vailsymposium

Mike Nelson has served as Chief Meteorologist for Denver 7 since 2004. His retirement on 12/12/24 capped 48 years in TV Weather.  Weather has been his passion since he was 6 years old and he is dedicated to keeping you and your family safe during severe weather.

Mike received his degree in meteorology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. In 1976, he began work at Weather Central, a private weather consulting firm specializing in forecasts for ski areas, agri-business, power utilities, and the Wisconsin TV network as well as over 40 other radio and TV stations nationwide. While in Madison, he partnered with fellow meteorologist, Terry Kelly, in devising one of the first weather computers for television.

From 1979 through 1984, Mike installed many Weather Central systems and trained some of the legends of TV weather on their first computers.  A few familiar names include Al Roker, Gary England and Colorado legend Stormy Rottman.

In 1985, Mike and his family moved to St. Louis, Missouri where he served as Chief Meteorologist at KMOV-TV until 1991.

While in St. Louis, Mike was a member of the American Meteorological Society’s Board of Broadcast Meteorology and was one of six meteorologists that select candidates to receive the AMS Seal of Approval for Television Weathercasting.

Prior to his position at Denver 7, Nelson served as Chief Meteorologist for KUSA-TV from 1991 to 2004.

Mike has won more than 20 Emmy awards, including 15 for Best Weather Anchor. In 2016, Mike was inducted into the “Silver Circle” – recognizing 25 years of service in Colorado.

In 2001, he was recognized by the Colorado Broadcasters Association as their “Citizen of the Year” for his volunteer work in Colorado schools. He was awarded the National Weather Association’s “Outstanding Service by a Broadcaster” in 2009. In Jan. of 2019 Mike was named a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society. Less than 1% of the entire membership of meteorologists are fellows and only 30 are on air tv meteorologists.

Mike enjoys sharing his knowledge of the weather with young and old alike. His Tornado Dance is a much-anticipated event and Mike has spoken to more than one million children since 1976.

Climate change has become an important subject for Mike and he is very involved in educating the public about the dangers we face from a warming world.

Mike has also written two local best sellers about weather; “Colorado Weather” and “The Colorado Weather Almanac”.

Mike’s latest book is: “The World’s Littlest Book on Climate: 10 Facts in 10 Minutes about CO2”

Mike and his wife, Cindy have a married daughter who is the Associate Vice President of CSU and a married son who is the PIO of Arapahoe County. Two grandsons, and a granddaughter; all living in Colorado.