Each of these requires another mass of meteorologists and engineers who build and run the instruments. The largest employer of meteorologists in the UK is still the Meteorological Office in Bracknell, Berkshire. This vast office block houses 1,100 staff. But the mighty Met Office is having its sovereignty threatened. Under pressures from government it has started to charge for its forecasts and this has spawned a whole industry of smaller consultancy firms who undercut the Met Office to provide cheaper weather information.
Meteorologists can find themselves working for a wide variety of industries.
Consultancy companies employ meteorologists to do everything from supplying weather reports to TV stations, to calculating the best route for ships. Even insurance companies are employing meteorologists to check the legitimacy of some claims. But whether a local county council is deliberating over whether to salt its roads, or an overseas government is planning its agricultural policies, their meteorologists will need to be highly numerate as mathematical modelling of atmospheric fluid dynamics is essential for many predictions and forecasts these days. It is a popular misconception that a career in meteorology should be pursued through geography. Meteorology is a highly quantitative subject oozing with equations and difficult sums.