THE temperature was soaring at Worcester's weather centre yesterday when a computer malfunctioned, sending sparks flying across the office.

Paul Damari, owner of Weather Communications in Northwick Walk, Barbourne, was working away in his office at about 3pm when smoke started billowing out of his computer.

"I knew something was wrong because the computer was making a crunching noise and the screen was flickering," said Mr Damari, who provides weather reports for the Evening News.

"The next thing I knew, there were sparks and smoke billowing out of the back it.

"Fortunately, I was in the office, because I have no doubt that if I hadn't been, it would have caught fire and the whole room would have gone up."

Mr Damari who also reads the weather reports on BBC Radio Hereford & Worcester, turned the power off and took the computer outside to cool down.

"It was the main computer which collates all the information from our weather stations. At the moment we're limping along. We will still be able to do weather reports but it's going to be a headache."