BOSTON -- Mike Wankum is a staff meteorologist for NewsCenter 5. He assumed the role in February 2007 after joining WCVB-TV Channel 5 in December 2006. Mike comes to WCVB after serving 13 years as chief meteorologist at WLVI-TV in Boston.

Mike has been recognized with nine regional Emmy Awards in New England and one in Washington, D.C. He has contributed to weather reports for the Boston Herald and the Community Newspaper Company and authors a weekly weather column for BostonNow. Mike has also been heard on local airwaves (WBUR, WXKS-FM, WZLX-FM, WBCN-FM) providing forecasts and discussing weather and science.

Prior to moving to Boston, Mike was chief meteorologist at WTVR-TV, Richmond, Va. He also served as chief meteorologist at KTIV-TV, Sioux City, Iowa.

Mike has served as Chairman of the Chernobyl Children Project USA and is still an active board member. He assists orphanages and children’s hospitals in the contaminated regions with basic necessities. He has worked with Boston area hospitals coordinating nearly $5 million worth of treatment for children from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Mike has traveled extensively in the Chernobyl region. He is also actively involved in various local charitable organizations and a frequent speaker in area schools.

A graduate of Briar Cliff University, Mike is a member of the American Meteorological Society and has his AMS Seal of Approval. In February 2007, Mike earned the CBM designation, only the second meteorologist in the Boston market to do so. Mike's family originally arrived in Boston from Ireland on July 11, 1847. As Irish imigrants they headed west in search of farmland. The family homesteaded in Minnesota, then South Dakota and eventually Iowa. Mike was raised on a farm in Iowa. He now resides on the South Shore where he enjoys sailing. A lifelong motorcyce rider, he can still be seen occasionally racing motorcyles at the New Hampshire International Speedway. He is married with three children.