Dick Fletcher

Who was Dick Fletcher?

Richard R. "Dick" Fletcher was a broadcast meteorologist. He was Chief Meteorologist for WTSP channel 10 in St. Petersburg, Florida, for 28 years at the time of his death on February 26, 2008. He held the American Meteorological Society Seal of Approval.

During his lengthy broadcasting career, Fletcher flew aboard reconnaissance aircraft missions into three hurricanes and made 15 different penetrations into the eye of those storms. In 1987, he was honored by the American Meteorological Society with an award for Outstanding Service by a Broadcast Meteorologist. He was presented the distinguished service award by the National Hurricane Conference in 2003 for his leadership efforts in hurricane preparedness. He also received the Media award from the Florida Governor's Hurricane Conference in 1993.

Fletcher, a native of Omaha, Nebraska, graduated from the University of Omaha in 1964. He had an early ambition to be a television news broadcaster and started his career in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at KCRG, working as a news anchor and occasionally doing the weather. In the early 1970s, he began working as a full-time meteorologist at KOA-TV in Denver, Colorado, and would spend several years in the city. He earned the AMS seal of approval in 1978. In 1976, Fletcher would go on to work in Corpus Christi and then back at KMTV in Omaha. In 1980, he left Omaha to begin his tenure at then-ABC affiliate WTSP-TV as chief meteorologist on March 17, 1980, replacing WTSP's chief meteorologist at the time, Wally Kinnan. He was widely praised for his leadership during Hurricane Elena in September 1985 and for popular segments in which he would answer weather questions from viewers, called "Weather Whys". Fletcher also participated in many community events and was a noted public speaker. He also was a former member of the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council. His no-nonsense, straightforward approach to forecasting was his trademark. After his death, WTSP meteorologist Tammie Souza took over the Chief Meteorologist name.