Anne Purvis joined the Met Office in 1974 as a support scientist writing computer programs. After training as a forecaster, she was posted to the London Weather Centre in 1979 and subsequently joined BBC TV's weather team. She spent three months at RAF Odiham forecasting for helicopter pilots before returning to Met Office HQ in Bracknell in early 1984 to program the super-computers.
In June 1987 she accepted an offer to be weather presenter on TVS but left in October 1988 to become a full-time mother. She remembers an occasion during her time with the BBC when, walking from chart to chart, her microphone became entangled and nearly prevented her from reaching the final map. She only succeeded in finishing her broadcast "at an angle of 45 degrees with my skirt hitched up to an indecent level. The public were fortunately spared the sight!" She enjoys jogging, reading, art, cooking and collecting cookery books.
