Guy John Bolaris “Fired” After Ice Storm Says Not So Fast

On Tuesday, we interviewed meteorologist John Bolaris of WeatherSavior.com in the wake of Sunday’s deadly flash freeze, which every forecaster, including Bolaris, missed.

In the interview, Bolaris told us that he had fired another meteorologist at WeatherSavior, because that unnamed person dropped the ball by sending out an inaccurate forecast early on Sunday morning. Bolaris claimed that the meteorologist “phoned it in” by writing the report the night before instead of checking the data in the morning.

Well, now that meteorologist — Harry Holmes (seen here) — has revealed himself, and he’s not very happy with Bolaris, with whom he’s worked for more than two decades.

Below, a letter from Holmes about Bolaris and our article, followed by Bolaris’ response:

Yesterday you wrote an article about Bolaris and the “firing” of an employee. How can you fire an someone that you do not compensate? I was not paid by Bolaris for over 6 months and every agreement of compensation that HE offered, HE could not live up to. I never asked for money … he offered.

I even offered to buy into the company to show my commitment. But he always said, don’t worry you’ll be a partner someday. But that promise was always pushed off.

I helped build Weather Savior over the last 2 years and spent countless hours of MY time forecasting for a great weather website for the Philadelphia region. He kept promising me that it would change and that hard work and sacrifice would pay off.

Everyone on the Weather Savior team has other primary paying jobs. I wasn’t the only one. But John takes it personal when anyone can’t give 100% devotion to his company. I never asked for money and was appreciative the few times he did send money my way. But I believed he would live by his word … which he didn’t.

Recently, I really did not have the time to devote to his business but as a good friend, I chose to help out the best I could. Since December, we decided to set a schedule for shifts for updates on the weather. In December, I told him that I could not do more than nights and he would handle mornings & afternoons. John became very distant after that and I hardly ever heard from him until yesterday. He said he sent me emails but I never received them. But our main source of contact was always through text and phone conversations. So why email me?

I first learned of the “firing” when I read your article and then he followed with text messages to me … Announcing it to the public was not necessary. The only reason for the public flogging … he did it to save face following an unfortunate forecast bust. He called me lazy for not getting up but he was the one who was on morning duty. He admitted to me by text saying, “I was up at 4:30 a.m. then went back to bed” only to realize he set his alarm for 5:30 p.m. I also believe that an article like this creates a good buzz for his website whether it’s good or bad.

If you read the text messages he sent me over the last few months including yesterday, you would see how he treats his so-called employees that are trying to help him build his business.

He texted me saying, “I never gave your name, irrelevant”. It’s not the “firing” from a non-paying job that bothers me. It’s how and why he did it. He knew my personal problems just like I know about all of his. But I would’ve never done what he did. It’s inexcusable and unforgivable.

I did not lose a job. John lost his only true friend and ally.

Thanks for listening,
Harry

Bolaris responds:

I wish nothing but the best for Harry. I’m not going to get into the “he said-she said”-type of thing. It’s a waste of time.

It’s very simple Harry had 2 responsibilities one was to update Flyers drive to & drive home forecast and the one SIGNIFICANT one, the early morning daily weather blast. On the morning of January 18th a critical weather event was setting up if precipitation were to move in early enough it could [come] down in the form of freezing rain. I wrote about this possibility not only on WEATHERSAVIOR.COM but Philly.com as well. He failed, he mailed in the forecast close to 8 hours prior to the event. He has been around me long enough that he knows better to NEVER schedule a forecast when potential severe weather is possible.

That morning 3 family members died in car accidents due to the “surprise ice strike.” Now I’m saying all meteorologists failed to send out the proper tone of the possibility of Sunday early morning ice. Perhaps if the public was aware that Sunday morning could have icing problems those families might have decided to change their plans and waited to drive later that morning or early afternoon.

As I stated on social media sites, in the end I take the blame for the faulty early morning weather blast without any warning of ice.

I sent warnings out by 7:30 a.m. but by that time it was too late. Harry violated my strict weather code … you NEVER pre-record, schedule a forecast on a day of uncertainty or possible severe weather. It was best for the company, but obviously not for our friendship.

John Bolaris