WFTV Meteorologist Brian Shields May Not Be Coming Back to the News Station

Orlando just lost one of its most popular weathermen. Brian Shields, who has been off the air on WFTV since early December, doesn't appear to be coming back to the news station any time soon. Following his disappearance from on-air broadcasts, many wanted to know what happened to Brian and why he seemed to disappear so suddenly.

Brian Shields has been with the channel for four years and started working there after leaving Bishop Moore, a Catholic high school in the year. Here's what we know about what happened to him, and why he's no longer on the air.

Although he never offered an official explanation for his departure, it seems that Brian has returned to working at Bishop Moore and is now a part of the school's Advancement team. While he no longer does weather forecasts for WFTV, though, it seems that Brian is still very active on YouTube where he runs the Mr. Weatherman YouTube channel, which has more than 600,000 subscribers.

Brian posts weather forecasts there daily, tracking weather systems in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico which are related to the Orlando forecasts he was delivering on the air. So while he won't be delivering forecasts for WFTV for the foreseeable future, you can still get your weather-related Brian Shields fix on YouTube if that's something you want to do.

According to his biography on his YouTube channel, Brian has "decades of experience forecasting weather and covering natural disasters. He holds a degree in geography from Villanova University and a degree in broadcast meteorology from Mississippi State University. He also holds university certificates in emergency management and volcanology. Safety is his number one priority!"

It seems that his YouTube channel has made him a valuable resource to many who need up-to-date information about the storms that are coming to that region of the country, especially during hurricane season.

While he may no longer forecast the weather on TV, it seems that meteorology is such a passion for him that he plans to continue doing it via YouTube, where he probably earns some extra money through advertising.

While Brian has continued to post on his YouTube channel, he hasn't said anything about why he left WFTV, or whether he was fired or decided to quit. Given that he landed pretty quickly in a new gig, though, it seems more likely that Brian simply chose to leave and return to the school where he was employed before he started doing the weather full-time.

This way, Brian still gets to spend part of his time doing the weather while he gets to do something totally different for his day job. Brian has never said that explicitly, but it's a plausible explanation for why he decided to switch jobs. While there are plenty of people who will miss him on WFTV, the YouTube channel gives them a ready-made way to continue getting their forecasts from him.