Weather
Some of Sky’s weather presenters reveal a few of their trade secrets.
How does Sky predict its weather?
Francis Wilson: "The best thing about our weather reports is that we use a predictive sequence that is continuous. This means that instead of showing the viewer ‘this afternoon’ and a picture, we run the present picture of the atmosphere and run what we might reasonably expect to happen in the future.
A computer mimics the atmosphere by generating a series of equations involving the values of other elements – such as humidity, pressure, temperature and cloud visibility – affecting the weather around the world. It applies these numbers and does these equations over and over again until you go forward in time. From here, you can put together a forecast.
We get these equations in the form of charts and then try and work out what the computer is saying to us. You draw a storyboard to show how the weather will change over the course of that day, by picking key times such as 9am and 3pm. The computer gets you from one time frame to another by morphing."
How does the weather map work?
Lucy Verasamy, Sky News Weather Presenter, "Here at Sky, the majority of live broadcasts take place at the 'Wall' – a huge flat-screened image. Our weather map image fills the entire screen and we as presenters are almost dwarfed by the mighty map of Britain and Ireland behind us.
It’s sometimes a little tricky to point out details – as the image is slightly pixellated at close range and it’s virtually impossible to reach up to Cumbria, let alone Scotland, but the overall look is fantastic, and the images look particularly striking during dramatic weather scenarios.
It’s also a refreshing change from the traditional way of presenting the weather, because rather than standing on the spot we get to move around a bit more, and it makes us stand out from the other channels too.
It’s not all Wall work though; we still use a traditional chroma key for recordings used by the Sky News Active Channel and Sky Sports News. The chroma key is a blank screen behind us – which is electronically replaced by a weather map on viewing, so as presenters we can't actually see a map at all, and we estimate where to point during our forecast, which takes a little practice."
Do you get a lot of stick for getting it wrong?
Lisa Burke: "I think most people understand we do our best not to. We can only use the information provided by computer models, along with instinct and experience, to construct the weather forecasts. It is sometimes difficult to predict timings of rain or amounts of cloud, for instance.
However, if there is a degree of uncertainty (and there inevitably will be in every forecast), I believe it’s alright to tell people this. I’ll just say it’s unsettled, and as yet hard to gauge things accurately."
Do you get a lot of fan mail?
Lucy Verasamy: "We get a few letters now and again – some simply requesting a signed photo which is quite flattering and occasional notes praising our forecasts. We've had some lovely letters and emails from those in the Forces based out in Iraq and Afghanistan – it seems when they are based so many miles away for so long, weather forecasts are a familiar and comforting reminder of home."
Do people ask for impromptu forecasts?
Lucy Verasamy: "Friends do from time to time – especially if there’s an important event such as a wedding coming up or a big weather-dependant holiday planned, such as a ski trip.
More often than not I'm asked about sensationalised weather stories in the newspapers, which can be quite misleading and overly dramatised at times, and a ploy to sell papers rather than conveying accurate details. My advice is to take weather stories written by journalists with a pinch of salt and stick to the actual weather forecast."
Do strangers want to chat about the weather?
Lisa Burke: "Quite a few people are interested in how we actually ‘do’ the weather in the studio, but very few realise we also do the background work, which takes longer. Also, most think we have an autocue, which is a little tricky if you’re trying to point to graphics all the time.
No, it’s not autocued. So the only thing I ever find a little grating is when someone says I ‘read’ the weather."