Meet Mike Francis, new chief meteorologist at 11Alive (WXIA-TV)
A thunderstorm was raging in Mission Viejo, CA in 1973. At age four, Mike Francis stood on his porch, mesmerized as lightning bursts criss-crossed the night sky and thunder rumbled above him. His parents yelled at him to come in but he couldn’t.
He was hooked.
Weather would be his calling. The new chief meteorologist for 11Alive (WXIA-TV), Francis arrived earlier this month from a ten-year stint at the NBC affiliate in Little Rock, Ark. with a resume that includes storm chasing as a hobby and expertise in severe weather. Over his 42 years, he has seen more than 40 tornadoes live.
His first? In Denver as a 13 year old. “I was watching this cloud spin in the air,” he said, his eyes lit up by the memory. “I was just fascinated. My friends thought I was just weird.”
Viewers in Little Rock credit him with saving lives by warning people into basements when tornadoes popped up in their neighborhoods.
Georgia gets its fair share of tornado warnings. 11Alive hired him for his knowledge and passion. “Storms are part of me,” Francis said. “It’s what I live for.”
John Deushane, the 11Alive general manager, said Francis has “meteorological fire in his belly. Other than his family, nothing is more important to him. We wanted a weather champion…someone who would tell us how to improve our service in this area. Now if I can just keep up with all of his requests for capital improvements!”
While other weather people might rely on one model when a big storm is coming, Francis would scan four or five, his former news director Rob Heverling in Little Rock said: “Then he’d use his own intuition and experience in the market. Mike really made a name for himself here.”
Francis said he’s always been an adrenaline junkie. While living in California, he surfed. He joined the Army at age 18 and became an 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper. He fought in Panama in 1989 and Desert Shield in Iraq in 1991. “After two tours of combat, I was ready to move on,” he said.
In Dallas, at age 22, he joined a community college, where he met his future wife Deanna. At that point, he decided he wanted to be a meteorologist. He transferred to the University of Oklahoma. Its School of Meteorology had a good reputation.
His wife at the time sought babysitting jobs. She found one coincidentally at the home of Erik Rasmussen, a tornado researcher. Francis became an intern at the National Severe Storms Laboratory studying radar data and like the storm chasers in the movie “Twister,” drove around the Midwest studying tornadoes.
Deanna even came along for the ride on occasion in the backseat with a video camera in tow. “She wanted to see what it was like,” he said. “One time, we saw a mile-wide wedge. It was incredible. She called her dad that night to tell him about it. He said, ‘Oh, God! Couldn’t you have married a doctor?’ ”
But in a separate interview, Deanna said she had “total faith in Mike. He has this weird understanding of the weather. He’s the smartest guy I’ve ever met.”
Francis learned TV broadcasting skills at the local college station and interned at an Oklahoma City NBC station. He then nabbed a weekend job at a Lawton, OK/Wichita Falls, TX TV station 110 miles away. “Every year, one part of the city would get wiped out by a tornado or a downburst wind storm,” he said. “I was right there.”
In 2001, he landed a job at Little Rock, becoming chief meteorologist in 2007 at KARK. By then, he and his wife had three children: Camryn (8), Garrett (6) and Kane (4). He said with the frequent tornado warnings, he always kept this in his head: “What would I be thinking if my family was there?” If it was literally near his home, he’d address his wife on camera and say, “Baby, it’s time to go in the basement. It’s time to take them downstairs.”
Francis arrived in Atlanta in July and at 11Alive, before he got on the air, quickly rebuilt the station’s entire graphics system, which happened to use the same software as the system in Little Rock. “They now have a sharper look,” he said, “a more streamlined presentation. I take pride in my graphics.” (His predecessor, Paul Ossmann, said in an earlier interview that during his last evaluation in December, 2010, management felt he didn’t do enough of his own graphics)
Francis is also big with social media and is on Facebook frequently. And he works the 11Alive weather blog.
“It’s the most incredible opportunity to come to a place like Atlanta and be the chief,” he said. “It’s something you dream about. So many times, I drive into the city [from his home in Alpharetta] and look at the skyline and say, ‘I’m in Atlanta! It’s incredible!’ ”
His bald pate stands out in a market where nobody else on TV is bald. Just a week on the air, we had lunch at Taqueria Del Sol last week and someone actually recognized him.
