She said although it was “hard” making the decision she feels it is the right one to take a step back.
Speaking on camera, she said: “It’s been an absolute privilege to bring you the weather every day. My job is something I’ve never taken for granted and I’ve loved every minute.
“From early starts and all manner of forecasts, I’ve shared it with incredible colleagues at BBC Breakfast, BBC Weather and programmes across the BBC. I’d like to thank them for their support and friendship which has meant the world.
“And to those watching and listening at home – thank you for all the kindness you have shown me over the years, being part of your mornings has been a joy. This hasn’t been an easy decision to make, but it feels like the right moment to step away. I’ll carry with me the most wonderful memories.”
“From major national moments to the everyday forecasts that are such an important part of our audiences’ lives, she has set the gold standard for our accurate, valued journalism – always delivered with an appropriately sunny outlook.
“She will be greatly missed by teams across the BBC.”
Carol Kirkwood is a BBC presenter who has helped present with all manners of news, from breaking, sports and the weather.
She was born as Carol MacKellaig in 1962 and comes from Inverness in Scotland.
She is one of eight children to parents who ran hotels in Morar and attended a local school in Fort William.
The star then went on to study at the now Edinburgh Napier University, before starting her career on screen.
In her most recent role, she is a familiar face to viewers on BBC Breakfast where she has been the main weather presenter since 2010.
She started her BBC career after closely studying the weather in her late teens and early twenties.
Kirkwood received her meteorological training at The Weather Channel, the Met Office and the BBC, before officially joining the BBC Weather Centre in April 1998.
Why is she leaving the BBC?
The presenter is bowing out to improve her work/home life, it has been reported.
The 63-year-old found love with police officer Steve Randall in June 2021 and the pair married in 2023, but she says she and her husband have been “ships that pass in the night” thanks to her early starts.
Carol Kirkwood/X
She announced on the TV that she is leaving to spend more time with her “handsome, kind, gentle, strong, funny, charming” husband, and see the wold together.
She also has plans to write more novels, of which she already has published five.
She told presenters Sally Nugent and Jon Kay this morning: “I love my job, I’ve loved working at the BBC, but I love my husband more than my job. More than everyone, I should say.
“We only got married a couple of years ago and we’re ships that pass in the night so I’m so looking forward to [spending more time together.
“The future is rosy and the time is right, absolutely right for me to go.’”
The pair do not have children, and Carol also does not have any children from a previous marriage either.
She has been very open about her previous long-held desire to be a mother, but admitted that despite having “tried everything,” she has spoken openly about her experience that it “just never happened” for her.
She said on her fertility journey: “Well, just look at the life I’ve had. I couldn’t have achieved half of it if I’d had children at home.”
In conversation with Yours Magazine in 2022, Carol expressed a similar sentiment regarding her remarkable accomplishments, observing that “none of that would have been possible” had she been raising children.