How is the weather forecast done? ITV's Carl Edwards explains

Carl Edwards explains how he got to grips with presenting in front of a blue screen as a Weather Presenter.

I've worked at ITV for ten years now in many different roles. I started as a producer, then a reporter, then a correspondent and presenter and last year I decided I'd like to fulfil a long held ambition (that many people have at some point in their life) and become a weather presenter!

So I took a break from life on the road as a roving reporter to join our weather team while carrying on with my other news presenting commitments.

Of course, these days news and weather are closely linked. You only have to look at the amount of coverage our wettest winter on record to has generated to know what an important topic it is and how it impacts us all.

One of my favourite stories to report on has always been extreme weather, particularly the snow! Armed with years of experience on the news it was time to present the weather. All of our weather presenters have the support of a team of experts at the Met Office in London.

The forecasters there brief us on the major headlines each day and we then communicate the vast amount of information they share to our viewers.

More: Join us behind the scenes for #ITVWalesLive

My day begins with a conference call with the Met Office team and all the other ITV presenters about how things are looking for the days ahead.

Then I turn my attention to making up the charts you see behind me during the forecast. It's quite a technical operation using some pretty fancy computers to make up a sequence of maps.

A quick change into a suit and it's off to the studio to stand in front of a vast blue screen that the maps are superimposed on.

It's called a chromakey and basically means I don't see what's behind me as you see it. It's a tricky thing to master from a presenting point of view but gets easier!

It can also limit your wardrobe because you can't wear anything blue. Thus many of my ties are gathering dust!

The best bit about doing the weather is that during the summer months we like to get out and about and present the forecast live on location.

Last summer was a joy with plenty of bright and sunny days on some of our numerous welsh beauty spots. I'm hoping we get a repeat in 2014. We deserve it after such a rough winter!

More: Andrew Jones explains how the early bulletins are put together