Daniel Corbett
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Daniel Corbett (born in Dagenham, Essex) is a British broadcast meteorologist, working for the Met Office and the BBC. He regularly appears on BBC One, the BBC News channel, BBC World News, 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 News at Six, and also appears on the BBC News at One and BBC News at Ten
He first joined the Met Office and BBC Weather Centre in 1997, after beginning his career in the United States.
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[edit] Early life and career before 1997
Daniel Corbett was born in Dagenham, Essex and spent his early life living in Billericay, Essex, before moving with his family to New York in 1974. Dan grew up in Smithtown, N.Y. where he graduated from high school in 1985. 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, Inc. 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 began in 1995, 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.
[edit] Career since 1997
In 1997 Dan was invited to join the Met Office and the BBC to help launch the brand new BBC News 24. Dan was a key member of the 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 News, before returning to the US. However, he returned to the UK, BBC and Met Office permanently in 2004.
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.
In July 2007 Dan appeared regularly on BBC News covering severe flooding in southern Britain. He also presented several forecasts BBC One live from the floodwaters in Gloucestershire.
[edit] 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 from that employed by most other British broadcasting meteorologists.
[edit] 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 "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 ..."; "maybe an extra blanket on the bed tonight"; "nice day to take the doggy out to the park"; "a lovely day for a picnic").
- Wet weather (said quickly).
- General elision when speaking, evident in individualistic pronunciations such as "Scottun" for Scotland; "Ingun" for England, etc.
Other Information
. Daniel Corbett is mentioned in 'The Experience of ...' a poem by Zöe Warren, which is featured in The Delinquent Issue 4.
