The best weather bloopers revealed after BBC glitch… from swearing on live TV to getting the giggles
WEATHER reporting can be a thankless task, with technical glitches and unexpected clangers landing forecasters in hot water.
The BBC apologised after its weather app this week incorrectly predicted hurricane winds of 15,345mph in London’s Oxford Circus, and temperatures of 404C in Nottingham.
The bloopers led BBC weather presenter Carol Kirkwood to say: “Believe me, it’s all hands on deck at the moment trying to sort it out.”
But this is not the first time weather reports have blown it — here are some of the best meteorological mistakes and mishaps . . .
BBC Scotland’s Judith Ralston dropped the F-word in 2019 on the Seven Days review programme.
She said: “Oh f***, sorry. I forgot the pressure chart. Sorry.”
Alison Hammond made a splash on the This Morning weather map in Liverpool, accidentally pushing one of her assistants into the cold water of Albert Dock.
She said: “I thought at one point I’d killed him.”
AUSSIE weatherman Steve Jacobs was attacked by Marnie the pelican, who pinned him against a wall and pecked his backside as he was broadcasting from Taronga Zoo in 2010.
Steve screamed and collapsed in giggles.
AS Carol Kirkwood did a BBC Breakfast forecast in West Sussex in 2014, a dog squatted down and pooped.
The show’s presenter said: “Oh Carol, don’t look behind you.” Carol joked: “Upstaged by a dog, story of my life.”
IN 2021, Carol was pulled face down on the floor by a guide dog named Flash during the Chelsea Flower Show and her legs flipped up on screen.
In the studio, a presenter said: “We’ve got a Kirkwood down.”
Weatherman Michael Fish notoriously said ahead of the 1987 great storm, which caused destruction across the UK: “A woman rang the BBC and said she heard there was a hurricane on the way. Well, don’t worry, there isn’t.”
The gaffe remains one of weather’s greatest bloopers.
THE Radio 4 Shipping Forecast was interrupted for the first time in 91 years in 2016 when weather presenter Tomasz Schafernaker felt sick.
He tried to keep reading while retching, before mumbling “excuse me” and rushing off.
Fellow presenter Chris Aldridge finished the broadcast.
IN 2010, Tomasz had another calamity when he was caught on camera giving his colleague the middle finger.
Newsreader Simon McCoy had taunted him by saying: “We will have the weather forecast in a minute and of course it will be 100 per cent accurate and provide all the detail you need. I’ve just seen Tom Schafernaker preparing for it.”
VIEWERS saw double in 2014 when BBC presenter Helen Willetts had an awkward technical glitch that meant she appeared to have a twin.
CANADIAN meteorologist Kristi Gordon got the fright of her life in 2013 when a seemingly giant spider was projected on to her head during a weather forecast.
She screamed in terror.
The mini-beast had crawled on to the weather camera.
FLORIDA weatherman Justin Mosely went viral after a cockroach ran up his leg during a weather forecast in 2007.
He dashed off camera screaming: “Oh my God.”