Redcar Coastwatch officer and local weatherman Peter Jackson has died in hospital, aged 71, following a long illness.

From 1946 he kept a daily record of the weather and also recorded the daily sea temperature at Redcar for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Mr Jackson joined Redcar Coastwatch when the station opened in 1996.

Station controller Ray Preston said: "He will be sadly missed by the Coastwatch team and the local fishermen and lifeguards at Redcar.

"The fishermen used to telephone Peter for a local weather forecast and during the summer he used to cycle daily down to the beach patrol to write out a report for them."