Forecaster who gives us a warm glow
he’S described parts of Scotland as ‘nowheresville’, been sick while reading the shipping forecast and was caught on TV rudely gesturing at a fellow presenter.
But none of that has stopped Tomasz Schafernaker being voted Britain’s favourite weather forecaster.
BBC Breakfast’s Carol Kirkwood came second in the Radio Times poll of more than 50 national and regional weather presenters past and present, with BBC Scotland’s Judith Ralston in third. Ian McCaskill, who died in December, was ninth.
The exuberant presenting skills of 38-year-old Schafernaker have gained him a legion of fans since he became the youngest man ever to present the BBC weather at the age of 22. In 2010, he was about to deliver the forecast on the BBC News Channel, when news presenter Simon McCoy made a light-hearted remark. In the belief that he was off camera, Schafernaker was seen raising his middle finger to McCoy.
In 2007, he had to apologise after calling the Outer hebrides and Western Isles ‘nowheresville’, while last December he failed to finish the early-morning shipping forecast. Schafernaker later said he had been sick.