Mishelle 'Mish' Michaels (born Anuradha Mukherjee, 1968 – March 14, 2022) was an American broadcast meteorologist, environmental reporter, and author.

Life and career

Michaels was born in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, India. She earned a B.S. in

meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

from Cornell, and an Ed.M. from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

. Michaels worked at

WMUR-TV WMUR-TV (channel 9) is a television station licensed to Manchester, New Hampshire, United States, serving as the American Broadcasting Company, ABC affiliate to most of New Hampshire. Owned by Hearst Television, the station maintains studios on ...

(Manchester, NH), WHDH (Boston), and

The Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel ...

. She joined

WBZ-TV WBZ-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent WSBK-TV (channel 38). Bo ...

in September 2001 and left in July 2009 to spend time raising her children and write books. In late 2010, she contributed to the book, ''Extreme New England Weather'' written by Josh Judge, with her story of a deadly microburst in

Stratham, New Hampshire Stratham is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The town had a population of 7,669 at the 2020 census. It is bounded on the west by the Squamscott River. The town is the home of the only U.S. Lindt & Sprüngli factory an ...

, in 1991. On January 31, 2017, Michaels announced via

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

her employment with WGBH as a science reporter. On February 8, 2017, it was made public that she had been fired from the position before even one broadcast could occur as she "...has been outspoken in her controversial belief that vaccines cause autism..." as well as a disbelief in man-made climate change. Michaels later disputed these claims on her personal website. Her family announced her death at age 53 during the week of March 16, 2022, giving no cause of death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Michaels, Mish 1968 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American women 21st-century American women People from Kolkata Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumni Harvard University alumni Indian emigrants to the United States American television weather presenters American women journalists American writers of Indian descent