Sponsored by
Weatherman puts viewers in the picture
The weather has become a national obsession, but Jon Mitchell tells Sarah Freeman why, come rain or shine, he'll always be in his element.
Forecasting the weather can be a thankless task.
Correctly predict a bank of bad weather and the public feel
well within their rights to shoot the messenger.
Get it wrong, and – as Michael Fish found out – they won't let you forget it. The words "if you're watching, don't worry" as he tried to reassure a viewer worried about a possible hurricane just hours before gale force winds ripped through the country in 1987 will probably be written on his gravestone.
It's a tightrope, Yorkshire Television's Jon Mitchell has been walking for almost two decades and over the years he has learnt just one little word can be enough to prompt viewers to pick up the phone.
"You have to be very careful using phrases like warm and cold," he says. "To one person standing at a bus stop it will be warm, to another it will be freezing.
"As a nation I think we are obsessed by the weather, but it's with good reason. So often a picnic or a walk is ruined by a sudden downpour, in this country there are no guarantees. People think I get sick of them asking me what the weather's going to be like, but I honestly don't. Despite the odd complaint, most people realise that even with new technology it's a hard job trying to predict Mother Nature."
Since his first televised forecast back in 1986, Jon has become a familiar face to viewers – however, in recent years their input into his broadcast has grown. The rise of digital cameras and increased accessibility to email mean he's inundated on a daily basis with photographs of scenes across Yorkshire, the best of which are used as a backdrop to his nightly forecast.
"The feedback from viewers is incredibly important," he says. "People feel a sense of ownership about the weather bulletin, which is as it should be and I'll never tire of reading their letters.
"Most touching was a lady who wrote to say she was very hard of hearing so didn't listen to what I had to say. Instead, she just looked to see if I was smiling, in which case she knew the weather would be fine."
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of YTV and to raise funds for the Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Nottingham Air Ambulance service, Jon has sifted through thousands of viewer images for a new book Bright and Breezy. Arranged in calendar order, the finished book provides a snapshot of Yorkshire's landscapes over 12 months.
"Back when Yorkshire Television started, no one took photos because film was expensive and certainly all family photos taken at the time were in black and white, as were most televisions," he says. "Six years ago, when digital cameras really came into their own, we realised how easy it would be to include viewers' pictures in the bulletins.
"They give a real time feeling to the forecast and hopefully make it more relevant to the viewers. The amount of photographs we receive varies day to day. One December evening last year, there was a magnificent sunset just before teatime. It was so dramatic that we went outside with our own cameras, but the upshot was that my email was completely jammed. On other days we are lucky to receive just one or two photos.
"It's true what they say that a picture tells a thousand words and I hope the book shows just what a varied landscape Yorkshire offers."
Jon admits he was destined to become a weather forecaster from an early age, but he was initially reluctant to move from behind the scenes at the Leeds Weather Centre to in front of the full glare of the cameras.
"I was weather monitor at school recording all the rainfall readings and later became fascinated by books on clouds," he says. "While still at school, I applied for a job with the Met office and in 1986 was posted to the Leeds weather centre. When I first became a weather forecaster in 1978, we spent most of our time plotting charts with two pens sellotaped together. The finished product was a work of art that took three solid hours sitting at a desk to complete. These days a computer can source all the data and print out a similar chart in seconds.
"I was really happy in the background, but then one day a notice went up asking for volunteers to stand in for Bob Rust who at the time was Yorkshire Television's main presenter. No one came forward and despite Bob's continued efforts I kept refusing. One day after a night shift he rang me up. I was just coming round from a deep sleep and in the haze I agreed to go down for an audition."
The rest, as they say, is history.
"My first forecast was quite daunting. Standing in front of a million people certainly gets the adrenalin going," says Jon. "All these years on I think people see me as part of the furniture. I don't mind, every time I present a forecast, I realise what a beautiful part of the world we live in."
To order your copy of Bright and Breezy: YTV in All Weathers, priced 17.75 inc p&p, call 01748 821122, Monday to Saturday 9am-5pm or send cheque/ postal order made payable to Yorkshire Offers, to Yorkshire Offers, 1 Castle Hill , Richmond, North Yorkshire, DL10 4QP.
Email to a friend
Print this page- Rival chips in with £500,000 to restore the original Harry Ramsden’s
- NHS spends £20m a year on translators and interpreters
- Visit from Princess as Serbian culture celebrated
- SportsTalk: Leeds United’s manager search, Super League and Calcutta Cup
- Air power used for repairs to eroded Three Peaks paths
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Yorkshire
Tuesday 07 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -8 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: -6 C to -0 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South
