Forecaster helps filmmakers re-tell story of D-Day

A retired meteorologist has helped filmmakers tell the story of the D-Day landings from a new perspective.

Martin Young was one of the technical advisers on the set of the film Pressure, which tells the story of the challenges facing weather forecasters before the largest seaborne operation of the Second World War.

The job allowed him to combine his interest in the history of meteorology, with his experience as a former chief forecaster for the Met Office.

From advising on the technicalities of weather dialogue, to hand-drawing charts, he helped the producers portray the scientific and practical realities of providing a forecast in the hours before D-Day.

Pressure dramatises the tense 72 hour period in June 1944 leading up to the Allied invasion of Normandy.

It highlights the role meteorologists played in providing a forecast that optimised the success of the start of Operation Overlord.

Billed as the weather forecast that changed the course of the Second World War, the movie pits Group Captain James Stagg, a Scottish Met Office meteorologist, against his American counterpart Irving P Krick.

The two had differing forecasts for the planned date of the D-Day landings but bad visibility, high waves or wind or an unfavourable tide could have threatened its success and the thousands of lives of those involved.

Young has 40 years experience as a forecaster with the Met Office and his role as a weather expert on the film was to make it as authentic as possible.

He said much of the tension came from the military wanting predictions five days in advance but back then that was "quite unrealistic given the science at the time".

He added: "You could only really forecast about 24 hours ahead. So you can imagine the pressure that the forecasters were under."

He said he first became interested in the story when he read Stagg's book at the beginning of his career.

"I still often think to this day, could I have coped with that sort of pressure?"

As a chief forecaster, Young was used to putting out severe weather warnings and telling the public lives could be at risk in adverse conditions, but that was with the benefit of "good numerical models and lots of data" to help him make decisions.

His role on the film included helping with technical language and the science behind the plot.

"For the film, where the dialogue is technical, you can't just lapse into ad-libbing because you could end up saying something that's meteorological nonsense," he said.

The National Meteorological Archive at Exeter provided copies of old working charts from the period to use on set, and part of Young's role was to make sure the appropriate chart was on screen at the right time.

"Anthony Maras, the director, was keen that should be as authentic as possible," he said.

Martin said attention to detail was important: "I knew the film would attract a lot of meteorologists in the audience, who'll be the first to spot you've got the wrong chart up there, or that weather station didn't exist."

Young also had to resurrect his chart drawing skills, including a few seconds of footage where his hands are in shot drawing isobars and fronts on a map.

The role of weather forecasters in D-Day is already well known to the meteorological community, but Young said the film was important because it brought the story of unsung heroes to a wider audience.