Daniel Corbett
Encyclopedia
Daniel Corbett is a British
broadcast meteorologist, who worked for the Met Office
and the BBC for many years until May 2011. He regularly appeared on BBC ONE
, BBC News, BBC World News, BBC Red Button, BBC Four
, BFBS TV, BBC Radio 4
, BBC Radio 2
and BBC Radio 5 Live
. He first joined the Met Office
and BBC Weather
Centre in 1997, after beginning his career in the United States
. In May 2011, Corbett made his final BBC weather report prior to taking up a new post in New Zealand
with the MetService.
, Greater London
, and spent his early life living in Billericay
, Essex
, before moving with his family to New York
in 1974. Corbett grew up in Smithtown, New York
, 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 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.
and the BBC
to help launch the brand new BBC News 24
. Corbett 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 Corbett 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, Corbett 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 Corbett appeared regularly on BBC News covering severe flooding in southern Britain. He also presented several forecasts BBC One
live from the floodwaters in Gloucestershire
. His experience of working in the US means Corbett is often called upon to comment on severe weather events like hurricanes and tornadoes on various BBC News programmes and the BBC News channel. On the 17th of May he announced on Five Live that he was leaving the BBC to work in New Zealand for their Met Office. He made his final Five Live forecast on 18 May 2011.
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
broadcast meteorologist, who worked for 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...
and the BBC for many years until May 2011. He regularly appeared on 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...
, BBC News, BBC World News, BBC Red Button, BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
, BFBS TV, 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...
and 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...
. He first 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...
and 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 1997, after beginning his career in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. In May 2011, Corbett made his final BBC weather report prior to taking up a new post in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
with the MetService.
Early life and career before 1997
Daniel Corbett was born in DagenhamDagenham
Dagenham is a large suburb in East London, forming the eastern part of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and located east of Charing Cross. It was historically an agrarian village in the county of Essex and remained mostly undeveloped until 1921 when the London County Council began...
, Greater London
Greater London
Greater London is the top-level administrative division of England covering London. It was created in 1965 and spans the City of London, including Middle Temple and Inner Temple, and the 32 London boroughs. This territory is coterminate with the London Government Office Region and the London...
, and spent his early life living in Billericay
Billericay
Billericay is a town and civil parish in the Basildon borough of Essex, England. It lies within the London Basin, has a population of 40,000, and constitutes a commuter town east of central London. The town has three secondary schools and a variety of open spaces...
, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, before moving with his family to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1974. Corbett grew up in Smithtown, New York
Smithtown, New York
As of the census of 2000, there were 115,715 people, 38,487 households, and 31,482 families residing in the town. The population density was 2,159.9 people per square mile . There were 39,357 housing units at an average density of 734.6 per square mile...
, where he graduated from high school in 1985. He earned his BSc
BSC
BSC is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to:Science and technology* Bachelor of Science , an undergraduate degree* Base Station Controller, part of a mobile phone network; see: Base Station subsystem...
degree
Academic degree
An academic degree is a position and title within a college or university that is usually awarded in recognition of the recipient having either satisfactorily completed a prescribed course of study or having conducted a scholarly endeavour deemed worthy of his or her admission to the degree...
in Meteorology
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
at the State University of New York at Stony Brook
State University of New York at Stony Brook
The State University of New York at Stony Brook, also known as Stony Brook University, is a public research university located in Stony Brook, New York, on the North Shore of Long Island, about east of Manhattan....
in 1990, and moved on to work for Universal Weather and Aviation in New York and Houston, Texas
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
. 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
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama . Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, with a population of 90,468 in 2010...
. He then moved onto KWTX-TV
KWTX-TV
KWTX-TV, channel 10, is a full-power television station in Waco, Texas, serving Central Texas as a CBS affiliate. Owned by Gray Television, it airs a digital signal on VHF channel 10...
in Waco, Texas
Waco, Texas
Waco is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas. Situated along the Brazos River and on the I-35 corridor, halfway between Dallas and Austin, it is the economic, cultural, and academic center of the 'Heart of Texas' region....
where his English accent proved a big hit with viewers. While he was working for KWTX, one of America's biggest tornadoes, an F5
Fujita scale
The Fujita scale , or Fujita-Pearson scale, is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation...
, 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 Corbett was invited to join the Met OfficeMet Office
The Met Office , is the United Kingdom's national weather service, and a trading fund of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills...
and the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
to help launch the brand new BBC News 24
BBC News 24
BBC News is the BBC's 24-hour rolling news television network in the United Kingdom. The channel launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 17:30 as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic television channels, becoming the first competitor to Sky News, which had been running since 1989...
. Corbett 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
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...
and BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
and broadcasts across the BBC's network of radio stations. In 2000 Corbett 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
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 Summer 2003 presenting forecasts on BBC World News, before returning to the US. However, he returned to the UK, BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
and 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...
permanently in 2004. Since 2005, Corbett has presented forecasts for the BBC's coverage of the Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon
The Championships, Wimbledon, or simply Wimbledon , is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, considered by many to be the most prestigious. It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the other three Majors...
Tennis Championships live from the courtside for two weeks each summer. In July 2007 Corbett appeared regularly on BBC News covering severe flooding in southern Britain. He also presented several forecasts 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...
live from the floodwaters in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
. His experience of working in the US means Corbett is often called upon to comment on severe weather events like hurricanes and tornadoes on various BBC News programmes and the BBC News channel. On the 17th of May he announced on Five Live that he was leaving the BBC to work in New Zealand for their Met Office. He made his final Five Live forecast on 18 May 2011.