Mike Bettes is an award-winning meteorologist and storm chaser for The Weather Channel. No stranger to severe weather, he has covered nearly every extreme weather event since he began at the network in 2003, including the EF-5 in Joplin, Missouri in 2011, and the record-setting El Reno, Oklahoma tornado in 2013. In 2009 and 2010, he was part of the largest tornado field experiment in history, Vortex 2, to help better understand this elusive phenomenon. He is the lead field meteorologist during the network’s annual tornado season coverage.
It’s not just tornadoes that interest Mike, he’s been in the line of fire for dozens of landfalling hurricanes, epic blizzards, droughts, wildfires, and floods.
Prior to The Weather Channel, Mike was chief meteorologist at WLOS-TV in Asheville, NC. He also spent five years forecasting the weather at WSYX in Columbus and WKEF in Dayton.
A native Buckeye, Mike earned a bachelor’s degree in atmospheric science at The Ohio State University. When he’s not chasing the weather, he enjoys traveling, kayaking, mountain biking, and nature photography.
Mike holds the AMS and NWA seals of approval, and was recently named the NWA Broadcaster of the Year.
His presentation is entitled “Snow Way! Surviving New York’s Record-Setting Lake Effect Snowstorm”
To learn more about Mike, visit his bio page on The Weather Channel website, or follow his Facebook or Twitter.