155 years of official weather reporting in The Times

Weather Reports

The first weather report in The Times, September 6, 1860.

From September 6, 1860 weather reports, providing information for points around the whole of the British Isles, began to be supplied by the meteorological department of the Board of Trade (later the Meteorological Office). This department was under the management of Rear Admiral Robert Fitzroy.

Fitzroy had been the Captain of HMS Beagle between 1828 and 1836, including the voyage on which Charles Darwin was among the scientific crew (1831–1836).

Previously, weather reports were supplied by private individuals and covered a limited area.

The offer from the Board of Trades to supply meteorological reports to The Times was accepted on September 4, 1860 as evidenced in the letter sent from Mowbray Morris, Manager of The Times, to Fitzroy.

Managers Letter Books (1st series), volume 10, pages 465–466

Transcript of the letter:

The Times

4 September 1860

Sir,

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated the 3rd inst.

The Proprietors of The Times are obliged to the Board of Trade for their offer to furnish certain meteorological returns for publication in The Times; & I beg on behalf of the Conductors of that paper to accept your offer.

I have the honour to be your obedient servant,
Mowbray Morris

Rear Admiral Robert Fitzroy
Board of Trade

Weather forecasts

The first weather “probable” under the Meteorological Reports in The Times, August 1, 1861.

Weather forecasts were published on a regular basis from August 1, 1861. However, the word forecast did not appear regularly until July 26, 1877 (there are very occasional earlier references in the 1870s). The forecast, which was very brief and general in nature, was published as weather “probable” or “expected”.

A two column article titled “How to foretell weather” written by Rear Admiral Fitzroy had been published on September 11, 1860.