Mike's love for meteorology and the weather started when he was a little kid. In the 4th Grade he gave a book report on Hurricanes and was forever hooked on forecasting the weather and just experiencing it. His parents complained that he had the Weather Channel on too often! He started reading weather blogs as soon as he got a computer. Mike grew up in Southern California right on the Pacific Ocean. He never felt quite at home by the beach so right after graduating high school he moved to the place his heart was pulling him towards: The Sierra Nevada Mountains. He quickly began his now lifelong passion for backpacking and climbing mountains. By moving to South Lake Tahoe he had the opportunity to spend his summers hiking the Sierra Nevada mountain range and climbing the Sierra Peaks Section List (SPS). He's climbed 134 mountains on the list out of 247. He's hoping to finish in the next decade.
After completing his Associates Degree at the community college in Lake Tahoe he finished his Bachelors Degree in Atmospheric Science at the University of California, Berkeley. One thing was certain, Mike wanted to be back in the mountains climbing and living in the snow. He moved back to Lake Tahoe after graduation and started working to save up money for Grad School. Mike's passion for meteorology and teaching meant he needed to get a Masters Degree. While living in Tahoe over the past decade Mike started reading Bryan's Tahoe Weather Discussion Blog and eventually Tahoe's OpenSnow blog.
Interestingly enough Mike's experience with skiing didn't start until quite recently. Right before Mike started his graduate degree he learned how to ski and quickly realized there was no greater sport out there. Soon thereafter he started his Masters Degree in Atmospheric Science at the University of Nevada, Reno. While getting his degree Mike started working at the Desert Research Institute (DRI). Mike is a forecaster for the team with mechanical knowledge of the cloud seeding generators that DRI operates. He also assists with field work and data analysis for the projects. His thesis is focused on Mountainous Convective Snowfall (Thunder Snow) which combines his passion for fascinating meteorological phenomena and the outdoors. Mike also started working as a Forensic Meteorologist at WeatherExtreme in 2020 where he analyzes weather data, runs weather models and performs data analysis using Python.
While not working his day job or working on his thesis Mike is constantly trying to ski both in bounds and the backcountry in the winter. In the summer he'll be climbing and backpacking in his beloved Sierra Nevada.