GRAND RAPIDS, MI — West Michigan meteorologist Terri DeBoer announced this week that she’s moving toward a “new what’s next.”
DeBoer announced Wednesday, Feb. 18 on social media that she was stepping away from Fox 17. The announcement came less than two years from DeBoer returning to the air following her initial retirement from TV.
After 28 years at Wood-TV 8, DeBoer retired from the station in September 2023. She then spent a year working as the communications director at Grandville-based Jacobs Financial Services before coming badck to television in October 2024 as a member of the Fox 17 team.
Popular meteorologist coming out of retirement with different West Michigan TV station
“Returning to the airwaves a year-and-a-half ago after my initial retirement was a wonderful ‘second act, but recent months have brought a perspective that only life’s biggest moments can provide,” DeBoer wrote in her statement.
DeBoer had initially come back to TV on a part-time basis, but that turned into much more while the station’s chief meteorologist was on leave.
“I stepped back into a full-time rhythm, working nearly every day through a relentless stretch of winter storms,” she wrote. “During that same window of time, I navigated the deep personal loss of my mother, who became ill and passed away.
“It was a powerful reminder that life is short.”
Over the past year-and-a-half, DeBoer said she also celebrated welcoming three new grandchildren in three different states, bringing her total number of grandkids to five, with a sixth on the way.
Due to the busy weather season, she stated that she hasn’t met her newest grandson yet. Going to Seattle to do that will be her first order of business.
“I am so proud of the work we did, and I leave knowing the FOX-17 weather team is in great hands,” she wrote. “The entire team is truly ‘the best in the business,’ especially those ‘unsung heroes’ who work tirelessly behind the scenes. As for me, I’m looking forward to exploring my ‘what’s next!’”
DeBoer closed her statement by thanking West Michigan for trusting her with the forecast for over 30 years.
DeBoer started her news career in the mid-1980s as a reporter and anchor at WBAY-TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin. After time in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, she moved to West Michigan and began forecasting the local weather in 1992. Prior to moving to Wood-TV 8, she spent time at WWMT in Kalamazoo.
Over the past three-plus decades she has covered some of the region’s most significant weather events like the 1998 Derecho and the 2022 Christmas Week Blizzard.
DeBoer was the first woman in the state of Michigan to earn the prestigious Television Seal of Approval from the American Meteorological Society.
Want more Grand Rapids-area news? Bookmark the local Grand Rapids news page or sign up for the free “3@3 Grand Rapids” daily newsletter.
