Like the rest of the nation's forecasters, he'd predicted heavy snow to countless worried viewers.

The information put council gritters on standby, helped the authorities to close schools and gave millions of motorists warning that they were likely to face extreme conditions.

What if the snow never came? What if the weather pattern changed suddenly?

"Sometimes I lose sleep over it," says Jon.

"There was a lot riding on that forecast. I thought: If this doesn't come off I will have egg on my face.

"I must admit I woke very early and peeked outside. When I saw the snow I thought, brilliant."

Jon has been a regular face on Calendar, Yorkshire Television's nightly news programme, since 1989. This year the company is celebrating its 40th anniversary and as part of that, Jon has compiled his first book, cataloguing the numerous wonderful photographs of weather sent in by viewers.

The upshot is a colourful hardback Bright and Breezy: YTV in all Weathers. And as a bonus there are wonderful contributions from Emmerdale actor Chris Chittell who lives near Hebden Bridge, MP for Greater Grimsby and former Calendar presenter Austin Mitchell who lives in Sowerby and Heartbeat's Derek Fowlds.

They recall filming in Yorkshire, the kind of weather they worked in and remember some of the defining moments of 40 years on-air.

But it is the magnificent, calendar-style collection of photographs featuring weather events that captures the eye, several of which have been taken by contributors from Calderdale.

"It was difficult deciding what we should use. Sometimes we get more than 100 photographs a week, especially if something special has happened," says Jon, who lives with his wife and two teenage daughters.

The photographs show everything from raging floods and rolling storms to frightening jags of fork lightning, tornados, picturesque snow vistas and scenery magically transformed by frost.

Jon's favourite is a shot of Ilkley Moor on a bitter crisp day under a heavy covering of snow, which is unsurprising as it is close to where he lives. He is particularly fond of colder weather because he suffers from hay fever.

He has delivered thousands of forecasts over the years yet the one outstanding weather moment he remembers was well away from the confines of the Kirkstall Road studios in Leeds. It happened while he was walking in sub zero temperatures on a short break near Ambleside in the Lake District.

"It was December 1995 and we had reached the top of Fairfield fell. The air was so cold but so clear and we could see North Wales, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the steam from the Aire Valley power stations at one go. That was quite incredible," he says.

Jon's career was mapped out from an early age. It began when he was made weather monitor at primary school in Morcambe, a job he took very seriously, prodigiously recording rainfall and thermometer readings.