Dr. Frank was part of our KHOU 11 family for more than two decades. His was a pioneer in hurricane forecasting.
HOUSTON — We have sad news to pass along. Longtime KHOU 11 Chief Meteorologist and Director of the National Hurricane Center Dr. Neil Frank has died.
His family shared the news with KHOU 11 Wednesday morning, just a day after we learned he was being transferred to hospice care. Dr. Frank was 94 years old.
His smile, for anyone who ever met Dr. Frank, told everything about him. He was a true family man with children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Dr. Frank was chief meteorologist here at KHOU 11 from 1987 to 2008 – 21 years — but not many know that his first love was basketball.
Born in 1931 and raised in Kansas, Neil had planned on studying physical education and becoming a high school basketball coach. It was one of his professors, however, who suggested that he study chemistry instead. That way he could be both coach and chemistry teacher, just in case coaching didn’t pan out.
Then, in his senior year of college, fate intervened. He received draft notice and chose to enter the Air Force. His chemistry background made it a logical choice for the Air Force to train him in weather forecasting, where he developed a passion for it.
Doc, as we called him, earned that Doctor of Meteorology at Florida State, studying low pressure systems that were located high up at the top of the atmosphere. Planes were flown at high altitude to gather information.
After some research flights, they noticed a layer of dust on the leading edge of the wing of the airplane. Where was this coming from? The flights were over the Caribbean Sea and far from any desert. Analysis showed that dust was coming from the Saharan Desert in Africa, thousands of miles away. That dust now has a name. The ‘Saharan Arid Layer.’ It has major impacts on hurricane development and is now tracked daily as part of every Atlantic tropical update.
It was 1961 when Dr. Frank joined the National Hurricane Center as a forecaster. This was a time before satellites could see the development and location of every storm. By 1974, he had become its director, and weather satellites along with a boom in new forecasting technology, had become the norm. In fact, it was under Dr. Neil Frank’s direction that the first probability system was used to predict where 1983’s Hurricane Alicia was most likely to strike.
Alicia struck Houston and that new system would eventually develop into the forecast cone that we use today.
After 25 years, Neil left the Hurricane Center, and in 1987, joined KHOU 11 as Houston’s chief meteorologist. He shared his knowledge and skill to keep our community safe for more than 20 years, and occasionally, you would see him on the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather.
Doc knew hurricanes and set out to educate the public. He urged everyone to be prepared and taught us all how to live with the hurricane threat.
And he did it all with that smile.
If there is one thing that most impressed me about the man, it was his genuine care for, and willingness to meet, greet and talk with people — anyone, anywhere. He made everyone feel important and we knew that we were in the hands of a man who genuinely cared about us.
When I became chief meteorologist, he continued to return and share his deep well of expertise with me. Let me tell you, I was so very grateful to have that pillar of knowledge to lean on when a big storm was coming. I learned something new from him every time.
His expertise, concern and care for Houston, and that smile — that’s what we’ll miss the most about Dr. Neil Frank.