A cup of coffee with weather man Mike Tsolinas

UPDATE 7-25-16: I was very sad to learn that Mike has passed away from illness. I did not know him well, but enjoyed the brief time I spent getting to know him. My condolences go out to all of his family and friends.

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On Monday morning, while the weather was just about perfect, I headed into a local Starbucks to meet with veteran meteorologist and television personality, Mike Tsolinas.

After a cordial greeting, I jokingly asked him how the weather was going to be for the remainder of the day. Like the expert that he is in his field, he gave me a rundown of what to expect.

Tsolinas is a very pleasant guy, and it was clear that he was very popular among the workers there at Starbucks. Like me, they all greeted him and quickly asked for a rundown on the upcoming weather.

After our initial exchange, he invited me for some yogurt, and we sat down for a nice conversation. Some of the topics we covered were his daughter, dog, boxing, business, and of course we talked about his career in weather and television.

At 55, Tsolinas has been in the business for over 32 years. During that time, he has claimed three daytime Emmy’s. Besides his weather duties, he also is the founder and CEO of MikeTsolinas.com, a weather based site that is devoted to all things weather, kids, and “G” rated fun!

He began life in Chicago, and studied both communications and meteorology, combining them both in pursuit of his career. Those studies, along with his talent and experience, has allowed him to work in both large and small markets across the United States.

Mike began his career in Duluth, Minnesota (KDLH-TV), and soon moved to Austin, Texas (KTBC-TV). Then, after just 2.5 years of TV behind him, he moved to Detroit, Michigan (WJBK-TV) where he spent 5 years as a weekday morning meteorologist and general assignment reporter.

His next stop was at WBBM-TV & WFLD-TV in Chicago, where he had a chance to go home for 6 years before moving to San Antonio, Texas (KSAT-TV), and then on to Las Vegas, Nevada (KTNV-TV) Next were trips to Minneapolis, Minnesota (KMSP-TV), to San Diego, California (KUSI-TV), to Los Angeles, California (KNBC-TV), then back to Las Vegas, Nevada (KTNV-TV) again!

Tsolinas, as you might expect, is an avid follower of the weather, working hard at his craft, spending much of his free time attending meteorological conferences and radar seminars in a continuing effort to stay up to date with technology and the latest applied sciences.

He is also the creator of Mike’s WeatherNutz & Mike’s BookWormz programs for 4th- to 6th-grade children, which teaches them the worlds of weather and reading in a fun and innovative way. The program to date has reached over 500,000 kids nationwide in 5 different markets.