Thanks for dropping in and welcome to my website. Until May 2011 I was the face of weather on BBC television's regional news programme, Points West. Now, however, I'm one of four meteorologists broadcasting from Doha, Qatar on Al Jazeera English.
To access Al Jazeera English go to: Digital: 514, Freesat: 203 or Freeview: 89
The times of the forecasts are as follows: 0815, 0915, 1115, 1257, and 1445. These are prerecorded. There are live forecasts at 1125 and 1323. Other prerecorded forecasts are played out during the evening and night at quarter past the hour. Please note all times are GMT.
You can also read my articles and view my galleries at www.aljazeera.com/weather
The idea behind this website is to promote and expand on issues you may have seen on the weather forecast, for which on-air time just does not allow. Is tomorrow's weather a product of global warming? What's happening in the night sky? What's the weather like in other parts of the world?
All views expressed are mine, and mine alone and are nothing to do with my employers, either past or present.
There is a saying attributed to Benjamin Franklin that, "Whilst some people are weatherwise, most are otherwise." Hopefully, this site will help you become a little more weatherwise.
Tuesday 30th January
During my time at BBC Points West I made a point of using as many high quality images from viewers as backgrounds on the forecasts. (Such as the one below from Madeleine Cockbill.) Despite now considering the whole world on my forecasts I'm still interested in any extreme of unusual weather events back home.
So please feel free to email any images you think may be suitable to richard.angwin@aljazeera.net I can't promise to use them, but if they are likely to fit into a broadcast or be useful on our website I will, as always try to give you a credit. Many thanks!
Saturday 28th January
Just back from Dubai after completing their marathon in a time of 3:47:34. 416th place and only one hour and 18-odd minutes behind the winner!
Very happy with my performance and felt good all the way round. I beat my previous marathon time by nine minutes.
I'm now looking forward to the next one, maybe next year, maybe later this year if I can find a late entry somewhere.
Friday 20th January
Being surrounded by warm, still waters on The Pearl makes getting out on the water very tempting - in my case too tempting. So I have bought a modular kayak. It is like a regular kayak except that it comes in sections which you simply clip together:
Preparing for launch with Lee from our local beach
The beauty of this system is that if there is just one of you, you can remove the middle section and make it a one-many kayak. And it all fits inside a fairly small SUV. I intend making full use of it over the next few years out here.
Apologies for being quiet on the site of late. There have been some problems with putting things 'live' on the site plus I have been away for the last week, cruising around the United Arab Emirates, on the Royal Caribbean, Brilliance of the Seas:
Moored in Dubai
Tuesday 17th January
We really enjoy cruising and this one was no exception. We met some really interesting people won lots of on-board quizzes (my wife is very competitive) and even got in a few dives in Oman:
Who are you looking at?
The highlight of the diving was probably this leopard shark:
A two-metre leopard shark
Thursday 29th December
Happy Christmas. I spent much of Christmas running and kayaking - strange but very enjoyable.
Here's a link to an interesting article about Qatar's place in the world from the BBC website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-16348250
Sunday 11th December
What happens when one of the palm trees on The Pearl dies? They simply dig it up, stick in a new one and Bob's your uncle:
How to plant a palm tree
Saturday 10th December
Just been to the opening ceremony of the Arab Games. Very impressive with great fireworks and light show. Interestingly, whilst the biggest cheer was reserved for the huge Qatari team, the next biggest was for the Palestinian team. I joined in with the applause for them.
The light show at the opening ceremony at the Khalifa Stadium
The crowd at the Arab Games
Saturday 9th December
Living in Doha you've got two choices. You can either keep your head down, not get involved, save your money and tick off the days until you head back to dear old Blighty.
Or, you can make the most of every opportunity out here; go to things you wouldn't normally experience.
We've chosen the latter option. Last week we went for afternoon tea at the Ritz-Carlton:
A very civilised affair it was; tiny sandwiches, cakes and big scones. Alas, no Cornish clotted cream, only marscapone. What a shame they couldn't invest in a little of Rodda's finest. Even Devon clotted cream would be better than marscapone.
Friday 9th December
Just back from a week in Oman. Life out here is like that. You have a few days off; you swap a few more with colleagues and before you know it, you've got enough time off for a holiday. And there are plenty of places to go from Qatar.
I celebrated my birthday in Muscat
So we booked a trip to Oman on Tuesday morning and on Wednesday we were on the plane to Muscat!
We had a few days diving out there. It wasn't spectacular but there was enough to see to keep us interested. We love cuttlefish (and we don't mean lightly grilled with chips):
Cuttlefish often live as pairs and can change colour in a few seconds
Friday 18th November
Ran the Doha 10K today. Finished in just under 48 minutes, which wasn't bad in the early morning sunshine. Came in 39th out of 250 but came second in my age group - politely referred to as 'masters'. One of the best organised races I've ever taken part in.
My training is now on schedule for the Dubai marathon in January. Just deciding whether to run for a charity. I might try and raise funds for Save the Children. Watch this space!
Wednesday 16th November
On Tuesday we attended the Egypt versus Brazil international friendly at the Al Rayyan stadium:
The Al Rayyan stadium
We left in what we thought was plenty of time but the traffic was horrendous. We didn't get into the ground until five minutes before half-time! Let's hope things are better organised by the time the World Cup comes around!
Thursday 12th August
Oh joy! A sofa to sit on. Life doesn't get any better than this.
The Doha Four (Picture: Alex Fox)