Maria Janeth Molina (born April 7, 1987) 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 atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

. She was the on-air meteorologist for the Fox News Channel, a U.S. television network, from 2010 to 2016. She is now an Assistant Professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science at the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

Early life

Molina was born in

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

and grew up in

Hialeah, Florida Hialeah ( ; ) is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. With a population of 223,109 as of the 2020 census, Hialeah is the sixth-largest city in Florida. It is the second largest city by population in the Miami metropolitan area ...

. She is a graduate of

Barbara Goleman Senior High School Barbara Goleman Senior High School is a secondary school located at 14100 NW 89th Ave in Miami Lakes, Florida; its principal is Manuel Sanchez. Goleman is part of Miami-Dade County Public Schools Region I, and is school number 7751. The school ...

. She attributes her interest in

meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...

to her experience with Category 5 Hurricane Andrew, which hit her hometown in South Florida when she was 5 years old.

Education

Molina graduated cum laude from Florida State University in 2008, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in

and minors in mathematics and communications. While at Florida State University, she completed the University Honors Program and the Honors in the Major Program requirements.
Additionally, she graduated from Columbia University in the City of New York in 2015 with a

Masters of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree in Climate and Society. She earned her PhD from Central Michigan University in the Earth and Ecosystem Science Doctoral Program, where she was also a graduate research assistant.

Career

Molina has earned the Certified Broadcast Meteorologist (CBM) designation from the

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

(AMS). Molina joined Fox News in October 2010. She provided weather updates on many Fox shows and appeared regularly on the

FOX & Friends ''Fox & Friends'' is an American daily morning news and talk program that airs on Fox News. It premiered on February 1, 1998, and is currently hosted by Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade on weekdays. Will Cain, Rachel Campos- ...

morning show, until leaving the station in September 2016. She was credited as being the youngest meteorologist on cable in 2012. While at Fox News, she also appeared on the Fox Business, Fox News Radio, Fox News Latino, and Fox Sports Networks. She served as a part-time meteorologist at WJBK Fox2 in Detroit mainly on weekend newscasts while pursuing her doctoral degree in Michigan. Prior to Fox News, Molina was a bilingual TV meteorologist for AccuWeather in

State College, Pennsylvania State College is a home rule municipality in Centre County in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is a college town, dominated economically, culturally and demographically by the presence of the University Park campus of the Pennsylvania Sta ...

, for which she provided weather forecasts in both English and Spanish. She was an Advanced Study Program (ASP) postdoctoral fellow at the

National Center for Atmospheric Research The US National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR ) is a US federally funded research and development center (FFRDC) managed by the nonprofit University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) and funded by the National Science Foundatio ...

Personal life

In December 2015, she married stormchaser

Reed Timmer Reed Timmer (born March 17, 1980) is an American meteorologist and storm chaser. He is known for starring in the Discovery Channel reality television series ''Storm Chasers'', as well as in the documentary film '' Tornado Glory'' and in the ser ...

at the Masaya Volcano National Park in Nicaragua. They divorced in 2018.

References

External links

* * Living people Television personalities from Florida American television meteorologists Fox News people Florida State University alumni Columbia University alumni Nicaraguan emigrants to the United States Place of birth missing (living people) 1987 births Scientists from Florida Hispanic and Latino American women journalists 21st-century American women People from Hialeah, Florida {{US-tv-bio-stub