Simon King

Lead BBC weather presenter and meteorologist. Mostly R4 Today, 5 Live and BBC Breakfast | Ex-RAF Officer | Author ‘What Does Rain Smell Like?’

[BBC News (UK) @BBCNews]

Warning of record global temperatures as chance of very strong El Niño grows https://t.co/mW76ywGLXZ

[Dan Roan @danroan]

How could extreme weather affect World Cup 2026?
@simonoking | BBC Weather https://t.co/PPBigB1isI

[Simon King @SimonOKing]

In awe of this. Just think, the green aurora is around 200-250km high. But that looks like nothing in relation to Earth in this incredible picture…and therefore our atmosphere (~50km) just feels even more fragile/precious. 🌎

[NASA @NASA]

We see our home planet as a whole, lit up in spectacular blues and browns. A green aurora even lights up the atmosphere. That's us, together, watching as our astronauts make their journey to the Moon.

[Simon King @SimonOKing]

Artemis II launch weather still looking favourable for tomorrow night but intermittent cumulus and brisk onshore breeze still main thing to watch. ☁️☁️

🚀 Find out more about importance of the weather forecast here ⬇️
https://t.co/OgxYEVJiaO

[BBC News (UK) @BBCNews]

Could weather conditions stop Artemis Moon launch? https://t.co/GhBdHupin2

[NASA Earth @NASAEarth]

For the second consecutive year, winter sea ice in the Arctic reached a level that matches the lowest peak observed since satellite monitoring began in 1979.

On March 15, Arctic sea ice extent reached 5.52 million square miles, @NASA and @NSIDC report. https://t.co/ZzCduqnQfM

[Simon King @SimonOKing]

@Kevinmc837 @ryanhallyall @NWS @NWStornado @NWSWPC Hi Kevin, I’m a meteorologist from the BBC in the UK. Did you take this picture? Please could we share it on our platforms with full credit? Thanks.

[Simon King @SimonOKing]

@_JamieMcIntyre @ProfLizBentley @alextomo We covered these concerns @bbcnews last year… https://t.co/nwKcQ2eLAg

[Simon King @SimonOKing]

.@AerLingus - hello, we’ve had zero communication about our bags after emergency landing. How much longer do we wait without information before leaving @manairport and getting you to forward on?

[Simon King @SimonOKing]

@manairport morning. I was on the Aer Lingus flight from Barbados that made emergency landing. Any idea when our luggage will arrive. Baggage reclaim staff aren’t able to give any updates!

[Simon King @SimonOKing]

Would fancy Toronto in June rather than Dallas.

Temperatures would be in the pleasant low-mid 20’s rather than mid 30’s! 🥵

#WorldCup2026 #England @BBCSport

[Simon King @SimonOKing]

Josh has been hurricane chasing for many years and his insights - both the meteorological and the human impact - are always invaluable.

His initial take on hurricane #Melissa is well worth a read on both those counts and he'll be sharing much more...

[Josh Morgerman @iCyclone]

Man. #Hurricane #MELISSA. Incredible power. Perhaps the mightiest hurricane of the 83 I've witnessed.

My location (Crawford, a tiny beach town in St. Elizabeth Parish #Jamaica) took the full force of the inner right eyewall and may have seen the peak winds in this historic, record-smashing hurricane.

First pic: as it started to get scary. Bone-rattling gusts were making roofs explode into clouds of lethal confetti. The grand palm tree out front was starting to bend obscenely—in a way I found unnatural.

Second pic: after we bolted the door shut because it was getting too dangerous even to watch the storm. (I'd randomly ended up in the hotel's kitchen with a local family.)

The hurricane's inner eyewall was a screaming white void. All I could see through the cracks in the shutters was the color white—accompanied by a constant, ear-splitting scream that actually caused pain. (Notice the woman in the pic holding her ears.) The scream occasionally got higher and angrier, and those extra-screechy screams made my eardrums pulse. Meanwhile, water was forcing in through every crack—under the floor and between the window slats.

I remember shuddering at the thought of what was happening to the town—what this screaming white void was doing to people, homes, communities.

My fears were well-founded. The impact in this part of coastal St. Elizabeth Parish is catastrophic. Wooden structures were completely mowed down and in some cases swept from their foundations. Some concrete structures collapsed. The well-built ones—like my hotel—survived, but even they had major roof, window, and door damage. The landscape has been stripped bare—the trees just sticks. The roads are blocked with rubble and utility poles.

Nearby Black River—a unique old historical town right on the water—was smashed beyond recognition: historical sites destroyed, main streets filled with rubble, the town market twisted like a pretzel, even the regional hospital destroyed.

It's a good thing I wasn't in my hotel room during the storm because one of the windows blew out, showering the bed with glass and wood. The hotel lost most of its roof, and several third-story rooms were smashed open. But in the lower flooors, those grand old concrete walls protected us. And so far I'm aware of only two deaths in Crawford—a fellow who had a heart attack at the school next door (his body was still in his car and unclaimed the next morning, a sad and disturbing sight), and a woman who drowned in the storm surge in Gallon Beach. While walking down the devastated streets of Black River, I ran into the Jamaican Member of Parliament for this region, @floydgreenja. He's a great dude and I appreciate that he already has a gameplan for turning this catastrophe into an opportunity—to build this region back better. And I vowed on the spot that I'm going to make it my mission to spread awareness of this catastrophe and get that aid flowing in. I'll be talking about MELISSA a lot over the coming months—because it is both a fascinating meteorological event and a human disaster that demands an international response. (And I swear an epic video is coming out of this.)

[Simon King @SimonOKing]

Landfall confirmed by National Hurricane Center in the Cuban province of Santiago de Cuba near the city of Chivirico. Maximum sustained winds near 120 mph

[Simon King @SimonOKing]

Hurricane #Melissa about to make its second landfall in SE Cuba as a powerful cat 3 hurricane...

[Simon King @SimonOKing]

Hurricane #Melissa about to make its second landfall in SE Cuba as a powerful cat 3 hurricane...

[Simon King @SimonOKing]

Hurricane #Melissa update: it has strengthened further and making a turn now toward Jamaica.

Landfall expected later today but rain has already been relentless and winds will strengthen today.

Rarely gets any worse than this.

[Simon King @SimonOKing]

This is an insane view of inside the eye of hurricane #Melissa ⬇️

The science/nature side of this is just perfection and beauty.

However, the consequences for Jamaica are going to be the worst possible 😔

[Tropical Cowboy of Danger @FlynonymousWX]

Fifth and final pass through Hurricane Melissa for our crew today. Just after noon entering from the NW corner exiting SE.

[Dave Salesky @SaleskyKATU]

Insane! simply insane. This is video of what it was like to fly into Hurricane Ian this morning. A NOAA P3 Orion hurricane hunter flew into the the storm, turbulence so strong the plane lost 500 feet instantly on entering the eye. Thanks to Nick Underwood of NOAA

[Simon King @SimonOKing]

@JeremyDeHartWX @EricBlake12 Wowsers, that’s incredible

[Jeremy DeHart @JeremyDeHartWX]

From a crewmember on yesterday's Teal 74 mission into now-Category 5 Hurricane #Melissa. As clear of an eye as you will see in the Atlantic basin.

[Simon King @SimonOKing]

Serious situation could develop in Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba over the next few days.

#HurricaneMelissa strengthening to cat 4/5 but it's a multi-day storm with damaging winds and heavy rain bringing catastrophic and life-threatening floods/landslides/storm surge