Philip Avery

Philip Avery (born 15 November 1959) is a British meteorologist and BBC Weather forecaster.

Early life

Although from a West Country family, Avery was born in Dunfermline, Scotland when his father was posted to Scotland with the Royal Navy.^[1]

Career

After his initial training with the Royal Navy, Avery spent time at a naval air station before joining a helicopter squadron embarked in HMS Ark Royal.^[2] Over the following two years he forecasted across the world, after which he joined a Search and Rescue squadron, based at Prestwick in Scotland. Within four years, he completed his time in the Navy and achieved an MBA.^[2]

Avery helped to launch The Weather Network, a 24-hour cable-channel based in Birmingham, before moving to London to work with the Weather Channel. After a year he joined the BBC Weather Centre, in April 1998, becoming a household name appearing regularly on BBC News, BBC World News, BBC Red Button, BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio 4, where he was a regular forecaster on the Today programme. He previously forecast on the BBC News at Ten, the BBC News at Six and the BBC News at One.^[2]

Avery took time out from presenting between September 2004 and July 2005 to take part in the Global Challenge 2004-2005 yacht race.^[2][3]

In October 2010 it was announced that Avery would no longer be presenting BBC weather forecasts.^[4] Despite this, he returned to broadcasting on the BBC a few years later. Avery has since presented the weather for BBC's Gardeners' World^[5] and is now a regular presenter on BBC One.^[2][6]