He said his hair thinned and receded through his 30s. He started cutting his hair tighter and tighter. With his wife’s encouragement, during a vacation in 2008, he shaved it completely. And it looked good. “The only other bald meteorologist is Jim Cantore” of the Atlanta-based Weather Channel, he noted.
And no, he won’t diss 11Alive’s year-old Wiz-ometer, a frequent source of mockery on this blog. “It’s a unique and interesting way to put a spin on the weather in a simple way,” Francis said.
On TV
11Alive News, Mike Francis does weather weekdays at 6 p.m., 7 p.m. and 11 p.m.
Join my Facebook fan page and Twitter.
By Rodney Ho, rho@ajc.com, AJCRadioTV blog
accessAtlanta Partner Sites
Sections
Advertise on accessAtlanta.com »
Reach the audience you want by advertising on accessAtlanta.com
Join the Access Atlanta Network »
Advertisers and Publishers, expand your reach by joining the Access Atlanta Network.
Tell us what you think about the site
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement | About our ads
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
113 comments Add your comment
trudy
August 24th, 2011
1:57 pm
does anybody understand the wizometer? is a 6 good or bad? it’s really lame… get rid of it.. personnel can’t make it make any sense.. and fire whoever came up with such a stupid gimmick!
I am LEGEND
August 24th, 2011
2:01 pm
Fire Chelsey McNeil. He is bad. I mean terrrible.
pcBobby
August 24th, 2011
2:04 pm
Sorry, but today’s fast-paced media could care less about thosewho miss Johnny Beckman, Guy Sharpe and Paul. This dynamic chrome dome chief meteorologist is the future. He knows graphics, production and social media. 11Alive definitely has a shot at giving SB much-needed competition.
jarvis
August 24th, 2011
2:09 pm
Back the f-up. What happened to Russ Menshew?
Vet
August 24th, 2011
2:31 pm
TV demographics are not driven by 60 somethings. If you remember Johnny Beckman, Guy Sharpe or Jim Axel, you don’t count. Do you think people lament why ‘Today” doesn’t have Tom Brokaw, Joe Garagialoa or Jane Pawley? Man, we wish we could go back to ‘Huntley/ Brinkley’……. get a life. TV is always driven by youth and change. If you noticed, even Monica Pearson, the queen of local news has been bumped to 4pm. Can’t hold Jovita back any longer. Erin Coleman has been promoted from weekend mornings to evenings. She is the next rising star. The ATL is a transplant city, and we don’t need the folksy home grown people like Charleston, SC does. They have the same news people they had 30 years ago.
CH
August 24th, 2011
2:33 pm
Weather segament is longer than the sports segment. C’mon give me a break down south it is hot and pop up showers. Winter a little chilly with a chance of snow in Jan or Feb. Why does it take 10 minutes to say that.
Cammi317
August 24th, 2011
2:34 pm
Some of these comments are hilarious! As far as the new guy goes, 11Alive keeps shoving his mug in my facebook newsfeed so I was over him before I even gave him a chance….
Bob from Accounttemps
August 24th, 2011
2:34 pm
Paul was good and I’ll miss him, but this guy is a real meteorologist in the Weather Channel way. Good luck to him – I’m a long time XIA watcher and appreciate their more mature approach to local news (rather than WSB’s police blotter reporting). Ever notice when things got serious, Paul would appear without a jacket and would roll up his sleeves? A bit phony, dont you think?
kelly&carriefan
August 24th, 2011
2:36 pm
For the record, Jim Axel retired in 1996. You hardly need to be a 60 something to know who he was.
RK
August 24th, 2011
2:37 pm
If this dude could get rid of that stupid Wizometer, I might watch, but I quit watching 11 alive when they got rid of Paul. Give me Glynn Burns and his bunch.
Skinny Ginny
August 24th, 2011
2:38 pm
I miss the days of John Pruitt, Chuck Moore, Joe Washington and Johnny Beckman. Those were the days when 11Alive was tops around Atlanta. Now, they will be at the botom of the heap. I am sure the new numbers will have them below Channel 46. I have switched to Channel 2 and I know countless others who have done the same. They fire a true Atlanta legend without thinking about the people of Atlanta. Ellen Crooke needs to go!!!! Picket in front of 11Alive people!!!! Show them that we are Atlanta and we mean business!!!!!
