Nicole Lynn Mitchell (born October 10, 1974) is an American television meteorologist, Air Force veteran, and politician serving in the

Minnesota Senate The Minnesota Senate is the upper house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. At 67 members, half as many as the Minnesota House of Representatives, it is the largest upper house of any U.S. state legislature. Floor sessions are hel ...

. Mitchell is a

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

in the Air National Guard, commanding the 126th Weather Flight. She previously served in the

U.S. Air Force Reserve The Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the United States Air Force, with its headquarters at Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. It is the federal Air Reserve Component (ARC) of the U.S. Air Force, consisting of commiss ...

, assigned to the

53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, also known by its nickname, Hurricane Hunters, is a flying unit of the United States Air Force, and "the only Department of Defense organization still flying into tropical storms and hurricanes." Aligne ...

Keesler Air Force Base Keesler Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located in Biloxi, a city along the Gulf Coast in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. The base is named in honor of aviator 2d Lt Samuel Reeves Keesler Jr., a Mississippi nati ...

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

, as an aerial reconnaissance weather officer. She worked at

the Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel broadcasts weather forecas ...

from 2004 to 2011 and with

Al Jazeera America Al Jazeera America was an American pay television news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network. The channel was launched on August 20, 2013, to compete with CNN, HLN, MSNBC, Fox News, and in certain markets RT America. It was Al Jazeera' ...

from 2013 to 2016. After some time as a freelance meteorologist at

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

(working at

WCBS-TV WCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–licensed independent station WL ...

in New York City and

WFOR-TV WFOR-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent station WBFS-TV (channel 3 ...

in Miami), she returned home to Minnesota to become a meteorologist for

KSTP-TV KSTP-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, serving the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities area as an affiliate of American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is the Flagship (broadcasting), flagsh ...

in Minneapolis-St. Paul starting in June 2017. In 2022, she was elected to the

Minnesota Legislature The Minnesota Legislature is the bicameral legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota consisting of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Senators are elected from 67 single-member districts. In order to account for decennia ...

as a state senator for District 47.

The Weather Channel

Mitchell was brought on by the Weather Channel in July 2004. From 2004 to 2008 she co-anchored TWC's morning show,

Your Weather Today ''America's Morning Headquarters'' (formerly ''Your Weather Today'', ''Morning Rush'' and ''AMHQ'') is an American morning television program on The Weather Channel. Airing every morning from 6 a.m. to 12 p.m. Eastern Time, the program ...

. She then moved to co-host of

Evening Edition ''Evening Edition'' is an American weather program broadcast by The Weather Channel. ''Evening Edition'' included multiple hours of programming, cut into by long-form programs such as '' When Weather Changed History'', as well as a repeating over ...

alongside Paul Goodloe from 2008 to 2010. In January 2011, the Weather Channel terminated Mitchell. Mitchell filed a lawsuit against the Weather Channel in the

United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (in case citations, N.D. Ga.) is a United States district court which serves the residents of forty-six counties. These are divided up into four divisions. Appeals from cases ...

in 2011, alleging that she had been terminated because the new owners disapproved of the time required by her simultaneous duties as a captain in the

as part of the " Hurricane Hunters" team.

Al Jazeera America

In July 2013 it was announced that Mitchell would be part of the weather team at

. Mitchell delivered the weather segments in the morning from 7 am to 9 am

Eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

and during large weather events. She was the chief meteorologist of the channel until it ceased operation on April 12, 2016.

CBS News

Beginning Spring 2016, Mitchell freelanced with

, appearing on

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, along with contributions to the national network

CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987, to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012, to September 6, 2021. The program was aired from Monday through Saturday. ...

show. She also traveled south to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, filling in for Lissette Gonzalez at

while she was on maternity leave.

KSTP Minneapolis-St. Paul

5 Eyewitness News welcomed Nicole Mitchell in June 2017. She often appears on a variety of KSTP newscasts as a freelance meteorologist.

Minnesota Public Radio (MPR)

Mitchell's voice has also been heard on

Minnesota Public Radio Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), is a public radio network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, News & Information, YourClassical MPR and The Current, MPR operates a 46-station regional radio network in the upper Midwest. MPR ha ...

's Morning Edition since November 2019, in the role of meteorologist alongside anchor

Cathy Wurzer Cathy Wurzer is an American journalist and author. She and Eric Eskola are the longtime hosts of ''Almanac (American TV series), Almanac'' on Twin Cities Public Television. She also hosts the regional portion of ''Morning Edition'' on Minnesota Pu ...

.) On January 7, 2022, she announced on Twitter that she was leaving MPR to explore a candidacy for the Minnesota State Senate.

Political career

On January 24, 2022, a video of Nicole Mitchell was posted to YouTube announcing her candidacy for Minnesota State Senate District 47. A campaign website has been created. She won in the 2022 general election against Republican candidate Dwight Dorau.

Personal

Mitchell is from

Woodbury, Minnesota Woodbury is a city in Washington County, Minnesota, United States, eight miles (13 km) east of Saint Paul along Interstate 94. It is part of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The population was 75,102 at the 2020 census, making it ...

and graduated from Woodbury High School in 1992. She is an alumna of the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

. On May 14, 2010, she received her

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

degree from the

Georgia State University College of Law The Georgia State University College of Law is a law school located in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1982, it is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. In addition to the J ...

. A strong believer in community service and volunteerism, Mitchell has in the past given her time in numerous capacities, including many years been a Big Sister for Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for abused and neglected children. She is currently a licensed foster care provider. As a member of the Minnesota Bar, Mitchell volunteers her legal skills as part of "Wills For Heroes", which provides free wills and healthcare directives for first responders such as police officers, firefighters, and paramedics. Nicole Mitchell1

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Nicole 1974 births Living people Al Jazeera people American television meteorologists United States Air Force reservists People from Fargo, North Dakota Georgia State University alumni University of Minnesota alumni