Meet Helen Roberts - The first Socio-Meteorologist with the Met Office

Meet Helen Roberts - The first Socio-Meteorologist with the Met Office

Author: Gemma Plumb & Aisling Creevey February 15, 2023 Duration: 48:22

Helen Roberts has a breadth of experience in weather forecasting and is the Met Office’s first socio-meteorologist.

Helen’s fascination with ‘Big Science’ started as a little girl in the southwest of England, looking at sunsets and thunderstorms from her bedroom window. Listening to Helen on this podcast you can hear how that curiosity has evolved and lasted right the way through her career.

She talks about changes in communicating the weather forecast and how the role of a forecaster is about helping people and businesses to make better decisions, to strive and to stay safe. She discusses the challenges of making a relatable forecast, particularly in severe and impactful weather like the unprecedented spell of hot weather in July 2022, when a number of places in the UK reached a staggering 40C. Something most of the population would have never experienced.

Helen then speaks about weather and natural disasters which can have a profound psychological impact. Sadly after this episode was recorded there was a natural disaster in Turkey and Syria where the fallout from an earthquake continues to cause devastation; this part of the episode offers some perspective of the aftermath of an event like this.

We hope you enjoyed this episode as much as we did. You can follow Helen on Twitter @Weather_Helen or LinkedIn at Helen Roberts.

If you would like to follow our podcast on Twitter we are @4loveofweather or Instagram @Fortheloveofweather.

Thanks so much for listening and supporting the podcast and we hope you leave this episode loving the weather that little bit more.


Ever find yourself actually enjoying a rainy afternoon or wondering why a certain cloud looks the way it does? You're not alone. For the love of weather is the ongoing conversation between meteorologists Gemma Plumb and Aisling Creevey, who have spent over fifteen years forecasting across the UK. This podcast captures the kind of deep-dive chats they've been having for years, moving far beyond simple small talk. They pull back the curtain on what weather really means for our daily lives, drawing on a surprising range of experience. Their professional paths have seen them predicting conditions for everything from major music festivals and national rail networks to agricultural harvests and even ice cream demand, giving them a unique perspective on how the atmosphere connects to the ground beneath our feet. Each episode feels like sitting with two experts who are still genuinely fascinated by their subject, discussing the science behind a storm front, the challenges of a long-range forecast, or how a shift in the wind can change an entire industry's plans. It's a look at the patterns and stories in the sky, grounded in the reality of jobs, life changes, and a shared curiosity that hasn't faded. Tune in for a human take on the forces that shape our days.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

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