Vet
August 24th, 2011
2:45 pm
Today, it’s about facebook, twitter, what’s trending in the ATL, the wizometer (BTW….. do you also have a problem with the “Mellish meter”?). Social media, pumped up music, graphics ……. haven’t you been to a ball game of church lately? The Nina Browns of the world are here to stay, and that’s what’s trending today…….
jojo
August 24th, 2011
2:54 pm
THE BEST AND MOST ACCURANT WEATHER REPORT IS ON FOX5 ATLANTA.
tulla
August 24th, 2011
2:56 pm
we all miss paul!! and what happened to CHERYL LEMKE? did yall fire her too? she was from the WEATHER CHANNEL……she knew her stuff
Vet
August 24th, 2011
2:56 pm
“THE BEST AND MOST ACCURANT WEATHER REPORT IS ON FOX5 ATLANTA.”
You mean Ken “I missed the blizzard of 93″ Cook? I remember his “Don’t worry, it will only be a rain event” and that night we got pounded by a snow blizzard. Glenn Burns nailed it that day.
JJ
August 24th, 2011
2:58 pm
yuck
11 Not Alive No Mas
August 24th, 2011
3:01 pm
11 Alive is personae non gratae in my home. Lousy the way Paul was handled and I cannot watch any longer. Besides since Jill Becker is retiring your ratings will surely drop more. Hello WSB channel 2.
LL
August 24th, 2011
3:08 pm
11 Alive has lost viewers because of their treatment of Paul. When Jill is gone so is 11 Alive. Good luck to the new guy. He may be great but I will never watch him. He may have stepped into a pit of vipers. Miss you Paul.
tony
August 24th, 2011
3:13 pm
he is bald !! he needs to be on radio not T.V. im sorry but bald does not look good. im sorry if this hurts bald peoples feelings but if you are bald and someone tells you that you ” look good bald ” they are lying to you. bald is ugly
Vet
August 24th, 2011
3:13 pm
Was Paul Ossman a Meteorologist?
Was Dagmar Meteorologist?
Thay were weather readers.
Road Scholar
August 24th, 2011
3:15 pm
From what I’ve seen so far…bring back Paul O! He should never have been let go. And how did Chesley get the job? What a joke!
Jill, you will be missed. Best of luck to you and your family.
Jim Bissel was great; the new guy needs work…a lot of work.
Prime Star
August 24th, 2011
3:18 pm
All people want to know is if it’s going to rain. That way they know whether to plan to get drunk inside or outside. And, to the Ass-man junkies: ratings aren’t measured by what four malcontents post on a blog.
jd
August 24th, 2011
3:35 pm
Once I knew Paul was being fired,l I never watched 11 alive again, and I NEVER will
john
August 24th, 2011
3:35 pm
Like 11alive. Give Mike a chance. He knows weather. Get rid of the wizmeter.
Boris Badnoff
August 24th, 2011
3:36 pm
360 of the 365 days per year weather in Atlanta consists of two things: It raining. It’s not raining. If it is raining when is it going to stop. If it’s not raining when is it going to start. Don’t need to know the particulars or what the weather is in International Fall Minn. Would like to be informed if the umbrella is necessary by the stacked babe on 46 or the cute little pixie on 5. Male weathermen hold now allure for me.
AccuWeather
August 24th, 2011
3:41 pm
Get your weather from us!
Guy Sharper Image
August 24th, 2011
3:45 pm
Russ Minshew died in 1993.
jeff
August 24th, 2011
3:53 pm
This man is very FLAT on air. He does not smile, has little personality. How could they replace Paul with him? Paul was a ‘good guy’ and he usually got the weather correct. The new person seems OVER confidant. I do not see the fit with 11Alive. Poor hire in my opinion. And bring back Ted vs. Jeff.
Susan
August 24th, 2011
4:23 pm
I have preferred Paul over them all, but now I am done with that. I will go back to WSB for sure….Wrong move in getting rid of Paul. He was the best part of the whole thing.
JIMBOB (aka James Robert)
August 24th, 2011
4:36 pm
Minshewmania!!
