Yesterday Gail McGrane took up the prime-time slot on Reporting Scotland departed by Heather “the weather” Reid, predicting more ice and snow to come.
Although based at BBC Scotland since 2001, presenting the breakfast weather and filling in on Ms Reid’s days off, she doesn’t underestimate the challenge of replacing her.
“She definitely made it her own,” Ms McGrane told The Herald. “Heather was an institution.”
The 34-year-old, originally from Dingwall, began her career as a weather forecaster almost by accident. She gained an undergraduate degree in geography from Strathclyde University, spending her third year studying in Iowa, and then an MSc in environmental science. But it was a friend who drew her attention to a job advert looking for people “interested” in weather.
“It was very vague. I didn’t know it was to be a presenter. It just said if you had an interest in weather to send an application form – and it turned out it was for the BBC Met Office.”
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