Veteran weatherman Steve Jacobs returns to Today show with awkward joke

Veteran weatherman Steve Jacobs has returned to Today, as the show continues to claw back its ratings.

Veteran TV weatherman Steve Jacobs has made a return to Nine’s Today show as the fight to win back ratings heats up.

Jacobs appeared on the breakfast program this morning which is broadcasting from the TV network’s Sydney HQ in Willoughby after two weeks of being in Melbourne at the Australian Open.

Jacobs is joining the show’s new line-up permanently, replacing Natalia Cooper who is on maternity leave.

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Steve Jacobs is back on the Today Show. Piicture: Instagram/sjweather

TV weatherman Steve Jacobs is returning to the Today show. Picture: News Corp

It’s unclear if she will return to the show in the future.

Jacobs said he felt “part of the family” as he shared kisses and hugs with Deborah Knjght, Georgie Gardner, Tom Steinfort and Richard Wilkins who were all on deck to greet him.

Jacobs said: “Hello. Good to be back. I’m just here for the day for the moment.”

Today show hosts Brooke Boney, Tom Steinfort, Deb Knight, Georgie Gardner and Tony Jones. Picture: Alex Coppel

Gardener replied: “No, you are not actually. Everything old is new again. Everything old is new again. Everything comes back into fashion.”

Wilkins then said: “We can reveal this is not a one-off to bail me out from doing such a dreadful job. You are back on the Today Show.”

Jacobs replied jokingly saying: “I figured at my age I have to get up at 4am to take a wee anyway.”

Natalia Cooper is on maternity leave. Picture: Christian Gilles

“Good to be back hey. Giddy up,” he added.

He joins the show after the new-look Today failed to fire with viewers in its first week.

Its first episode at the Australian Open averaged 197,000 viewers across the five capital cities and 311,000 nationally, making it the show’s worst result in a decade.

It was well below the 299,000 viewers the show had in five cities in September last year, which led to crisis talks and Karl Stefanovic’s sacking.

Jacobs left the program two years ago after he and his ex-wife Rose left to make a life for their family in Vanuatu.

The couple have since split up and sold their family home in Sydney’s eastern beachside suburb of Coogee.

Jacobs will join Deb Knight and Georgie Gardner. Picture: Nine

Jacobs worked at the Today Show from 2005-2016.

He switched to Weekend Today when he took his family to Vanuatu for a year, with Rose writing in her blog that their then-life in Sydney had become “toxic”.

The couple split in 2017.

The former couple now share custody of their daughters.