The Met Office (originally an abbreviation for Meteorological Office, but now the official name in itself), is the UK's national weather service based in Exeter, Devon.
As a trading fund of the Ministry of Defence, it currently holds a quasi-governmental role, being required to act commercially, but also has remained an executive agency of the Ministry of Defence since April 1990. The Met Office College is also based in Exeter and handles the training for internal personnel and many forecasters from around the world.
The Met Office was established in 1854 as a small department within the Board of Trade under Robert FitzRoy as a service to mariners. The loss of the passenger vessel, the Royal Charter, and 459 lives off the coast of Anglesey in a violent storm in October 1859 led to the first gale warning service. In 1861 FitzRoy had established a network of 15 coastal stations from which visual gale warnings could be provided for ships at sea.
The development of the electric telegraph in the 1870s led to the more rapid dissemination of warnings and also led to the development of an observational network which could then be used to provide synoptic analyses.
