Carol Kirkwood was born on 29 May 1962 in Morar, Inverness-shire, Scotland. She grew up in a large family as one of eight children, raised by her parents Malcolm and Mairi Kirkwood.

She studied commerce at Napier College of Commerce and Technology in Edinburgh before beginning her career with the BBC. Initially, she worked in administrative roles at BBC before moving into broadcasting.

Kirkwood later retrained as a weather presenter through the Met Office and joined BBC Weather. She became a mainstay on BBC One’s BBC Breakfast, delivering national forecasts and covering major weather events across the UK.

Beyond weather presenting, she competed on Strictly Come Dancing in 2015, gaining further public recognition. She has also written several successful novels, expanding her career into publishing.

She lives in England with her husband and continues writing following her recent step back from regular BBC duties.