Mike Nelson’s legacy as a pioneering forecaster and 20-year veteran of the Denver7 airwaves will live on after his retirement Thursday through the Mike Nelson Observation Station – an official NWS cooperative observer station – outside of the news station’s downtown studios.
Denver7 meteorologist Lisa Hidalgo – a mentee of Nelson’s over her 18 years at the station – unveiled the weather station on Thursday’s morning newscast.
The weather station has both a rain gauge and snow pad for measuring precipitation at the Denver7 building, which is located on Delgany Street just north of Coors Field. When it rains or snows, a Denver7 meteorologist will record the totals, and be able to record depth across consecutive precipitation events.
Lisa led a similar effort at Denver7’s previous facility on Speer Boulevard, but it tapered off during the coronavirus pandemic when fewer people were working at the office.
“We wanted to do something special and have it here at the station once [Mike] retires, so that we've got a little piece of Mike still living on,” Hidalgo said on air Thursday morning. “When we moved into this building, we thought, ‘We've got to bring this back.’ And it was actually [Denver7 traffic expert Jayson Luber’s] idea to put this in honor of Mike.”
“I just thought this would be a really cool way to honor him,” she said.
