Weather has always been a huge part of Michael's life. He grew up on Vancouver Island in an outdoorsy family. "When you're camping, salmon fishing or playing sports every weekend you gain a great appreciation for the weather." That appreciation became a passion leading Michael to pursue a career in meteorology.
After internships with NBC affiliates in St. Louis and Eugene, Oregon, Michael came home to Canada. He got his first big break at RDTV in Red Deer, Alberta. From 1994-1996 he was the station's on-air meteorologist and also anchored weekend sports and hosted a daytime talk show.
"I really had no idea what I was doing when I started in Red Deer. The opportunity was unbelievable. I got a chance to become a better forecaster and a somewhat competent presenter. I'm a huge sports fan so the chance to anchor sports on the weekends was a massive thrill as well."
In 1996 Michael took a job at the Weather Network in Toronto. He worked on Good Morning Toronto as the network's only full-time on-air meteorologist. "With over 20 weather hits a day my presentation skills started to round into form. What a great place to hone the craft."
In 1997 Michael went back to Alberta to help launch the new television station, A-Channel (now Citytv), in Edmonton. Michael broadcast the nightly weather from the often inhospitable outdoors of the Edmonton area for the next four years. His informative, accurate and often hilarious weather segments made him one of Edmonton's most popular TV personalities.
An independent survey conducted in 1999 found Michael's forecast to be the city's most accurate. Of the five forecasts in the survey, including Environment Canada, the Weather Network, and the other two local stations, Michael's short term and long range forecasts ranked number one.
In September 2001 Michael came to Toronto to anchor the weather on Global Ontario's weekday supper hour and late night newscasts. After almost five successful years of bringing Ontarians the most entertaining and accurate forecast at Global, Michael has joined the CityNews Team.
"City has always been such an innovator in local news. I'm hoping to add the most credible, informative and entertaining weather to CityNews's already successful formula."
EDUCATION:
Degree in Meteorology and Communications, St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri
EXTRACURRICULAR:
Mike's love of sports and adventure culminated in 2001. That's when, after training for over a year, he became the first person ever to water ski from Edmonton to Winnipeg.
"It took me 13 days to ski 2500 km down the North Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan Rivers to Lake Winnipeg and eventually down into Winnipeg. It was a wild trip on the river. The rapids were insane and the river was so shallow that we ran aground a few times. That's pretty scary when you're going 40 mph. The trip down Lake Winnipeg, which is actually bigger than Lake Ontario, was another incredible challenge. The waves were huge."
Michael's "River Run for the Homeless" was also a successful fundraiser for an Edmonton homeless shelter. Mike has been involved with numerous other charities over the years including Habitat for Humanity, Operation Go Home, which helps get youths off the streets of Toronto, Canadian Association for Riding for the Disabled and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, among others.
"My greatest love and some of the most satisfying moments of my career to date have come in the classroom, a grade five classroom," says Michael. "Teaching kids about the weather and watching them learn in front of my eyes has made all the hours I agonizingly pored over calculus problems and memorized atmospheric physics formulas worthwhile."
Michael is also interested in classic cars (he has a 1967 Mustang GTA Fastback), woodworking, home restoration and sports. He water skis, wakeboards, snowboards, curls, and plays and coaches soccer. Michael is a Level 2 snowboard instructor and a Level 1 race coach and evaluator.
His favourite movies are Glengarry Glen Ross (Jack Lemmon should have won the Oscar) and for inspiration Rudy.
