Longtime North Dakota TV Weatherman Retiring

WDAY TV meteorologist John Wheeler is calling it a career after 40 years covering weather in the state.

He was the station's first official meteorologist, replacing Dewey Berquist 40 years ago.

John Wheeler's last day on the air will be coming up on Friday, May 16th, on WDAY TV.

You can watch Wheeler and his weather reports on the 6 pm and 10 pm WDAY newscasts here in Bismarck (ABC). He's been a fixture on this station for as long as I can remember.

When asked what he won't miss about his job for the last four decades, he said, "The late nights and early mornings waiting on storms to develop."

What does John Wheeler remember the most from his 40 years of covering North Dakota weather?

The drought back in the summer of '86 was the first thing he mentioned. The dust was so bad on the roads that they needed plows to scrape it off.

Next was the terrible winter of 96-97 when the state experienced blizzard after blizzard before it melted with record flooding.

Lastly, the winter before the 96-97, back in January of 1996. That winter produced one of the worst blizzards he could remember.

John Wheeler sat down with one of the WDAY TV news anchors, Dana Mogck, and did some reminiscing over his storied career. Here's that interview.

40 years at one job is just about unheard of in any career field you can think of, especially in TV broadcasting, where broadcasters tend to move around a lot.

Congratulations, John Wheeler, and all of your accomplishments over your long career.