Nick Kosir, aka ‘The Dancing Weatherman,’ has a new job — in New York City
Nick Kosir, a social media star with 2 million-plus followers who was chief meteorologist at Fox affiliate WJZY-TV in Charlotte, has a new job. And it’s one his fans might not necessarily have expected.
Following more than two months of speculation, it was announced Thursday morning that “The Dancing Weatherman” is headed to New York City: Fox Weather — Fox News Media’s new advertising-based video on demand streaming weather service — has signed Kosir as one of six meteorologists who will helm programming across the platform.
The streaming service is slated to launch this year. According to Fox’s press release, Kosir will serve as co-host for the platform’s evening programming.
Shortly after the announcement was made by Fox, the 37-year-old Kosir published a post on Instagram in which he wrote: “Charlotte - I LOVE you and I’ll miss you BUT y’all can still watch my forecasts online. And don’t worry - I’ll still make time to do some dancing, too.”
“This would not be happening without the support of my family - specifically my wife,” he continued. “Over the last six months, she has been the biggest advocate for me to chase my dreams and step out of my comfort zone to make this move.”
A graduate of the University of Akron with a certificate in broadcast meteorology from Mississippi State University, Kosir most recently served as the morning meteorologist for Fox 46’s “Good Day Charlotte” newscast. At Fox, he delivered daily weather reports and covered major events such as Tropical Storm Isaias.
Prior to his time in Charlotte, Kosir worked at KBTV-TV, the Fox affiliate in Beaumont, Texas, and KMVT-TV, the CBS/CW affiliate in Twin Falls, Idaho.
His first brush with viral-video fame would come when he was working in Beaumont in the summer of 2009, when he made his debut as “The Rapping Weatherman” while doing a forecast for the station. Wearing dark shades to match his suit, Kosir busted out lyrics like “Today’ll be hot, I’m talkin’ mid-90s, basically you’ll be sweatin’ off your heinies” while — yes, indeed — gesturing at his rear end.
Dance moves go viral
But it was Charlotte where he really started to get the hang of social media antics.
From August 2017 to June 2018, his running Instagram joke was to play with sarcasm or irony while standing next to road signs. His first, for instance, was a photo of him raising an eyebrow in front of a “No Outlet” sign while holding an electrical outlet. His last was a photo of him giving his son a fist bump in front of an orange construction sign that read “Bump.”
Then in July 2018, Kosir launched a series of posts that showed him ... paying homage to? ... making fun of? ... the outlandish outfits that Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton would model on his own page.
Around the same time, he and then-”Good Day Charlotte” producer LaKia Starks teamed up to try their hand at the viral dance challenge to Drake’s “In My Feelings.” Their video was a huge local hit at the time (52,000-plus Instagram views).
But it wasn’t until spring of 2019 that he really started establishing consistency with his dances, which he would practice at home in front of the mirror before doing them on camera in the Fox 46 studio in his suit and tie.
From there, it was like catching lightning in a bottle. Within a few months, he had close to a million followers; that August, he was invited to make a pre-recorded cameo that opened Lil Nas X’s performance at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards.
Earlier this year, he eclipsed 2 million followers on both Instagram and TikTok.
Then, this past April 17, Kosir announced via an Instagram post that he was leaving Fox 46 after seven years, saying: “I wish everyone there the best of luck, and look forward to sharing details about my next adventure!”
Given that he’s been posted several very professional-looking dance videos and done some paid promotional stuff on social in the two-plus months since, there was some speculation that Kosir might be leaving the weather business.
But he held firm to the spirit of comments he made to the Observer during a 2019 interview, when asked about whether he would consider ditching TV:
“The idea of making money on social media is very intriguing, but it’s a little bit scary, just the unknown,” Kosir said at the time. “So for now I’m just gonna do social media and the weather... I’d rather have huge, huge ratings than go viral every day.”
Kosir didn’t immediately respond to an email and a text seeking additional comment about his new gig at Fox Weather.
The five other meteorologists joining Kosir at the streaming service, per Thursday’s press release from Fox, are Jason Frazer, Britta Merwin, Craig Herrera, Brigit Mahoney and Stephen Morgan.
