“When you open up the app … you hit the button live, and I’ll be talking to you in a matter of seconds.”įox Weather’s main competitor may be the Weather Channel, a nearly 40-year-old cable network which is beefing up its own digital offerings in the wake of cord-cutting, with a paid streaming service set to launch later this year.Īllen Media Group, the company founded by comedian and entrepreneur Byron Allen, bought the Weather Channel cable network for $300 million in 2018. “I think that this is the future of how weather will be consumed,” Freeze said. Bellis left the station earlier this year after his contract was not renewed.įreeze said the Fox Weather streaming network brings her back to Chicago through an innovative platform, with live national weather reports, localized forecasts and a familiar face streamed on your smartphone. “I love Chicago and I would have stayed there, of course.”Ĭhicago fans were less forgiving, regularly booing Bill Bellis, her successor as chief meteorologist at Fox 32, when his face appeared on the Soldier Field Jumbotron instead of Freeze’s during the 2011 football season. “When my contract came up, I had so many opportunities to go places, it was hard to be too disappointed,” Freeze said. “When I was there, presenting the weather and forecasting alongside them, it was a real honor.”įox News Chicago Chief Meteorologist Amy Freeze on Michigan Avenue outside the station’s studio in 2008.įreeze hoped to make the Chicago TV market her professional home for many years and was surprised when her contract was not renewed in February 2011. She fell in love with the city and its history of venerated, long-tenured TV weathercasters. “It was meant to be.”įreeze worked as a weathercaster at TV stations in several major markets including Denver and Philadelphia before arriving in Chicago in 2007. “This is the name I was born with,” Freeze said. Raised in southern Indiana, Freeze went to college in Utah - she was a cheerleader and communications major at BYU - and earned a second degree in meteorology at Mississippi State, once her career destiny became clear. The clue: “Appropriately, Amy Freeze was this age when she became a meteorologist for WFLD in January 2007.” She has hosted the Miss Illinois/Miss America Pageant in Chicago, as well as the Miles to Fight Melanoma Race and the March of Dimes’ “Dancing with the Stars” competition in Chicago.Freeze developed a devoted Chicago fan base, while her descriptive name brought her national recognition, including a spot on the “Jeopardy!” TV game board during a June 2008 broadcast. Amy volunteers her time in her neighborhood, speaking to students about weather and supporting humanitarian projects.
She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Geosciences from Mississippi State University, with a focus on Severe Weather and Forecasting.
in Communications with a focus on Broadcast Journalism. Brigham Young University awarded her a B.A. She formerly worked as a meteorologist at WCAU-TV in Philadelphia, as a morning meteorologist at KMGH-TV in Denver, and on Portland’s KPTV’s local morning news program “Good Day Oregon.” Her work has earned her multiple Emmy Awards, including “Best Weathercaster,” “Outstanding Host,” and “Surviving Severe Weather,” her weather special.Īmy graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a master’s degree in environmental sciences. She also has Seals of Approval from the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association.Īmy joined Channel 7’s Eyewitness News Weather Team in 2011 after working for Fox News in Chicago as the Chief Meteorologist. Amy is one of just a handful of women in the world to hold the American Meteorological Society’s distinguished Certified Broadcast Meteorologist designation.