Riga panorama appears on BBC weather for years — social media users offer explanations

Aivars Markots, a Latvian social media user, has drawn attention to a detail that might seem ordinary to many viewers: the British broadcaster BBC has been using a view of Riga in its weather bulletins for roughly ten years. The panorama shows the Daugava, Old Riga and its towers. Markots admitted he could not understand why the BBC has chosen this particular image.

Initially, he speculated that the image could have ended up on the BBC because of the Latvian embassy’s work in London. But a person in the comments claimed to know a much more personal story. According to the commenter, they worked in the BBC World News Riga office in 2009. At that time, Peter Horrocks, a BBC UK department head who later became the head of the Weather Forecast unit, was visiting Latvia.

The commenter says Horrocks was caught in a strong storm in Old Riga. When he entered the office, he described how hard it was raining and blowing, saying that even the Vanšu Bridge seemed to be floating and that he had to capture that moment. As he was leaving, he received a calendar with a Riga panorama. Soon after, the same image started appearing in BBC weather segments.

The commenter also says the Riga image is not used in every forecast. It is shown only when the UK is experiencing anomalous weather conditions, such as heatwaves, storms, heavy rain or frost.

A second explanation suggests that a Riga native works in the BBC’s graphics and design department. This person reportedly studied engineering communications at Riga Technical University. Since staff members are not credited in the bulletins, the employee came up with a way to greet people from Riga by including RTU buildings in the background. Producers reportedly agreed.