Jim Gandy

Jim Gandy served as a panelist on Palmetto Perspectives - The Rising Tide: Living with Water.

Jim has been a meteorologist for over 51 years and was on television for 44 years. He received his undergraduate degree in meteorology from Florida State University in 1974 and years later did post-graduate work at the University of South Carolina in atmospheric science. His television career began in Memphis in November 1975 as the first meteorologist to do the weather in that market. He spent 34 years in Columbia retiring from WLTX in June 2019.

He is a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist from the American Meteorological Society in which he received the Award for Outstanding Science Reporting by a Broadcast Meteorologist in 2013. Jim was elected as a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society in 2018 because of his efforts to educate people about climate change. He helped pioneer Climate Matters with The Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University and Climate Central. The material is now used by over 3,000 broadcast meteorologists and journalists. In 2014 he began Gandy’s Garden as an offshoot of Climate Matters. The garden continues to this day.

Jim is a winner of 4 regional Emmys and the Silver Circle Award by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. In 2019 he was awarded the Order of the Palmetto, South Carolina’s highest civilian honor, in recognition of his work for the citizens of South Carolina. He is known for his forecast of Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and his coverage of the 2015 Flood. Jim is often referred to as South Carolina’s Weatherman.