John Oldshue was the weekend meteorologist[1] and storm chaser for ABC 33/40 in Birmingham, Alabama from 1997 to 2007 when he retired to run a small business. He won an Emmy award for coverage of the Tuscaloosa tornado on December 16, 2000 with meteorologist James Spann. Recently he was the first storm spotter/meteorologist to capture the April 27, 2011 Tuscaloosa tornado [1] and transmit that to ABC 33/40 approximately 30 minutes before the tornado struck Tuscaloosa. . “John Oldshue is one of the unsung heroes of April 27,” said James Spann. “He captured that big wedge tornado on the ground when it was still 30 miles south of Tuscaloosa. That dramatic video convinced a lot of people to take cover." [2]
He graduated from Mississippi State University in 1993, with a BS in Geosciences majoring in meteorology. He worked at WDBB in Tuscaloosa as the Chief Meteorologist from 1993 to 1995 and at WALA in Mobile as the morning meteorologist from 1995 until January 1997 when he joined ABC 33/40. He completed his MBA degree at the University of Alabama in 1998.
John was awarded the Broadcast Seal Of Approval for television from the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association. He was voted best small market weather anchor in Alabama for 1994 and 1995 by the Associated Press.
He was born and raised in Tuscaloosa, Alabama where most of his family still lives. His mother, Isabel Oldshue, is a family practice doctor there and his father, Jerry Oldshue Sr., is retired and was the historian of the University of Alabama. He also has a brother, Jerry Oldshue Jr., who is a lawyer in Tuscaloosa and a sister, Edith Jacobs, who is a nurse in Rockwall, Texas.
In June 2011 he relocated from Tuscaloosa, Alabama to Fairhope, Alabama.