![]() On Monday, May 19, 2008, Frank announced on the 10 PM news that he would retire at the end of May. In December 2007, Frank announced that he would retire from broadcasting at KHOU-TV the following year. Frank was the chief meteorologist for the television station for over 20 years and received numerous awards. He was already well known to the Houston public from his reports as Director of the National Hurricane Center, particularly those during Hurricane Alicia, which came ashore near Houston in 1983. In June 1987, Frank retired from the National Hurricane Center and joined Houston's CBS affiliate, KHOU-TV. 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. The only remaining communications link between the Hurricane Center and Brownsville was the amateur radio station on battery power. ĭuring Hurricane Allen 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. As of 2018 Frank is the longest serving director of the NHC.Īs NHC director, Frank was in the news frequently when hurricanes threatened, appearing in numerous interviews with then- CBS news anchor Dan Rather, whose early career included coverage of several hurricanes. In 1987, he was called to testify as an expert witness before the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. He also participated in meteorological experiments conducted off the African coast. Frank also served as chairman of the International Hurricane Committee, which coordinates hurricane warnings across North America. He was appointed director of the Center in 1974. In 1961, he began working as a forecaster for the National Hurricane Center. Prior to his graduate studies in meteorology, Frank served in the United States Air Force where he received training as a weather officer. He served as a meteorologist in the Air Force at Homestead Air Force Base in Homestead, Florida as well.įrank has been married over 60 years and has three children, 10 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. After receiving his bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1953 followed by military training in weather forecasting, he moved on to Florida State University, where he earned his Masters and Ph.D. Early history and family įrank grew up in Wellington, Kansas, and attended nearby Southwestern College. He retired in 2008 as Chief Meteorologist at KHOU-TV in Houston. He was instrumental in advancing both the scientific and informational aspects of hurricane forecasting. ![]() Neil Laverne Frank (born September 11, 1931) is an American meteorologist and former director of the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Florida. Doctorate in Meteorology from Florida State Universityįormer director of the National Hurricane Center, Former Chief Meteorologist at KHOU-TV in Houston.
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