Bolaris started his career as a meteorologist at Metro Weather Service in 1982. Five years later, he became a television meteorologist for News 12 Long Island where he shined. After a week at News 12 Long Island, Bolaris was named the weekend television meteorologist for WCBS. While at WCBS, Bolaris served as a forecaster on the weather for the New York Yankees and their owner, George Steinbrenner. Bolaris served as a reporter on the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather during Hurricane Hugo. In 1990, Bolaris was relocated to Philadelphia by CBS executives, who wanted to revitalize then CBS affiliated, WCAU-TV. In 2001, Bolaris drew major criticism after predicting a major blizzard, which he dubbed the "storm of the century" would hit Philadelphia. Leading up to the storm, Bolaris' segments featured custom theme music and he often compared the emerging storm to the North American blizzard of 1996. Bolaris urged viewers to stay home from work and Philadelphia area schools were closed. However, the storm resulted in less than an inch of snow. As a result, Bolaris received more than 1,000 angry emails and multiple death threats. A year later, Bolaris left Philadelphia and returned to WCBS where he worked for six years as a meteorologist. In 2009, Bolaris returned to Philadelphia as the Chief Meteorologist at Fox 29. However, Bolaris ran into trouble with Fox 29's management after they refused to conduct an interview with Bolaris' friend and former Phillies star, Lenny Dykstra. In December 2011, was suspended after he took part in a profile in Playboy magazine, which presented him in a negative light and was he fired a month later. Following his departure at Fox 29, Bolaris served as a weather columnist at the Philadelphia Inquirer and launched a weather website known as Weather Savior. The website was shut down after a little over a year. He served served as a meteorologist for the Howard Stern Show during Hurricane Sandy.
In 2016, John Bolaris retired from meteorology and co-founded BlackLabel Luxury Real Estate. As a realtor, he specializes in selling homes to celebrities, athletes and CEOs. He served as the listing agent for an estate on Long Island where F. Scott Fitzgerald reportedly wrote the Great Gatsby. Bolaris' high-profile clients include Joel Embiid and Michael Raffl.
Personal Life
Bolaris has one daughter, Reina, who he had with Tiffany McElroy, a former reporter. Bolaris is known in the Philadelphia media for being a "ladies man." He has been in relationships with Lauren Hart, Jane Robelot and Nicole Miller. In 2010, while in Miami, Florida, Bolaris was drugged and charged for $43,000 on his American Express card. Bolaris contacted the FBI, who connected Bolaris' story to a crime ring run by a bar owner. 17 arrests were made in connection with the crime ring. The story was the subject of investigations on ABC’s 20/20 and American Greed.
