Robert "Rob" McElwee was BBC Weather

BBC Weather

BBC Weather is the BBC's department in charge of preparing and broadcasting weather forecasts and is now part of BBC News. The broadcast meteorologists are employed by the Met Office...

's longest-serving weather forecaster since the departure of Michael Fish

Michael Fish

Michael Fish MBE is a semi-retired British weather forecaster, best known for his BBC Weather television presentations, although he was actually employed by the Met Office....

. He presented forecasts on BBC News, BBC World News, BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...

, BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...

, BBC Radio 5 Live

BBC Radio 5 Live

BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...

 and BBC One

BBC One

BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

. He was also a regular weather presenter on the BBC News at Ten and the BBC News at Six, having previously forecast on the BBC News at One.

Early life

He gained an HNC in maths, statistics and physics from Reading College of Technology (now called Reading College

Reading College

Reading College is a further education college based in Reading, Berkshire, England. It has over 8,500 local learners on over 900 courses.The Kings Road site that is the principal location of Reading College has been used for further education since 1955, when the Reading College of Technology was...

).

Experience

Rob joined the Met Office

Met Office

The Met Office , is the United Kingdom's national weather service, and a trading fund of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills...

 in 1982 working as a weather observer, spending most of the next eight years observing the weather on the Army Air Corps base of Netheravon

Netheravon

Netheravon is a village and civil parish on the River Avon, about north of the town of Amesbury in Wiltshire.-Notable people:The writer Frank Sawyer , although born in Bulford, spent most of his life in Netheravon as river keeper River Avon and died on the banks of the river near the parish church...

 on the Salisbury Plain

Salisbury Plain

Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in central southern England covering . It is part of the Southern England Chalk Formation and largely lies within the county of Wiltshire, with a little in Hampshire. The plain is famous for its rich archaeology, including Stonehenge, one of England's best known...

. Following this, he trained as a forecaster and worked at airbases in East Anglia

East Anglia

East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...

.

BBC forecasting

He joined the BBC Weather

BBC Weather

BBC Weather is the BBC's department in charge of preparing and broadcasting weather forecasts and is now part of BBC News. The broadcast meteorologists are employed by the Met Office...

Centre in May 1991, making his first appearance in July. He is a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society. He lives with his wife Rosanne MacMillan and sons in Buckinghamshire.

Final forecast

Rob presented his final forecast on BBC1 on 10 January 2011, during which he forecast rain with chances of snow for most of the UK. He ended the forecast saying, "'Till then, a bit of snow still. That's it from me. That's it from me, really. Goodnight." He was moved to backroom forecasting duties by the Met Office as part of a cost-cutting exercise.

External links

• Rob McElwee Profile BBC Weather Website