John Bolaris (born June 27, 1957) is the chief meteorologist for WTXF, the Fox affiliate in Philadelphia. He began working for the station in January 2008 after a five year stint as meteorologist at WCBS in New York, which was his second stint at the station.
A 1975 graduate of Connetquot High School,[1] Bolaris started his career in 1982 at Metro Weather Service where he worked as a syndicated meteorologist until 1987, when he joined News 12 Long Island. Later that year, he was hired by WCBS to be their weekend meteorologist and stayed there until 1990.
After leaving WCBS the first time Bolaris relocated to Philadelphia, where he went to work for then-CBS affiliate WCAU-TV. He remained at the station for 13 years, departing in 2003 to return to WCBS as its chief meteorologist. Toward the end of his second time at the station Bolaris was taken off the nightly newscasts, working mornings and weekends until his departure. While at WCBS, he also occasionally filled in for Dave Price on CBS' The Early Show.
On November 1, 2007, it was announced that he would move back to Philadelphia to become the chief weatherman for WTXF-TV, for their 5 p.m and 10 p.m. newscasts. His first broadcast upon his return to Philadelphia was on January 8, 2008.
On December 22, 2011, Bolaris was suspended indefinitely from WTXF.[2]
He has an associate's degree in applied science from Suffolk County Community College and studied meteorology at the U.S. Air Force Weather Technical School.
Bolaris has won four Emmy awards—three for Best Weathercaster and one for Best Entertainment Host for "Time Out," a show he co-hosted for five years on NBC 10.
He has one daughter, Reina Sofia with WPIX's Tiffany McElroy, who also worked with Bolaris at WCAU in Philadelphia.
In March 2001, John Bolaris became infamous in Philadelphia at WCAU (NBC10) in Philadelphia for predicting the "Storm of the Century". That storm stayed north of the area.
By comparing the upcoming storm to a past storm, Bolaris made a prediction on a Wednesday that scared viewers into staying home and preparing for a major storm. Bolaris insisted that a "Breaking News" crawl be put up during Law and Order. It was the last night of the February sweeps ratings period and Bolaris was accused of hyping the storm for ratings. It was forecast to hit on Monday of the following week, but it missed Philadelphia. Bolaris's last broadcast was that Friday and he stuck with his forecast, even though others backed off. Bolaris, as chief meteorologist, never took the opportunity to change the forecast over the weekend. The lead meteorologists at every other station in town came into work and changed the forecast before Wednesday.
During the week leading up to the storm, Bolaris urged viewers to stay home and make alternate arrangements for an impending Monday storm that was to dump snowfall similar to the Blizzard of 1996 that hit Philadelphia. The storm only resulted in a couple of inches of snow for the area. Following the storm that wasn't, Bolaris was booed when his face was shown on the video screen at a Philadelphia Flyers game and Bolaris claims that he even received death threats from viewers. Bolaris told Philadelphia Magazine in 2007 that the incident still haunts him and played a role in his departure from WCAU to return to New York, but refused to accept the full blame for his forecast because no one believed the path of the storm would change as drastically as it did.[3] At the time of the blown forecast, Bolaris did accept full responsibility and apologized in a cover story in the Philadelphia Daily News.
In March 2010, Bolaris was the victim of a "Bar Girls" scam run by an international crime ring.[4] He was drugged and his American Express card was charged for $43,000. AMEX did not believe his story of being scammed and sent his account to collection. In April 2011, with the help of Bolaris' testimony, the FBI busted the crime ring and arrested 17 people.[5] On or about December 26, 2011, Bolaris was suspended indefinitely [6] from FOX 29 due to station management was not pleased the way Bolaris came across in a Playboy interview about the "Bar Girls" scam. Philly News reports that Bolaris reported for work at Fox 29 Thursday December 22, 2011 only to learn he was suspended and was sent home.