Melissa Frey
Chief Meteorologist
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Forecasting the weather is not only Melissa’s career, it is her passion, hobby and was her dream to do professionally since before she could drive. She dreamed of understanding the weather, but also to tell others about it. Melissa knew with this knowledge she could help keep people safe, informed, and prepared for whatever weather would come their way.
While studying journalism, communication and public speaking at Whitworth University, Melissa hosted a weekly radio show and took just about every calculus, physics, and earth science class she could fit in. Melissa then went on to Oregon State University where she earned a master’s degree in Atmospheric Science and taught undergraduate classes on meteorology and conducted cutting-edge research on atmospheric flow patterns.
Before landing in Alaska in 2016, Melissa was a broadcast meteorologist for the ABC affiliate in Eugene, Oregon for nearly 9 years. The American Meteorological Society certified her as a broadcast meteorologist in 2010, the highest credential awarded to TV meteorologists.
Melissa loves adventuring across this great state with her husband and two young children. She still finds herself pondering the clouds over Alaska and in awe of the amazing sunsets. If you ever have a weather question, weather story idea or weather photo, don’t be a stranger! She loves to talk about the weather anytime. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
(Photo Credit: Freeze Frame Photography)
Updated: Mar. 24, 2023 at 7:06 PM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey
It wasn’t just meteorology day at Spring Hill, it was also Lorax Day as the students were celebrating The Lorax author, Dr. Seuss all week. With their bushy and colorful mustaches, and eyebrows attached, the students learned what causes extreme weather and even worked to make the sounds of a thunderstorm in their cafeteria.
Updated: Mar. 22, 2023 at 9:36 PM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey
Local drivers recommend staying out of Turnagain Pass until the snow clears and avalanche forecasters recommend avoiding the backcountry until the snowpack stabilizes, which could take several days.
Updated: Mar. 10, 2023 at 7:45 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
Inside the Weather Lab Airport Heights, students learned about the extreme weather we see in Alaska like blizzards, flooding, and dangerous wind storms.
Updated: Mar. 3, 2023 at 6:24 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
In this week’s weather lab the second graders at Government Hill Elementary were able to translate the weather forecast into Spanish because they are a part of the school’s two-way dual language immersion program.
Updated: Mar. 2, 2023 at 5:56 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
In this week’s Weather Lab Chief Meteorologist Melissa Frey visited Bowman Elementary School in Anchorage. From earth science to chemistry to engineering, these fourth graders have been working hard on science this year and are now learning more about meteorology.
Updated: Feb. 21, 2023 at 7:28 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
The second storm system will send a pair of fronts across the Interior and Southcentral Wednesday and Thursday. Initially, only light snow is likely Wednesday, but heavier snow is likely Thursday from Fairbanks to Anchorage. Winter Weather Advisories are in effect for the Matanuska and Susitna Valleys for 4-8″ of snow Thursday, with some freezing rain mixing in.
Updated: Feb. 17, 2023 at 6:40 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
In this week’s Weather Lab, Chief Meteorologist Melissa Frey visited Fire Lake Elementary School in Eagle River.
Updated: Feb. 10, 2023 at 5:58 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
Chief Meteorologist Melissa Frey stopped by to show these third graders what it’s like to be a meteorologist, including how to present the weather on a green screen.
Updated: Feb. 3, 2023 at 9:37 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
In this week’s Weather Lab, instead of Chief Meteorologist Melissa Frey bringing the science lessons to the classroom, the students came to the Weather Lab here at our studios.
Updated: Jan. 27, 2023 at 6:49 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
In this week’s weather lab, Chief Meteorologist Melissa Frey visited Chinook Elementary School in Anchorage.
Updated: Jan. 20, 2023 at 5:36 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
These third graders have already learned about the water cycle and will be learning more about clouds later this year, but first, Melissa stopped by to show them what it’s like to be a meteorologist and the instruments she uses to forecast the weather.
Updated: Jan. 14, 2023 at 9:25 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
In this week’s weather lab, Chief Meteorologist Melissa Frey visited Rogers Park Elementary School in Anchorage. She says it’s obvious these fourth, fifth, and sixth graders have been working hard in science.The students knew all about clouds and the tools used to forecast the weather. This year, they’ve been studying everything from the water cycle, to how Anchorage’s weather compares to the rest of the globe and how the weather impacts ecosystems and watersheds.
