Helga van Leur

About Helga van Leur

Helga van Leur has been awarded multiple times for her spontaneous and accessible presentation style. With her scientific background, she combines content with humor and engages people during her appearances. After 20 years on television and several adventures, Helga knows better than anyone how to deal with uncertainties, what our planet has to offer, and how we can work together to meet the needs of future generations with what the Earth provides. As an ambassador for weather (extremes), climate (change), sustainability, and behavior, she passionately makes complex topics understandable, conveys urgency, and offers a positive course of action.

Helga studied at Wageningen University with a focus on Soil, Water, and Atmosphere. She started at Meteo Consult in 1994 through an internship and has since worked as a media meteorologist. After completing a marketing course, Helga decided to continue as an independent professional.

In April 1997, she began as a (freelance) weather presenter for the television channels of RTL. Additionally, she delved into our brain and psychology to gain insight into our behavior and communication on topics such as climate change and sustainability.

At the end of June 2017, she stopped presenting the daily weather report after 20 years. Helga continues her passion for communication about weather (extremes), climate (change), sustainability, and behavior as an ambassador for climate and sustainability.

Adventures
In 2010, she camped on the Greenland Ice Sheet to learn about the effects of climate change. During this trip, Helga witnessed a glacier wall suddenly collapsing up close. Since travel companions had just been walking at the foot of the ice wall, it was quite tense to ensure everyone was safe. Nature does not adhere to schedules. In 2011, Helga supported the Solar Team Twente with weather reports and broadcasts on RTL during the World Solar Challenge.

In Iceland, she researched how the geologically active country coexists with natural elements and operates on sustainable energy. This provided insight into how a circular economy could function.

To gain more understanding of the (dangerous) dynamics of severe thunderstorms, Helga began storm chasing in the US. Amidst the gusty winds, hailstones, lightning, and tornadoes, she realized how important local information is to warn people in time about extreme weather conditions.

During the scientific SEES expedition in Spitsbergen, she helped set up a weather station on a glacier. The weather station serves as a tool to tell us how glaciers respond to a rapidly changing atmosphere. During these adventures, your senses are stimulated, and your knowledge is enriched. There is still so much to discover!

Awards
Her presentation style has earned her various awards. In 1998, Helga won an international award from her weather colleagues for the best weather presenter worldwide.

At the end of 2012, she was chosen for the third time as “Most Favorite Weather Presenter of the Year” by research agency GfK.

In 2017, Helga received international recognition again with the EMS TV Weather Forecast Award (from the European Meteorological Society).

Involvement
Helga is, among other things, an ambassador for the Red Cross for Extreme Weather and an ambassador for the international environmental label Planet Proof.

For several years, Helga van Leur has been listed in the Sustainable Top 100 of Trouw due to her involvement and extensive reach.

For the exchange of knowledge about local effects of extreme weather and climate, she is active in an international network of weather presenters.

(Un)Predictability, Sustainability, and Behavior
Our lives and the weather are inextricably linked; without sun, clouds, wind, and water, there is no life. Nothing is predictable down to the details. That is also the challenge. And as is human nature, we want to know what the future holds. With all the rapid changes occurring worldwide, people and businesses need control. By becoming aware of their environment and their behavior, people can influence their own future! Sustainability is the key word, balancing ‘People, Planet, Profit… and Passion’. How do we get our brains to act on this? Not because we have to, but mainly because we can!

“Today, you hold tomorrow in your hands!”

With tailor-made lectures, facilitating meetings, or writing columns, Helga van Leur is widely deployable for your event. No lecture is the same but is tailored to the theme, purpose of the event, and the audience.