The 10-day forecasts are a joke, he says. Forecasting more than two or three days ahead - you may as well throw darts at a dartboard. The BBC's Michael Fish takes the award for the biggest weather gaffe. He blithely dismissed reports of an impeding hurricane one evening - after all these thing never happen in Britain. One suspects he found himself in a deep depression the next morning.
Most presenters take their jobs extremely seriously.
There were thousands of concerned calls to the ABC's switchboard when Maher went off air last May to care for a sick relative. He retired formally in early February. No matter who is reading out the temperatures, the weather report looks a lot more interesting now than when Maher first waved his pointer some 30 years ago. Gone are the days of the H's and L's drawn in shaky felt-tip on a perspex map of Australia just before going to air. Foxtel has dispensed with a presenter, providing a 24-hour, fully automated weather channel with data direct from the bureau.