It was established in 1946 and is published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the Royal Meteorological Society, of which it is the "house journal".

The journal was established in May 1946 with a foreword by the society president, Gordon Manley; it has been published monthly ever since.

He commented that: "The Society accordingly has decided that the increasingly widespread interest in the science of weather manifest in an air age justifies the production of a new monthly magazine for the exchange and dissemination of information by means of articles, notes and correspondence.

It is hoped with the aid of this magazine to reach not only the many Fellows who have expressed a desire for comments on current events, but also the wider public which nowadays increasingly demands some subject of universal interest as a recreation for the mind.

"[1]Initially a black-and-white publication, it has been printed in colour with an A4 format since 2004, with photographs of clouds and satellite images forming an integral part.