Updated: Jan. 14, 2023 at 9:19 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
This week the Alaska’s News Source Weather Lab visited Homestead Elementary school. These third graders have been working hard this year to learn all about clouds. They got to share with Chief Meteorologist Melissa Frey all that they’ve learned so far, and she got to show them what clouds reveal about the atmosphere and how she uses that information to forecast the weather.
Updated: Jan. 14, 2023 at 6:03 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
For only the 3rd time this year, snow fell in Anchorage! As of 4 p.m., 0.7″ of accumulated snow was measured officially in Anchorage, bringing the monthly total up to 2.1″ and the seasonal total to 57.4″. A series of small storm systems will continue to bring in moisture to Southcentral, while also keeping temperatures 5-10° above normal.
Updated: Jan. 5, 2023 at 11:50 AM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
From blizzards to former typhoons, tsunamis to volcano eruptions, earthquakes to wildfires, the weather in Alaska is extreme. The students who live in those conditions are curious about the weather that directly impacts them. Chief Meteorologist Melissa Frey meets the students where they are and teaches them a little more about the world they live in.
Updated: Jan. 2, 2023 at 9:20 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
Chief Meteorologist Melissa Frey breaks down the forecast. This is the warmest Anchorage has been in more than seven weeks.
Updated: Dec. 23, 2022 at 12:54 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey, Joey Klecka, Paul Choate, Nolin Ainsworth and Joe Bartosik
Although the wind gusts are not as strong, roads in Anchorage and the Mat-Su remain dangerous with icy conditions.
Updated: Dec. 16, 2022 at 6:35 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
Whether puffy or thin, dark or light, all clouds are made of the same thing —water! Sometimes the water in clouds is in liquid form as tiny water droplets and sometimes it’s frozen as small ice crystals but either way, when this water is grouped together in the atmosphere, it makes a cloud! Download the activity guide for three fun learning activities.
Updated: Dec. 14, 2022 at 5:23 AM AKST
|By Melissa Frey, Joe Bartosik, Aaron Morrison and Alaska's News Source Digital team
Southcentral Alaska is dealing with the aftermath of a second winter storm with heavy snowfall.
Updated: Dec. 6, 2022 at 5:29 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey and Jackie Purcell
A winter storm is barreling across the the state! Southcentral is included in that, with Anchorage on track to see total snow accumulations of 6 to 11 inches of snow, the higher amounts going to hillside locations. The city is under a Winter Weather Advisory until 4 pm Wednesday. This advisory extends to the Kenai Peninsula and Susitna Valley.
Updated: Dec. 6, 2022 at 8:44 AM AKST
|By Melissa Frey and Aaron Morrison
Winter weather advisories have been issued for Anchorage and parts of the Kenai Peninsula through Wednesday afternoon
Updated: Dec. 3, 2022 at 4:06 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
These second and third-graders have traveled the world, seeing many different kinds of weather, but some are new to Alaska and to snow.
Updated: Nov. 21, 2022 at 11:11 AM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
In this week’s Weather Lab, students at Susitna Elementary School in Anchorage made the sounds of a thunderstorm rumble through their school.
Updated: Nov. 13, 2022 at 10:50 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
Be prepared for a combination of snow, ice, and standing water on area roads early Monday. The clouds will clear Monday afternoon with high temperatures reaching the upper 30s.
Updated: Nov. 11, 2022 at 6:33 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
Students from Aquarian Charter School are learning about the weather this year, including learning about the water cycle, clouds, and different states of matter. In this week’s Weather Lab they learned how rising and sinking air contributes to our weather, including tornadoes.
Updated: Nov. 8, 2022 at 8:02 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
Temperatures warmed another five to 25 degrees across much of Alaska Tuesday as warmer air moved in from the south. Despite the warm-up, much of the state is still dealing with high winds and snow.
Updated: Nov. 7, 2022 at 3:34 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
Do you know how many earthquakes we get in Alaska? That’s what second and third-graders from Rabbit Creek Elementary asked Melissa Frey this week after an earthquake drill happened during their Weather Lab lesson.
Updated: Nov. 7, 2022 at 3:17 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
The Mobile Weather Lab visited the third-grade classes where the students are learning about meteorology in English and French.
Updated: Nov. 7, 2022 at 3:11 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
The students in Mr. Miller’s astronomy class have the opportunity each week to get out of the classroom and take a trip into space, visiting other planets and even other galaxies through their new planetarium.
