After 38 years on Tri-State airwaves, Channel 14 WFIE Chief Meteorologist Jeff Lyons is reporting for a lower-key life after retiring in early November.
“They say — and I’ll have to affirm — that you’ll know when it’s time,” says Lyons, 62. “I woke up in early January and literally said, ‘It’s time.’ And that got the ball rolling.”
Lyons is retiring as his current contract expires at the end of 2026. He mentions that this year’s transition in local TV, with WFIE parent company Gray Media’s acquisition of Channel 44 WEVV, means WFIE now has more personnel across CBS, Fox, and NBC stations. Lyons introduced new meteorologists Matthew Wine and Nathan Kitchens to viewers, ensuring what he calls a “smooth and transparent” changing of the guard. “I couldn’t just give two weeks notice and walk out,” he says.
The lifelong West Sider hadn’t been at WFIE long when an F4 tornado on Jan. 7, 1989, devastated Allendale, Illinois. “I was still training basically,” Lyons says. In 2020, his at-home forecasts with his late cat, Betty, gained him a mention in a New York Times article about the COVID-19 pandemic, plus a shoutout in the pet-themed July/August 2023 issue of Evansville Living.
Readers may be in mourning — they’ve awarded Lyons at least five Best of the City awards. Lyons says he’ll miss the “connections with people” that TV work brings, but he looks forward to seeing what retirement entails. “I really just want to see what goes on between 2 in the afternoon and 11 at night,” he says.
