Weather
Mish Michaels
Mish Michaels joined the WBZ-TV Weather Team in September 2001, contributing to the station's weather coverage in new Emmy Award winning weather programming featuring two prime-time specials each year. Her weather coverage has taken viewers on a tornado chase in Oklahoma, on a flight into Hurricane Isabel and to the top of Mount Washington in mid-winter.
When Michaels is not chasing extreme weather, she heads up the WBZ-TV Weather Almanac, a yearly publication highlighting New England weather. The almanac is made available to schools at no charge and sold at local non-profit science centers to help financially support their efforts. Michaels also works as co-principal investigator on a $2 million National Science Foundation grant awarded to WBZ-TV and the Museum of Science, Boston to create an exhibit on short-term weather forecasting at the Museum (scheduled to open in February of 2006). Part of this grant also supports annual teacher conferences developed in part by Mish on various weather topics.
Michaels is a 2006 recipient of the prestigious Metcalf Fellowship presented by The Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting. To further her own studies, Michaels was awarded a science journalism fellowship to study at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod in September of 2004. The fellowship allowed her to investigate various weather related topics including climate change and ocean/atmospheric coupling. Mish was also awarded a Knight Science Journalism fellowship to study climate changes at MIT for one academic year. Due to professional conflicts, she had to decline the offer, but hopes to take advantage of that opportunity in the future.
Before joining the WBZ-TV Weather Team, Michaels worked for The Weather Channel (TWC) as co-host of Atmospheres, a prime-time weather magazine show. Prior to that, she worked as weekend meteorologist for WHDH (NBC) in Boston from 1992-2000. During that time, she was twice named "Boston's Best Meteorologist" by the Improper Bostonian magazine and nominated for a New England Emmy on three occasions (1996,1998,2000). Before joining WHDH, she worked as weekend meteorologist/environmental reporter for WMUR-TV 9 in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Mish was awarded the American Meteorological Society (AMS) Broadcast Seal of Approval in 1997 and is the recent past Chair of the Board on Women and Minorities for the Society. She currently sits on the Board on Private Sector Meteorology. Michaels has published several papers through the AMS and most recently was first author on a peer-reviewed paper printed in the July 2001 Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society titled "Survey Results of Society Membership: The Face of our Profession at the Threshold of the Millennium." Michaels also sits on the advisory board for the Blue Hill Weather Observatory and was elected to the President's Council of Cornell Women—representing top females graduates from Cornell University.
Since 1996, Michaels has worked as adjunct faculty in the Meteorology Department at UMASS Lowell where she has taught a course called "Meteorological Communications" to upperclassmen in the major. Mish has also worked on weather research projects with students and faculty and has explored such topics as snow squall forecasting and lightning studies. She has also worked on meteorology projects for the Massachusetts Corporation on Educational Telecommunications and the Harvard Smithsonian Institute, and
continues to support the WINS program (Women in the Natural Sciences), run by the Blue Hill Weather Observatory in Milton, MA. The program seeks to inspire adolescent girls to pursue careers in math, science and technology through thoughtful study of the atmosphere.
Born in Calcutta, India with the given name Anuradha meaning "one who does good for others," Michaels is actively involved with numerous charitable organizations. She serves on the Advisory Board for the Big Sister Association of Boston and volunteered her time as a Big Sister from 1992 to 2001. She is also a Member of the Corporation at the Germaine Lawrence School for adolescent girls in crisis, and heads a yearly fundraiser for The Pine Street Inn.
Michaels has been profiled in Worth magazine, Platinum, Parade Magazine, The Boston Globe, Improper Bostonian, India Today, India Economic Times and Cosmopolitan. She was recently awarded third place in a national weather photo contest run by a magazine called Weatherwise. The picture was of a sculpted snow drift on Cape Cod after the blizzard of 2005. In the past, she was named one of the "Top Ten Young Leaders" by the Boston Jaycees, "Big Sister of the Year" by the Big Sister Association, and "Woman of the Year" by Germaine Lawrence.
Mish is an avid equestrian and competes in horse shows from Florida to New England. She also enjoys watercolor painting, spending time with friends and family, and travel. She lives with her husband in Cambridge.
Michaels has a Master's degree in Technology in Education from Harvard University. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology from Cornell University in New York. Mish was named "Young Alumni of the Year" by her college at Cornell University in 2004. Mish was also awarded an honorary Doctor of Science from Regis College in May 2005.
Boston's WBZ-TV is part of CBS Television Stations, a division of CBS Corporation.
Email
Mish Michaels