Troy Kimmel, chief meteorologist for Austin’s Sinclair owned station, KEYE, told Austin360 he’s leaving the CBS affiliate because he disagrees with how the station group wants to cover the weather.

“They just have a different weather philosophy and want to go a different direction,” Kimmel said. “I’m not going to stand in their way. They were very cool about it all. I wish them good luck.”

Sinclair, which purchased KEYE last year, came under fire in November for a pre-election special aired on its Columbus, Dayton and West Palm Beach stations that some called a partisan attack on President Obama. However, Scott Livingston, Sinclair’s vice president of news, defended the special saying, “No doubt it was hard-hitting, but it was fair.”

Kimmel, who has worked at KEYE twice before (1998-1999 and 2000-2003) will sign off from KEYE on Friday December 28.