John McGinley writes a weather summary for The Mountain-Ear every month. He started writing a weather column for The Mountain-Ear in 1987.

John McGinley was born in Los Angeles, California in 1947. He graduated from San Jose State University with a degree in meteorology in 1969. As we know this was the era in US history during the Vietnam War. John was under pressure with the draft and voluntarily joined the US Air Force as a meteorological officer.

He was on active duty in the Air Force until 1976 serving with the Strategic Air Command, Army and Global Weather Center. John earned a master’s degree in meteorology from the University of Oklahoma (OU) in 1973. After leaving the service he returned to school at OU and received a PhD in 1981.

John went on to work in Norman, Oklahoma, at the National Severe Storms Laboratory. He left there in 1986 to accept a job at the NOAA Laboratory in Boulder.

He and his family moved to Nederland in 1987 buying a home in Big Springs when, as he says, “the houses were affordable.”

John worked for NOAA until 2009 retiring as a division chief supervising 15-20 employees. He also continued his USAF reserve career retiring as a Lt. Colonel.

John’s weather column gives us a review of the weather each month and a preview of what is coming. He says, “Nederland has some of the most interesting weather extremes and is always a source of wonder each month.”

It is wonderful to have John’s expertise in print every month in The Mountain-Ear.

John and his wife Lynda are both retired. They have six kids and seven grandkids living all over the US. They love living in the Peak to Peak region with its exciting weather, beautiful vistas, good music and bridge friends, and liberal politics. They find it refreshing to constantly meet politically like-minded people.

They do spend several months a year on the Gulf Coast, another beautiful place but they think the politics are abhorrent. John says, “Long live Ned!”