John Farley has worked as a Meteorologist for more than 20 years and is honored to be the Chief Meteorologist for ABC Columbia. He understands the challenges of forecasting the ever-changing weather of the Midlands. That was never more important than on Saturday night October 3rd, when the worst storm of a generation dropped up to 21 inches of rain right here in Columbia. During that storm, John spent the night and following day in continuous coverage, warning viewers of the perils of the flooding. He says, “It’s a period of 36 hours that has left an indelible imprint on me. Seeing our neighbors, whose lives are now changed forever because of the power of this storm, is very impacting.”
Before joining ABC Columbia, he was the Chief Meteorologist for NBC Affiliate in Columbia for 5 years. Prior to that he was at KNTV, the NBC affiliate in San Francisco, where he was the Chief Meteorologist for 9 years. John is an EMMY Award winning meteorologist, and is a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist (CBM) with the American Meteorological Society. He holds a Master of Science Degree in Meteorology from San Jose State University, in San Jose, California, where he received the honor of Graduate of the Last Decade from the College of Science in 2001.
While in Graduate School, John worked with a team to create mathematical models that forecast the fog at San Francisco International Airport. His team was given the Excellence in Aviation Award from the FAA in 2002. John Farley is happy to report that the FAA still uses those models today. While in California, John also worked as a consultant for a power company which provides gas & electricity to roughly 16 million people. His responsibilities included temperature, wind, snow, and severe weather forecasting, as well as providing long-term electricity generation forecasts for proposed wind farms.
John loves to talk weather and he has visited with thousands of students over the past 20 years. He lives in Lexington with his wife and three children. They are all thrilled to call the Midlands home.
The planet is getting warmer. And we're no different here in Columbia. Over the past 50 years, the average summertime high temperature has increased by about 2 degrees. That may not sound like a lot, but just make one comparison. …
The Arctic (the area around the north pole) is warming a lot, way too much. And that's not good news for us. The Arctic is often referred to as "the refrigerator" of the northern hemisphere, and it's heating up a…
Heat is a killer. In fact, heat kills more people than all the other weather threats combined (tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning, etc.). So it's really important that you recognize the signs of people who are overheating. Check out the chart below. …
Today's high temperature in Columbia reached 103 degrees. That was enough to set a new record for the date. And if you're wondering, the last time the temperature reached 100 degrees in Columbia was October 4th, 2019.
Lots of folks still believe the narrative that renewable energy (wind, solar, etc.) is more expensive than conventional ways of generating electricity (burning coal, natural gas, etc.). That may have been true a decade ago, but it's not true anymore. …
