Legendary Oklahoma City meteorologist, weather expert Gary England dies

Former KWTV News 9 chief meteorologist Gary England has died at 85.

The death of England, who retired from the station in 2017 after over four decades, was confirmed by his family June 10, 2025.

“We are heartbroken to announce that our beloved Gary England passed this evening. Gary passed peacefully on the evening of June 10, surrounded by his loved ones…,” England’s family said in a statement. “Gary was proud to have protected Oklahoma from its deadliest storms. He will be deeply and forever missed.”

In addition to providing Oklahoma City-area residents with weather coverage, England was a highly regarded authority on severe weather. He made numerous appearances for the station and has also been featured as a weather expert in more than 50 TV programs. He even appeared in the hit film “Twister.”

He also received multiple awards, including three Emmys and an Edward R. Murrow Award.

England was also known for pioneering the use of new technology and techniques in broadcast TV weather forecasting, including becoming the first person to use Enterprise Electronics Corp.’s radar to fuel direct warnings to viewers, a legacy that continues to fuel much of how TV weathercasting is done today around the world. 

He also developed the First Warning system in 1990, an automated way for TV stations to insert severe weather alerts with maps on viewers’ television screens. This approach is still used at most local TV stations in the U.S. today. 

England was also behind StormTracker, a system that leveraged weather data to project how a storm would move, down to the time viewers in a particular part of a city could expect to see the severe weather action.

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England is survived by his wife, Mary, and one daughter, as well as two granddaughters. 

England was originally from Seiling, Oklahoma, and received a degree in math and meteorology from the University of Oklahoma. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2013 and included in the state’s “100 Heroes and Outlaws” list as part of its 2007 centennial celebration. Prior to broadcasting, he served three years in the U.S. Navy.

He became a legend in local Oklahoma City television and prompted KWTV to double down on its investments in severe weather coverage, including building what has been billed as the largest TV news weather center in the country.

Set Design

KWTV-TV

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In 2006, when the station was still at its old facility, it unveiled a multi-venue weather set from FX Design Group centered around a cone-shaped monitor array. The space included a circular presentation area with eight monitors as well as additional workspaces both on-camera and behind the set.

Another feature was a system of rotating slats covering an opening between the set and off-camera weather office that allowed forecasters to shout urgent updates to each other during severe weather coverage. When closed, it maintained a similar visual look but served as a physical divider between the spaces.

This weather center also boasted large movable monitors to showcase weather maps and data that could also be used on other areas of the set.

Set Design

KWTV

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When KWTV moved to downtown OKC in 2022, which was after England retired, FX refined the weather center’s design into a sleek, modern look with a horseshoe-shaped presentation pod with at least 10 monitors, with two additional venues available on either side, all backed by two video walls and a three-panel monitor stack at center.

Set Design

KWTV

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KWTV refreshed its set later in 2022 and installed a completely new set in 2024, this time from Devlin Design Group, with a streamlined weather center that switched to a more traditional layout featuring a wide primary desk and smaller unit designed to be docked with the larger unit. This version of the weather center appeared, at least on-camera, to take up a smaller footprint.

The station was even able to capitalize on its investment in WX coverage by selling “naming rights” to its weather center to local furniture store Bob Mills. The sponsorship also includes putting the Mills name on KWTV’s mobile weather vehicle and the weather center at sister station KOTV in Tulsa, Oklahoma.