Neil Laverne Frank (born September 11, 1931) is an American

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...

and former director of the

National Hurricane Center The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is the division of the United States' NOAA/National Weather Service responsible for tracking and predicting tropical weather systems between the IERS Reference Meridian, Prime Meridian and the 140th meridian ...

(NHC) in Florida. He was instrumental in advancing both the scientific and informational aspects of

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its ...

forecasting. He retired in 2008 as Chief Meteorologist at

KHOU-TV KHOU (channel 11) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Conroe-licensed Quest station KTBU (channel 55). The two stations share studios on Westheimer Road near ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. He is the grandfather of Christian singer

Forrest Frank Forrest Frank (born April 8, 1995) is an American Contemporary Christian music, Christian pop singer, songwriter, and producer from Fulshear, Texas, Fulshear, Texas. He is one half of the music duo Surfaces (band), Surfaces and has a successful s ...

Early history and family

Frank grew up in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, and attended nearby Southwestern College. After receiving his bachelor's degree in

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

in 1953 followed by military training in weather forecasting, he moved on to

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU or Florida State) is a Public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preeminent university in the s ...

, where he earned his Masters and Ph.D. degrees in meteorology. He served as a meteorologist in the Air Force at Homestead Air Force Base in Homestead, Florida as well.

NHC career

Prior to his graduate studies in meteorology, Frank served in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

where he received training as a weather officer. In 1961, he began working as a forecaster for the National Hurricane Center. He was appointed director of the Center in 1974. While director, Dr. Frank also served as chairman of the International Hurricane Committee, which coordinates hurricane warnings across North America. He also participated in meteorological experiments conducted off the African coast. In 1987, he was called to testify as an expert witness before the

United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation The United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation is a standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of the United States Senate. Besides having broad jurisdiction over all matters concerning intersta ...

. Frank is the longest serving director of the NHC. As NHC director, Frank was in the news frequently when hurricanes threatened, appearing in numerous interviews with then- CBS news anchor

Dan Rather Daniel Irvin Rather Jr. (; born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor. He began his career in Texas, becoming a national name after his reporting saved thousands of lives during Hurrica ...

, whose early career included coverage of several hurricanes. During

Hurricane Allen Hurricane Allen was the strongest Atlantic hurricane by wind speed on record. An extremely powerful tropical cyclone, Allen affected the Caribbean, eastern and northern Mexico, and South Texas in August 1980. The second tropical depression, fi ...

in 1980, Frank used an amateur radio station to communicate directly with the Brownsville Weather Center in Texas after it had lost all of its conventional communications links. The only remaining communications link between the Hurricane Center and Brownsville was the amateur radio station on battery power. NHC and Brownsville discussed the strange behavior of the eye of Hurricane Allen while it stalled just off the Texas Coast for almost 2 hours.

Broadcasting career

In June 1987, Frank retired from the National Hurricane Center and joined Houston's CBS affiliate, KHOU-TV. He was already well known to the Houston public from his reports as Director of the National Hurricane Center, particularly those during

Hurricane Alicia Hurricane Alicia was a small but powerful tropical cyclone that caused significant destruction in the Greater Houston area of Southeast Texas in August 1983. Although Alicia was a relatively small hurricane, its track over the rapidly grow ...

, which came ashore near Houston in 1983. Frank was the chief meteorologist for the television station for over 20 years and received numerous awards. In December 2007, Frank announced that he would retire from broadcasting at KHOU-TV the following year. On Monday, May 19, 2008, Frank announced on the 10 PM news that he would retire at the end of May. He would continue to provide the station with special weather projects and hurricane coverage.

Global Warming

Frank is a signatory to An Evangelical Declaration on Global Warming, which claims that "Earth and its ecosystems – created by God's intelligent design and infinite power and sustained by His faithful providence – are robust, resilient, self-regulating, and self-correcting."An Evangelical Declaration on Global Warming
"We believe Earth and its ecosystems – created by God's intelligent design and infinite power and sustained by His faithful providence – are robust, resilient, self-regulating, and self-correcting, admirably suited for human flourishing, and displaying His glory."

Professional memberships and awards

*Elected to council,

American Meteorological Society The American Meteorological Society (AMS) is a scientific and professional organization in the United States promoting and disseminating information about the atmospheric, oceanic, and hydrologic sciences. Its mission is to advance the atmosph ...

, 1989-1992 term. *First place in the 1989 Texas Press Awards, Best weathercast. *2004 recipient of the Belo William H. Seay Award.

References

External links

National Hurricane Center

KHOU-TV, Houston
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frank, Neil Living people People from Wellington, Kansas Journalists from Houston American television reporters and correspondents American television weather presenters Florida State University alumni 1931 births National Weather Service people Southwestern College (Kansas) alumni Environmental controversies