OUR ALUMNI MIKE BETTES The sky is painted an ominous, green tint. A furious wind gusts with sporadic pace. Flashes of lightning flicker through the dark clouds. In the distance, a colossal tornado tears unbridled across the rural landscape. It’s May 31, 2013, in central Oklahoma, and standing in front of a camera reporting live on the chaotic scene is field anchor for The Weather Channel and 1995 Ohio State alumnus Mike Bettes. “Look at that monster; this is a huge tornado,” Bettes says on air as the camera pans from him to the twister. “If you live in Union City south of El Reno, you have to take shelter now. There’s no more time to waste.” Sensing potential danger, Bettes cuts the broadcast short, telling the anchors back in The Weather Channel studio that he and his team are going to drive south to escape the tornado’s path. The group jumps back into the vehicle and races down Highway 81. Unknown to them, however, is that the tornado is increasing its speed and doubling in size. In seconds, the crew is at the cyclone’s mercy. It gets darker. The rain grows heavy. Visibility plummets. Bettes watches as the car in front of his gets swatted off the road by the tornado’s extraordinary winds. “Go. Go,” Bettes shouts. “Just keeping going if you can. Keep going if you can. Everybody duck down. Everybody duck down.” The car is lifted off the pavement. Bettes squeezes his eyes shut as time grinds to a halt and be feels himself become weightless.
••• Mike Bettes (BS, atmospheric sciences, 1995), who’s been with The Weather Channel for nearly 15 years and currently hosts “Weather Underground,” fell in love with weather as a kid, watching thunderstorms from the garage with his dad. A native of Akron during his childhood and Lexington in high school, Bettes knew he wanted to study meteorology. The only university that offered such a program was Ohio State. “I was a Buckeye since birth,” Bettes said. “Ohio State was only an hour down the road, so it was a pretty easy choice.” After graduating, Bettes landed a weekend gig at WKEF-TV in Dayton, where he stayed for a year before moving on to ABC6 in Columbus. Following a three-year stint at ABC6, he was named chief meteorologist at WLOS-TV in Ashville, North Carolina. Bettes was in Ashville for three years and reported on the region’s most powerful hurricanes, including the devastating Hurricane Isabel in September 2003. The evening after Isabel made landfall, Bettes was sitting on a North Carolina beach waiting to go on air when his phone rang. It was The Weather Channel. “I had gone for an interview at The Weather Channel in the summer of 2003,” Bettes said. “They called and offered me a job, and I couldn’t believe it. Next thing you know, I was off to Atlanta, and I’ve been with The Weather Channel ever since.” Bettes has filled several roles with The Weather Channel and has covered several of the biggest weather events in history, including Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the Joplin, Missouri, tornado in 2011, and Hurricane Harvey in 2017.
On May 31, 2013, a 2.6 mile-wide tornado careened across the landscape near El Reno, Oklahoma.
12 | DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY
