Vale: Alan Wilkie

Pioneering weather presenter Alan Wilkie, heralded as the first weatherman on Australian TV, has died aged 94.

Nine News reported he “passed away peacefully” on Monday night surrounded by his three children, less than two months after his brother, fellow weatherman Ray Wilkie.

Alan Wilkie began with the ABC News in 1956, joining Seven News in 1968 then Nine News in the late 1970s and delivered the weather for more than 25 years, including as “Wilkie’s Weather.” It’s estimated he read the weather 10,000 times on TV.

“I don’t take myself seriously as a television personality but I do take the weather seriously,” he once said.

“My day starts about 5.30 when I get up and ring the Weather Bureau to find out what’s been happening overnight to the systems, particularly in the upper atmosphere. I have a good think about it, stick my head out of the window for a look around and then do my 6.30 forecast for radio station 2SM.

“I get satellite pictures from Macquarie University about 8.30 and then I drive up to Pearce’s Corner, not far away, and watch cloud movements.

“You can’t just rely on charts. You have to look at what’s happening.”