It is with great sadness that I announce this. John Coleman was a true hero of mine, and a great friend. He made gigantic contributions to television, to weather forecasting, and even to the National Weather Service who changed and upgraded many of their methods to accommodate the visionary ideas he had in founding the Weather Channel.
In 1983, Coleman won the American Meteorological Society award for Outstanding Service by a Broadcast Meteorologist. The organization credited Coleman for “his pioneering efforts in establishing a national cable weather channel,” according to the AMS website.
I last saw John Coleman a couple of months ago in Chicago at a gathering of TV meteorologists and climate skeptics. He was as jovial and as witty as ever.
To say “he will be missed”, is an understatement.
From NBC, San Diego,
John Coleman, the jovial and energetic meteorologist who delighted San Diego television viewers for two decades and angered scientists for insisting that climate change is a hoax, died Saturday. He was 83.
Coleman died at his home in Las Vegas, while surrounded by family, according to KUSI-TV, where he served as a forecaster from 1994 to 2014, when he retired.
His retirement capped a 60-year career during which Coleman co-founded the Weather Channel, which began as a little seen offering in the early days of cable television to a popular source of coverage of everything from blizzards and hurricanes to California’s wind-driven wildfires.
Alex Tardy, a forecaster at the National Weather Service, said Sunday,
“‘This is a big loss for the weather community. He brought a lot of energy and color and enthusiasm to forecasting. My kids loved watching him on TV.”
Tardy also said Coleman never tried to push his skepticism about climate change being man made.
“We had good talks,” Tardy said. “I enjoyed it.’
My condolences to his family, and to his extended professional family, and to his friends who worked along with him, especially his co-founding partner, Joe D’Aleo.
ADDED:
In his second to last comment on WUWT, back in September 2017, John said this in response to this story: Guardian: Climate Denial is the Fault of Old White People
I am old
I am white
I am a denier
Guess they are correct. I will die. So will the others. Then things will be settled.
Got it.
This was my all-time favorite comment from him, in response to WUWT’s 10 year milestone:
10 years. What is the big deal. I worked two of my several jobs for 20 plus years and no one even noted the tenth anniversary. Anthony, you have a great website, you are a great friend and a hero of mine. Now, cancel the celebration and get back to work. The next eight years (the Trump administration) will be super big for you and your website. Hundreds of thousands of people are going to become interested the skeptical view of global warming/ climate change. I have already noted an uptick for my essay. Your site is about to explode with new readers. Do your best work starting now and don’t stop until the victory is yours.
Thanks John, for everything.
UPDATE: I spoke with his wife Linda, who called me this morning with the news just after I had posted this. She said his death was “sudden and unexpected”, but was likely related to his COPD illness he had been battling. I also spoke to Joe D’Aleo, who was his TWC co-founder. My heart goes out to both of them.
Joe and John had been working on a book about the founding of the Weather Channel, the trials, and tribulations of it, and the successes of those early years. Joe said he will be finishing the book, and adding a final chapter.
No arrangements have been made yet. I’ll add an update when I know.
– Anthony
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
The world of weather has lost a giant. John hired me as one of the original on-air meteorologists at TWC back in ’82 and his levels of energy and knowledge inspired me throughout my career. Those attributes were channeled into the matter of climate change later in his career, to the benefit of all. Thank you for all you gave me, John…RIP
I am deeply saddened, he was also a hero of mine.
That said, I am minded of a moving quote by George S. Patton, “It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather, we should thank God that such men lived.”
How sad it was to hear this news. I’ve been watching a lot of Johns old videos lately and thought “what a guy”. A true pioneer in todays world. In a weird and twisted way, John will get his own back laughably, as his atomic structure will inevitably end up as part of our atmospheric gases. It has been a privilege to watch you and to learn from you, a true scholar and teacher. You’ll never be forgotten. Thank you John, so very much.
John Coleman was a great human being and an honest seeker of the truth! May God bless his soul!