Ryan Beesley leaving Fox 5 and meteorology

Fox 5′s weekend meteorologist Ryan Beesley left Fox 5 (WAGA-TV) last week after six-plus years at the station, opting for a career outside meteorology and broadcast news.

Beesley, in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said Fox 5 management allowed him to leave his contract early. He said he’s starting a new job on Monday focused on fundraising but declined to say where.

After 12 years in the business, he said he felt like the 24/7 nature of his job “didn’t blend well with my family situation. I lost my dad to cancer when I was 18. I don’t have a choice he’s not here. But I have a choice to be there for my kids.”

He has three children, ages 2, 4 and 6.

Following the weather, Beesley said, “has been my passion since I was six years old. I’m never going to lose that passion. I don’t want it to be my career anymore. ... The nature of the business is getting more intense and more time consuming. I felt like a career change was right.”

A Roswell native who graduated Roswell High School in 2008, he worked as a weekend meteorologist in Biloxi, Mississippi; Albany, Georgia; and Knoxville, Tennessee, before coming to Fox 5 in 2017. His new job will be the first time he has had a normal weekday job.

He said he has been thinking about this change awhile, that it was a “year-long conversation with my wife and my family.” He wanted to stay in Atlanta and he wasn’t sure if a chief meteorologist position was going to open up in this market for him any time soon.

Beesley thanked Fox 5 for bringing him back to Atlanta in 2017 with his wife, who is also from the area: “I’m forever grateful I was given this opportunity to fulfill my dream of working in this market. I checked every box except chief meteorologist. I slept well last night because I know I’ve made the right decision. I’m at peace leaving the industry.”