Penny Tranter was a

BBC Weather BBC Weather is the department of the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) responsible for both the preparation and the broadcasting of weather forecasts. On 6 February 2018, BBC Weather changed supplier from the government Met Office to Me ...

weather forecaster from 1992 to 2008.

Biography

Tranter was born in Kilwinning,

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Her interest in weather started after living through the Great Glasgow Storm of 1968. A few years later, after a family move to England, her interest intensified and, after attending

South Wilts Grammar School South Wilts Grammar School, formerly South Wilts Grammar School for Girls, is a grammar school in Salisbury, south Wiltshire, England, for pupils aged 11 to 18. Established in 1927, the school converted to an academy in 2011. In 2020, the name ...

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

, graduated from the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

in 1982 with a degree in

Environmental Sciences Environmental science is an interdisciplinary academic field that integrates physics, biology, and geography (including ecology, chemistry, plant science, zoology, mineralogy, oceanography, limnology, soil science, geology and physical geo ...

. She joined the Met Office in 1983 as a graduate trainee weather forecaster. Penny worked as a forecaster across the UK at the

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Weather Centres before joining the Commercial division in 1990. In 1992 Penny joined the team at the BBC Weather Centre, as a broadcast meteorologist, making her first television appearance on 7 November of that year. She appeared regularly on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

BBC News 24 BBC News (also known as the BBC News Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel for BBC News. It was launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 5:30 pm as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic telev ...

BBC World BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and S ...

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

and

Radio Five Live BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station covering sport in the United Kingdom, broadcast ...

. Penny was also involved in Children in Need over three years with fellow BBC weather presenters dancing the 'Can Can', 'It's Raining Men' and 'The Time Warp' from the Rocky Horror Show. As part of a BBC Weather Centre team, she also enjoyed running half marathons, completing several Great North Runs, until her knees 'said no more'. Penny left the BBC Weather Centre in January 2008Royal Meteorological Society Weather and Climate – Spotlight on careers
to become the Meteorology Training Manager at the Met Office College in Exeter, where she worked until 2011. While in the role, she oversaw an expansion of the College, leading to an increase in both student numbers and weather and climate change training, Penny is now a Met Office Advisor working with emergency responders and planners, specialising in severe weather. She is based in SW England, and remembers vividly the severe winter of 2013/14, when she worked closely with the emergency community involved in the response and recovery of the Somerset Levels flooding. Sailing is a lifelong hobby, and during London 2012 she was able to combine this passion with her weather forecasting skills. Penny was a member of the successful Met Office forecasting team for the sailing events in Weymouth for the Olympics and Paralympics. Since then, Penny has presented the weather brief for the 2015 and 2017 Fastnet Races to the competing yachtsmen and yachtswomen taking part in this iconic sailing challenge. Penny is a Chartered Meteorologist, member of the

Royal Meteorological Society The Royal Meteorological Society is a long-established institution that promotes academic and public engagement in weather and climate science. Fellows of the Society must possess relevant qualifications, but Associate Fellows can be lay enthus ...

and a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) ambassador for the Met Office. She often gives talks and presentations on weather, specialising in sailing weather and weather forecasting.

References

External links

Penny Tranter Biography
BBC Weather Website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tranter, Penny BBC weather forecasters Scottish meteorologists Alumni of the University of East Anglia Living people 1961 births People educated at South Wilts Grammar School for Girls BBC News people