Weather Forecast with Michael Fish 17th February 1985 Forecast: Late Evening Channel: BBC1 Date: Sunday 17th February 1985 Time: 9.20pm approx. Forecaster: Michael Fish
That poor bastard had a successful 30 year career as a BBC weatherman with no issues, but all everyone remembers him for is that one forecast where he quite correctly told viewers there was definitely not a hurricane on the way. Britain was unfortunately hit by the worst gale force winds in over a decade that night, but even so, he was quite right in stating that it wasn't a fucking hurricane. Hurricanes are a purely western Atlantic phenomenon, and by the time they reach the UK they have downgraded several notches to the category of windstorm. It wasn't Michael Fish's fault that the Met Office didn't see it coming, as all the data at that time suggested the storm was heading for France instead. Oh well. Thankfully, weather forecasting technology has improved enormously since the 1980's.
Great post Stuart M. In those awful clip shows where minor celebrities react to old TV shows the clip of Michael often crops up. They invariably cut at the point where Michael says 'a lady rang the BBC to ask if there's going to be a hurricane, don't worry, there isn't' but they never show the part where Michael goes on to say 'but it will be very windy'. Nobody at that time could've predicted the severity of the storm and Michael, and also Ian McCaskill were definitely hung out to dry.
