An external view of the Met Office building at night.

Claire Bartholomew

Claire manages a team of scientists and scientific software engineers that provides operational weather and climate services to industry.

Areas of expertise

  • Nowcasting
  • Machine Learning
  • Aviation

Current activities

Claire is a Science Manager in the Post-Processing Applications team, which develops post-processing science and data-driven solutions to support industry. She co-manages a team of scientists and scientific software engineers who develop and implement a range of meteorological services across industry sectors, including Surface Transport and Energy.

In January 2019 Claire started a part-time PhD with the University of Leeds, investigating machine learning methods to improve convective nowcasting and its applications to the aviation industry.

Claire is an Associate Expert in the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Expert Team on Weather and Climate Science for Aviation Applications.

Career background

Claire has been a manager in the Post-Processing Applications team since December 2023.

Since joining the Met Office in 2012, Claire has spent the majority of her Met Office career in the Aviation Applications team. As part of her work in this team she directly contributed to the World Area Forecast System (WAFS) upgrades, including the development of automated Significant Weather charts and the implementation and assessment of the improved Graphical Turbulence Guidance (GTG) turbulence forecast system, working in collaboration with WAFS partners in the USA. She also delivered many shorter-term consultancy projects to industry, using both model and observational datasets to provide bespoke analyses to customers.

In 2021-2022 Claire managed the Met Office's Nowcasting R&D team (as maternity cover), coordinating scientific effort in developing and improving our national nowcasting capability. This team seeks to improve the use of observations for nowcasting and situational awareness, with a current focus on convection.

Prior to joining the Met Office, Claire obtained a BSc joint honours in Geography and Mathematics at the University of St Andrews (2011) before going on to complete an MSc in Atmosphere, Oceans and Climate at the University of Reading (2012).