Updated: Nov. 7, 2022 at 3:05 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
On the edge of the tundra and not far from the Kuskokwim River, the morning fog clears over Gladys Jung Elementary in Bethel, while inside, the sixth graders are taking a break from their regular lessons to enter the Weather Lab.
Updated: Nov. 7, 2022 at 3:05 PM AKST
|By Melissa Frey
The Mobile Weather Lab is on the road again, stopping at Trailside Elementary School in Anchorage to visit the third-grade classes.
Updated: Oct. 26, 2022 at 11:14 AM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey
Snow totals ranged from a dusting to about 10 inches across Southcentral. The highest snowfall totals were near Soldotna.
Updated: Oct. 18, 2022 at 7:08 PM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey
Two storms deliver strong winds and rain to Alaska this week with much colder air on the way
Updated: Oct. 17, 2022 at 7:18 PM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey
The evidence of the remains of typhoon Merbok is widespread throughout Hooper bay, but as the village works to repair the damage and rebuild, the city and tribal leaders are looking ahead to prepare for future storms and future generations.
Updated: Oct. 17, 2022 at 6:19 PM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey
In this week’s Weather Lab Melissa Frey takes us to Hooper bay where we hear how students experienced the power of weather firsthand.
Updated: Oct. 13, 2022 at 9:02 AM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey
In Hooper Bay, winds reached over 80 mph and the storm surge was the highest anyone in the village had ever seen.
Updated: Oct. 4, 2022 at 6:03 PM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey
Chief Meteorologist Melissa Frey taught them how water can transform into different states of matter while these fourth-grade students taught her how to say some key weather words in German.
Updated: Sep. 26, 2022 at 8:42 PM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey
Since early Sunday two to four inches of rain as fallen across much of Southeast, Alaska with another one to three inches likely in the next 12 to 18 hours. The heavy rain is falling on already saturated soils, leading to landslides reported in Juneau and in Haines. Several rivers and streams are also exceeding their banks.
Updated: Sep. 26, 2022 at 10:56 AM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey
The Alaska’s Weather Source Weather Lab made a special trip this week to Nome Elementary School where the school was closed early Friday to prepare for a major storm, and again Monday to recover from the storm.
Updated: Sep. 21, 2022 at 7:17 PM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey
As the water clears, the work to clean up the mess and fix the damage a historic storm created is getting underway in Nome.
Updated: Sep. 21, 2022 at 5:43 AM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey, Joe Bartosik and Alaska's News Source Digital Team
The damage and impacts from the storm across western Alaska have been devastating and historic.
Updated: Sep. 20, 2022 at 1:41 PM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey and Luke Patrick
It’s now been more than 72 hours since the remnants of a typhoon smashed into Western Alaska, but the damage and destruction is still being uncovered.
Updated: Sep. 10, 2022 at 12:07 PM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey
In this week’s weather lab the fourth graders are learning how meteorologists monitor the weather across the large state of Alaska, and Chief Meteorologist Melissa Frey answers their question of the week: “Why did it rain so much this August?”
Updated: Aug. 9, 2022 at 4:38 PM AKDT
|By Tim Rockey and Melissa Frey
The Little Susitna River and Willow Creek have flooded in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, closing several roads.
Updated: Jul. 25, 2022 at 1:30 PM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey
Chugach Electric Association reported just over 2,800 people were without power at 11 a.m., a number that grew to just over 4,000 around noon.
Updated: Jul. 16, 2022 at 8:48 PM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey
Back-to-back storms brought heavy rainfall to Southcentral Friday and Saturday. With 0.80″ in the rain buckets by 8 p.m on Saturday, this was already the wettest day since August 2021. Chief Meteorologist Melissa Frey has the detailed forecast for the rest of the week.
Updated: Jul. 7, 2022 at 8:01 PM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey
Fire danger remains high across much of the state after a very dry and warm start to the summer, but much of the southern areas of the state got much-needed rain Thursday.
Updated: Jun. 22, 2022 at 7:25 PM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey
For the eighth day this year, Anchorage reached 75° Wednesday, which has only happened one other time in recorded history this early in the season.
Updated: Jun. 7, 2022 at 7:10 PM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey
In this week’s Weather Lab, we visit Nikiski Middle-High School where the sixth graders learned about the atmosphere and hydrosphere in their Earth Science class this year.
Updated: May. 20, 2022 at 10:18 PM AKDT
|By Melissa Frey
In this week’s weather lab, we visit Northern Lights A-B-C School where third graders worked hard learning about weather instruments and information.
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