Jo Wheeler (born 3 July 1963,

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

) is an English

weather forecaster A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

who currently works for

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...

Early life

Wheeler's father and uncle worked in the broadcasting industry. From 1974–79 she attended Wilmslow County Grammar School for Girls, which became comprehensive in 1978, and became part of

Wilmslow High School Wilmslow High School is a mixed-sex 11–18 comprehensive secondary school in Wilmslow, Cheshire, England. The school began in 1960 as a grammar school and gradually became a comprehensive school, becoming Wilmslow High School in 1991. Hist ...

. From 1979–81 she went to the independent

Cheadle Hulme School Cheadle Hulme School is a coeducational independent day school in Cheadle Hulme, Greater Manchester, England, for pupils aged 4 to 18, and a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. Founded in 1855 as The Manchester Warehouse ...

for her sixth-form. She spent a short time at Manchester Drama School, but did not complete her course.

Career

ITV

Before joining Sky, Wheeler had spells working for Central East Television as a

continuity announcer In broadcasting, continuity or presentation (or station break in the U.S. and Canada) is announcements, messages and graphics played by the broadcaster between specific programmes. It typically includes programme schedules, announcement of the ...

from 1983 at Lenton Lane Studios, later Carlton Studios, Nottingham. From January 1987 to November 1988 she worked with

Orion Airways Orion Airways (known simply as 'Orion') was an airline based in the United Kingdom with its head office on the grounds of East Midlands Airport in Castle Donington, North West Leicestershire."World Airline Directory." ''Flight International''. ...

Castle Donington Castle Donington is a market town and civil parish in Leicestershire, England, on the edge of the National Forest and close to East Midlands Airport. History The name 'Donington' means 'farm/settlement connected with Dunna'. Another suggest ...

BBC

She joined

East Midlands Today ''East Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news programme for the East Midlands. The programme is broadcast on BBC One from studios at the BBC's East Midlands broadcasting centre in Nottingham, also home to Radio Nottingham. The ...

as one of its first weather presenters when it was launched in 1991. She presented the afternoon weekend programme on

Radio Lincolnshire BBC Radio Lincolnshire is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Lincolnshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios near Newport Arch in Lincoln. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly aud ...

from 1988–93.

Sky News

She joined BSkyB in October 1994 where she also presented forecasts for Channel 5 until February 2012. She was also voted Best European Weather Presenter in 1998. She lived in Portugal for a seven-year period with her husband and five children, and commuted to the UK-based Sky News Centre in

Isleworth Isleworth ( ) is a town located within the London Borough of Hounslow in West London, England. It lies immediately east of the town of Hounslow and west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane, London, River Crane. Isleworth's or ...

on a weekly basis to present the weather. Because of this, she acted as a live reporter in

Praia da Luz Praia da Luz (, changing to before a following vowel), officially Luz, is a civil parish of the municipality of Lagos, in Algarve region, Portugal. The population of the civil parish in 2011 was 3,545, in an area of 21.78 km². Also known as ...

during the initial coverage of the

disappearance of Madeleine McCann Madeleine Beth McCann (born 12 May 2003) is a British missing person who disappeared from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Portugal, on the evening of 3 May 2007, at the age of 3. ''The Daily Telegraph'' described the disappeara ...

before journalists arrived from London. In 2010, Sky News carried out a major overhaul of its presentation, removing most of its weather presenters Wheeler now works

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

Personal life

Wheeler married Richard Edwards in April 2000 in Cheshire. They moved from

Wilmslow Wilmslow ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England, south of Manchester city centre. The population was 24,497 at the 2011 Census. History Toponymy Wilmslow derives its name from Old ...

to Portugal in 2002, and have had a daughter (born July 1999) and son (born November 2001) together. Jo has two daughters (born November 1990 and June 1994) and a son (born January 1992) from a previous relationship. She now lives in

Wainfleet, Lincolnshire Wainfleet All Saints is an ancient port and market town on the east coast of England, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire,OS Explorer map: Skegness, Alford & Spilsby: (1:25 000): on the A52 road south-west of Skegness and north-ea ...

References

External links

Going the distance
''Times Online'', 2 September 2007
Miles better
''Telegraph'', 6 October 2007 *
Joanne Wheeler – Q and A
TV Newsroom {{DEFAULTSORT:Wheeler, Jo BBC weather forecasters English expatriates in Portugal Living people 1963 births People educated at Cheadle Hulme School People from East Lindsey District People from Wilmslow Radio and television announcers Sky News weather forecasters People from Twickenham