WHO I AM

Who I am

New England Broadcast Hall of Fame meteorologist Harvey Leonard

Mike Haggett has been in Maine since 1970. Raised in Yarmouth, he graduated from Yarmouth High School in 1988, and then went on to Southern Maine Vocational Technical Institute for Hotel & Restaurant Management.

After a 14-year career as a line cook, kitchen manager and chef in many popular restaurants and hotels in the Portland area, he hung up his apron for good in December 1998. He then moved on to commercial vehicle truck parts purchasing in Portland, where he has been for 24 years.

While preparing food and doing his part to keep trucks on the road, Mike did radio production work for All Sports 1440 AM and a brief time as a DJ for Ocean 98 FM in the mid-1990s. He then joined the Portland Pirates American Hockey League team for three seasons as an intern on the sales and marketing end and assisted with statistics with hockey operations.

After a move from Portland to Poland Spring in July of 2001, Mike joined the Lewiston MAINEiacs Quebec Major Junior Hockey League team soon after their arrival in 2003. He spent parts of eight seasons with the club, first as moderator of the chat board, then worked his way into writing articles for the team program and color commentary on the radio. He was director of media and community relations at the time the club was sold and disbanded in June of 2011.

It was that following winter after a blown forecast is when Mike began his weather forecasting pursuits. He wanted to see the data the professionals were looking at and understand why.

AccuWeather's Bernie Rayno

Using media connections made over the years, Mike was able to build relations with local, regional, and national broadcast meteorologists, along with others in the private and public sector. With some guidance and mentorship, he started Western Maine Weather in December 2012.

Western Maine Weather had a four-year run covering the western half of the state. With others seeing his success and style, he was encouraged to cover the whole state in a blog for the Bangor Daily News in 2016. It was at that point where Western Maine Weather then became Pine Tree Weather.

After a change in editorship and philosophy at the BDN, Mike started his own website at pinetreeweather.com after the Great October Gale in 2017 and has steadily grown a statewide audience ever since.

He and his family moved from Poland Spring to Kennebunk in April 2018.

In January 2020, Mike enrolled in the undergraduate weather forecast certification program through Penn State World Campus and completed the program in May 2021.

Mike is a member of the American Meteorological Society, the National Weather Association, and a Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador.

The mission of Pine Tree Weather is simple: an honest, straightforward, easy-to-understand, and relatable approach of forecasting and information. Sometimes cynical, sometimes colorful, and totally unique, just like Maine.

Lewiston Sun Journal, August 23, 2020

Pine Tree Weather in the media