TOLEDO, Ohio — A Toledo native, John Burchfield fell in love with wild weather at a young age. The winter weather, severe storms, and temperature swings of northwest Ohio captivated his interest.
As a young aspiring meteorologist, John tuned in to WTOL 11 for the latest information on the weather. In high school, John toured the WTOL 11 studio and met some of his future co-workers. Inspired by his childhood role models, John built a green screen in his basement and uploaded local weather forecasts to YouTube.
In high school, John attended a summer weather camp at Penn State University and constructed a tornado simulation chamber for a science research project.
John's childhood experiences in meteorology culminated in four years at Cornell University studying Atmospheric Science.
While in college, John served as a fill-in meteorologist for WENY in Elmira, New York, and interned at his future workplace, WTOL 11. When John graduated, he earned his first professional on-air gig as a meteorologist for ABC21 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In June 2019, he started working at his hometown station.
When John isn't sharing weather updates on-air and on social media, he enjoys pursuing his passions of running, photography, and sleeping.