a surprise to see him on an early shift, given the RT prediction, but early Dan is better than no Dan.

08:57 BBC News
Rachel Schofield: Dan, some people surprised by snow this morning?

Dan: Yes, just think of it, that feeling, peeling back the curtains [parting curtains gesture] and everyone, phew, gosh, snow!

A chilly start; you'll probably be out in the middle of the day with your parka - a cold sort of feel.

09:28 BBC News
Hello there. Another day for the warm parkas and you've probably been busy maybe scraping the snow off the cars, the ice as well.

BBCi UK Forecast
The parka will come in handy as you're nipping to the outside.

Quite a chilly start so, again, you might be out there with the old ice-scraper [scraping gesture].

It's still going to be a cold day, a day for your old parka.

With this one, it wasn't so much what he said, but how he said it:
These are the highs, [gestures to map, raises eyebrows] if you can call them that.

BBC Radio 4
Thanks to Em, who alerted me to this audio slideshow on the BBC News website, in which Dan features:

Unusually for October, snow has been falling across large parts of the UK - and readers of the BBC News website have been capturing the wintry scenes on camera.
Here - with the help of BBC weather forecasters on Radio 4 and Radio 5Live - take a look at some of the pictures we have been sent, from northern Scotland to Hampshire.

No snow at TTWFN Towers, unfortunately.

Dan sightings

TTWFN reader Kesta contacted me to say her mum saw Dan on TV in the early hours of Saturday morning. Unfortunately, the Sky+ isn't set to record anything overnight, so I didn't see it myself.
However, as BBC News is background noise here at TTWFN Towers, Husband spotted Dan on on 'Our World: Stormchasers' in the early hours of this morning (which was possibly what Kesta's mum saw, as it was on yesterday too) talking about Tornadoes [breathes sigh of relief that Dan's skills are finally recognised].
The whole programme is available on the wonderful iPlayer (until Sunday 7th September). Dan appears just around 1 minute in, then again around 7 minutes in.

I forgot to ask you Kesta, did your mum 'phone you up especially to tell you she'd seen Dan, or did it somehow crop up in conversation?

Mr. George alerted me to Dan being on Breakfast this morning to discuss Hurricane Gustav. And I was awake, concious and everything (rare for pre-9am on a weekend) - and I still missed it.

UPDATE:
Hooray! He was on again at just gone 10am and then later at about 12.30ish.
Thanks to Mr. George, we have video (UPDATE: 16/04/11 - the video is no longer available. Sorry!).

"Hurricane expert"; I think so [satisfied smile].

I also saw Dan on the Five Live webcam this morning and yesterday morning, but I only listened to one forecast (Five Live isn't as bad at the weekend, but there's still a risk brain rot will set in if you listen too long). Brace yourselves: there was some suggestion that autumn approaches. Gah!

I spy with my little eye...

...something (or someone) beginning with D.
Watch The Weather Show very carefully during the bit in the Weather Centre with Carol (about 13 minutes in). I may be wrong, but even Husband agreed it looked like Dan in the background.
UPDATE: screengrabs [pic1, pic2] - what do you reckon?

The rest of it is standard Weather Show fare, but the outtake at the end with Phil Avery and Rob McElwee is worth a watch.
The Weather Show: BBC News 24: today and tomorrow at 8.30pm; Bank Holiday Monday at 10.30am, 1.30pm and 10.30pm and on the iPlayer (available until 11pm on 1st September).

There was a flurry of excitement here at TTWFN Towers this morning upon hearing the news that the shipping forecast will feature in the London section of tomorrow's Olympic Games closing ceremony (via BBC News). The speculation then began; who would be reading the forecast? However, as Mr. George subsequently discovered, disappointment lurks;

"and excerpts from the shipping forecast read by Radio 4 regular Zeb Soanes".
(via The Guardian)

UPDATE: More about the shipping forecast in the ceremony from BBC News.

However, the rest of that part of the ceremony sounds ridiculously cringeworthy (after reading that first BBC article I had to check the calendar; it isn't April 1st), so watch at your peril.

Finally, Dan was on Radio Five Live this morning and, as you know, there's not much that can tempt me to listen to that nonsense.

One

Mr. George says:

I was listening to this ['One' on Radio 4] last night - it's about 4/10 on the funny scale - and one of the sketches was 'The Camp Forecast' - like the shipping forecast but camp. And just between Liza Minelli and Eurovision in the list of camp stuff was our own, dear Daniel Corbett. So there you go. It's 6:28 into the show.

Agh! Not the c-word again!

Listen again - available until next Thursday (I assume).

Thanks, Mr. George!

Janice Long

Friend of the blog, Mr. George, alerted me to this poor re-working of Dan's signature sign-off on Janice Long's show this morning. Janice was discussing celebrity fragrances with mini Matt Taylor ;

Matt: You could have Dan Corbett's one; 'that's your scent, for now'.

As Mr. George pointed out, I guess that's why Matt Taylor is a weatherman and not a stand-up comedian.

Janice Long

For once, while Dan's away, I haven't got anything up my sleeve to post. So I was pleased when Mr. George alerted me to a mention of Dan on this morning's Janice Long show on Radio 2.

Janice was moaning to Matt Taylor about Dan having misled her about the weekend weather and, as a result, she isn't feeling too well today. Oh dear.

Matt: You should have stayed in Ullapool, it would have blown the cobwebs clear.

Janice: Oh God, it did! I was saying, that Dan Corbett, it was a big wind-up, he told me [puts on posh voice], 'oh, no, no, no there'll be nothing there, you'll be fine. Sunday, there'll be a bit of rain'. So I took all my waterproofs out of my bag and the wellies, the lot.

Oops.

Listen again - 1 hour 15 minutes in, available for the next seven days

Hooting Yard

Not only does he dispense the best advice, but Frank at Hooting Yard also presents a show of the same name on Resonance FM, in which That's The Weather, For Now has been honoured with its first mention on the airwaves!
Oh - and he put in a good word for Dan, too.
Read all about it and listen to the podcast.

To Frank, a thank-you and an apology; thanks for the plug - and sorry that, despite your advance warning, I completely forgot to listen live, erm... and advertise the show here [hangs head in shame]. My only excuse can be the distraction caused by Dan's reappearance last Wednesday. In a pathetic attempt to make up for it, I shall promote Resonance FM's fundraising drive and urge you all to donate.