Reg
August 24th, 2011
7:04 pm
Welcome Mike! As much as I LOVED and always WAS a fan of 11Alive, I am slowly making the switch, or should I say not watching that much! I now watch channel 2 at four (that is more than enough news for me). At ten, it is fox 5, as much as I don’t like them! Who is the new lady? And Jeff is not the man for achoring. Again, I have been a diehard fan of 11Alive since grade school, now 44, and now am slowing getting them out of my system!
tvBoy
August 24th, 2011
7:12 pm
sorry to hate here, but this guy is more boring than my left flip-flop
bigmacdaddy
August 24th, 2011
7:52 pm
Chris Holcomb got passed over again? How many times is that guy gonna take it? I switched to WSB a few years ago. Less hokey pokey more real news. Go Bachman!
bigmacdaddy
August 24th, 2011
8:01 pm
That Chelsey dude suks. And now they’re putting him on billboards all over town. That’s definitely not going to pull in any viewers in the morning. Time to kill the Wizometer. Sounds like someone’s going to the bathroom. Jill – turn out the lites when you leave cause no one’s watching. We’ll miss you. You’re a class act in a room full of clowns.
Velveeta Smith
August 24th, 2011
9:23 pm
Russ Minchew tried to pick up an underage boy in Columbus for some homo fun, and he wasn’t seen after that got out. He later croaked.
As far as Minton’s jugs, does she have any? If so, who cares?
Kim Peterson
August 24th, 2011
10:52 pm
How hard is Ellen Crook praying for the Hurricane to swing this way for the new boy to be on the air insessantly. Miss Paul but this is a crumy biz, cheaper and younger.
Ari Northington
August 25th, 2011
12:39 am
Keep the Wizometer. I like Chesley. Mike is a cutie patootie!
Short and sweet.
God-awful
August 25th, 2011
6:07 am
Nobody seems to realize what’s about to happen: Now that 11Alive has some guy who lives and breathes weather, expect more and more “Weather Emergency!!!!” cut-ins that pre-empt network programming. If there’s a severe thunderstorm 150 miles away, 11Alive will just abandon the network’s 8-11 block and let baldy prattle on for three hours. It’s gonna happen.
And no matter what Francis says, the Wiz has already been cut back dramatically. It used to be the primary focus of every 5-day weather report; now it’s just mentioned briefly. This basically proves that the Wiz was a stupid idea. The only reason it’s not gone completely is because that would hurt the fee-fees of certain individuals who have been dismantling 11Alive for quite a while.
Golf
August 25th, 2011
6:23 am
Two things need to be fired. Chesley and the WIZ. Chesley comedy routine every morning is stupid. Can’t a city this size do better than this FOOL?
Vet
August 25th, 2011
7:21 am
Hatin’ on the black man
mike scott
August 25th, 2011
7:34 am
karen minton is SEXY!
pagan man
August 25th, 2011
9:28 am
karen minton sexy?are you kidding how old are you about 95
alec bald dome
August 25th, 2011
10:18 am
anybody thinks bald is beautiful is just fooling themselves,ask rodney ho,you don’t see him witout that hat do you?
Rodney Ho
August 25th, 2011
10:20 am
@alec bald dome Shockingly, I do have hair, with or without a hat
Just curious
August 25th, 2011
11:31 am
Rodney,
When are the ratings made public? I’d love to see what all of Ellen’s changes have translated into.
TV Guy
August 25th, 2011
12:00 pm
Forget Karen Minton, Markina Brown is smoking HOT!
Nabby Blabby
August 25th, 2011
2:46 pm
They should replace him with Juicy from the Ricky Smiley Morning Show
Stories Posted Thursday, August 25, 2011 : Media News At This Hour
August 26th, 2011
6:59 am
[...] market – Rodney Ho at the AJC introduces Mike Francis, the new chief meteorologist at 11Alive [...]
JimmyZ
August 26th, 2011
12:05 pm
Ironic how they spend time talking about his using his experience in the market, “his former news director Rob Heverling in Little Rock said: “Then he’d use his own intuition and experience in the market. ” to forecast storms. Exactly what they had with Paul Ossman…an experienced forecaster who knew how weather here behaves.
I wish him luck…somebody tell me if he’s any good, I left 11 a while back, and don’t plan on going back.
Jim R.
August 26th, 2011
6:37 pm
If you are a TV Weather Meterologist in Atlanta, you can save a lot of time when doing a Weather Forecast between June 21 through September 21st by mentioning the following:
Today’s forecast for Atlanta: “Hazy, Hot and Humid with a stray thunderstorm. Now, back to the news.”