Alumni Willemijn Hoebert - Study meteorology in Wageningen

Why did you choose meteorology?

"I really wanted to become a pilot. But when I finished secondary school, I found the whole screening thing a bit suspenseful and thought I could do something related. That meant aerospace engineering or meteorology. And I chose the latter, because not so many people study it. That appealed to me."

The choice of Wageningen University pleased her; the university's international orientation in particular appealed to her. "I lived abroad for many years in my youth and wanted to live abroad as well during my studies. Studying abroad was greatly encouraged at Wageningen. In addition, the meteorology course in Wageningen, unlike the one in Utrecht, was very practice-related, with the first eighteen months also including soil science and hydrology. I found this combination and the fieldwork very attractive.

After the study meteorology

"After graduating from university, I wanted to broaden my horizons and develop my knowledge in other fields. That is why I started working at Sanofi (formerly Aventis and sanofi-aventis), a very large pharmaceutical company. I worked there for six years as a sales representative, learned a lot in the medical field, but especially a lot about myself. It's an ideal profession for growth: you get lots of training and courses, about communicating, but also about dealing with people and what kind of person you are.

And then meteorology started to itch again. I had kept in touch with my study coordinator at the university all those years and it was through him that I eventually returned to meteorology. Gerrit Hiemstra, my colleague at NOS, was also co-owner of ‘WeerOnline’ at the time and they were looking for a product manager for ice-breaking. My education and work experience proved to be the perfect combination and so I started working there. Via WeerOnline I eventually ended up at NOS."

Weather forecaster at NOS

Since 2010, Willemijn works as a weather reporter at the NOS. But of course there is a lot more to it than just recording the weather report. "A question I often get: do you do more than just the 18.00 and 20.00 news? And is that actually live? To start with the first question: yes, I do much more than just the 6pm and 8pm news. I start at 13:00. The very first thing I do is to familiarise myself with the weather situation. What is the current situation, what has happened in the past 24 hours and what is the outlook for tomorrow and the following days? I use various models and current weather data provided by our weather supplier.

Once I have settled in, I make a radio report for the ‘Wereldomroep’, in which I outline in five minutes the weather forecast for most European countries. Then I deliver maps and texts for the Youth News and News Hour. After that, I get changed and go into make-up. Especially the latter takes a lot of time (my male colleagues generally take less time). At 16:50 there is a live interview with the presenters of Radio 1 about the weather, followed by the recordings for BVN (weather reports for Dutch and Belgians abroad). Then comes another short live report on Radio 1 at half past five and then it's time for the live weather report for the 18:00 TV news. Then again at 6:30 p.m. on Radio 1 and then the preparation for the 8 p.m. TV news begins.

After the 8:00 p.m. news, I stay in the studio for a while to record the weather forecast for the late evening news. Only when the weather situation calls for it (extreme wind, heavy rain or snow, for instance), I might have to stay longer (and sometimes to start earlier). However, usually I am done after the recordings and writing the last texts. Then I leave NOS at around 21:30.

Future plans

"As far as I'm concerned, I'll be working for the NOS for many years to come, as a weather forecaster. I really enjoy my work, because nothing is as changeable as the weather. It's also a subject that people always talk about and that everyone has an opinion about: wonderful!

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