John Hope (meteorologist)
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John Raymond Hope (May 14, 1919-June 13, 2002) was an American meteorologist who specialized in hurricane forecasting and was an on-air personality on The Weather Channel.
Born in Pennsylvania, Hope served as a flight navigator in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. After returning to civilian life, Hope earned a degree in meteorology from the University of Illinois. He then worked as a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Memphis, Tennessee, for thirteen years. When astronaut John Glenn made his famous spaceflight in 1962, Hope served on the mission's meteorological team.
In 1968, Hope began working for the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida. While at the center, Hope began receiving recognition for his technical achievements in hurricane forecasting.
After retiring from thirty two years with the National Weather Service, John Hope joined The Weather Channel when it was created in 1982. With his calm on-air demeanor, Hope became quickly recognized as The Weather Channel's in-house hurricane expert. In 1989 when Hurricane Hugo struck South Carolina, Hope spent several hours on the air warning the channel's viewers of the approaching hurricane's danger. Some credit Hope with saving lives during the storm due to his tireless on-air efforts. He would continue to appear on-air for the channel's Tropical Updates until his death, by which time full-time duties had passed to Steve Lyons.
Hope would be known for one important piece of hurricane trivia: in 1969, Hope's daughter graduated from high school, so he added her name to the list of names to be used for hurricanes that year (at that time, there was no organized list of assigned names to be used, the only requirements were that the names had to be female – male names were not used at that time – in alphabetical order, and not otherwise retired). He had no way of knowing at the time that the storm that would take his daughter's name – Camille – would become one of the most powerful and destructive hurricanes to ever hit the United States when it slammed into Mississippi as a Category five hurricane.
