Weather Geeks

Guest: Bill Haskell, Artist

Artists and musicians will often cite a muse as their inspiration for their works of art, which is usually a love interest or dreams of success. But what about the weather? Can it be a muse? For us Weather Geeks, we find inspiration in the weather in every single model run and supercell structure, and it turns out that we aren’t the only ones! Today on the show we have Bill Haskell to discuss how he incorporates the weather around him into his beautiful landscape paintings.

Chapters

1. 00:00 Finding Inspiration in Weather
2. 02:14 The Power of Weather in Art
3. 07:45 Tornadoes as Metaphors
4. 13:01 The Appeal of Tornado Paintings
5. 18:32 The Smallness of Humanity
6. 23:17 Incorporating Weather in Art

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Scott Rayder, President of Lynker

Here on the Weather Geeks podcast, we don’t have to remind you what NOAA is and how they work every single day to protect life and property. But there are a lot of others out there who have never even heard of NOAA and don’t truly understand where their weather forecasts come from. They may be surprised that The Weather Channel or their favorite mobile phone app isn’t the one issuing a tornado warning for their area! NOAA does it all, and they need the funding in order to keep doing it, and unfortunately, they aren’t getting enough of it. On the show today we have former NOAA Chief of Staff Scott Rayder to discuss why more funding is desperately needed before it’s too late…

Chapters

1. 00:00 Introduction
2. 08:12 Advancements in Weather Forecasting
3. 14:54 The Evolving Landscape of Weather Modeling
4. 30:59 Recognizing and Supporting NOAA's Critical Work
5. 37:42 Conclusion

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Jeremy Werdell, Oceanographer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

From the smallest plankton to the grandest cloud formations, the PACE mission is poised to capture the breathtaking complexity of Earth's interconnected ecosystems. PACE stands for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem. It's a mission that transcends mere scientific curiosity; it's a rallying cry in the face of our planet's most urgent environmental challenges. By unraveling the mysteries of Earth's ecosystems, PACE equips us with the knowledge and tools needed to confront these challenges head-on. On the show today, we have Project Scientist Dr. Jeremy Werdell to break down the mission and why it’s so important for the future of our planet…

Chapters

1. 00:00 Introduction to the PACE Mission
2. 06:16 The Importance of Studying Sea and Sky
3. 07:42 Aerosols: Understanding Atmospheric Particles
4. 14:51 Clouds: Their Role in Climate and Interactions
5. 20:35 Instruments of the PACE Mission
6. 26:34 Early Success and Data Release
7. 34:27 Looking Ahead: Discovery and Interconnectedness

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Jordan Schnell, Research Associate for CIRES at CU Boulder; NOAA GSL

You know the Phil Collins song that goes “I can feel it coming in the air tonight?” Well that’s how allergy sufferers feel when they see the trees starting to bloom again in the spring! It signals the return of pollen, which can be debilitating to millions of people. And that can even extend into the summer with ragweed and grass pollen! Scientists at NOAA have developed a brand new pollen forecast that can both help those with allergies live a sneeze-free life, but can also model how pollen particles move around in and interact with our atmosphere. Today on the show we have Dr. Jordan Schnell to discuss this exciting new product and other air quality hot topics…

Chapters

1. 00:00 The Impact of Pollen on Allergy Sufferers and the Development of a New Forecast
2. 04:03 Dr. Jordan Schnell: Research, Air Quality, and Electric Vehicles
3. 15:38 Modeling Pollen and Its Interaction with Weather
4. 26:11 Impact of Pollen on Weather
5. 33:29 The Future of Pollen Forecasting
6. 42:54 Innovative Projects at Ceres

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Stella Kafka, AMS Executive Director

The world of meteorology is vast, with the options of different career paths spreading far and wide! You don’t have to be on TV in order to be a successful meteorologist, nor do you have to work for the government at the National Weather Service. In that same vein, you don’t have to be a meteorologist to be involved in the American Meteorological Society, even though it’s in the name! Your career may take you in a different direction, but there is always a weather geek in there somewhere. That’s why today on Weather Geeks, we have the new Executive Director of the AMS Dr. Stella Kafka on the show to talk about her journey into this position and where she wants to take the organization in the future…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Brian LaPointe, Research Professor at Florida Atlantic University

As we are heading into the throes of summer, a lot of you are going to be slathering on sunscreen and heading to the beaches! Heck, you may be listening to this podcast while ON the beach! While you’re there, wouldn’t you want to know more about the waters surrounding you and what little microscopic critters could be floating around in there? Maybe, maybe not, but we are going to geek out about it either way! I’m here with Dr. Brian LaPointe from FAU who is an industry expert in water quality across our country’s shorelines.

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction and Background
• 08:29 Eutrophication and Water Quality
• 27:12 Regulation and Management for Coastal Protection
• 37:13 Warming Water Temperatures and the Growth of Sargassum
• 45:04 The Human Alteration of the Nitrogen Cycle and Harmful Algal Blooms

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Charles Peek, Storm Tracker for The Weather Channel

It’s the thrill of the chase! After a record-breaking severe season, countless jaw-dropping videos of supercells and tornadoes were live streamed from every inch of Tornado Alley. Coupling that with the much anticipated release of the movie Twisters this summer, the sport of storm chasing has been a hot topic conversation. A lot of chasers would tell you that the movie Twister inspired them to pursue this career, but a LOT has changed since 1996! More technology, the rise of social media, and other avenues to make money are all on the table! On the show today, we have long-time storm chaser Charles Peek from The Weather Channel to talk about chasing in the year 2024 and beyond…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Campbell Watson, Senior Research Scientist at IBM Research

As artificial intelligence, or AI, continues to become more pervasive in our technology, it’s only natural to wonder what it means for meteorology and climatology. Believe it or not, AI is already revolutionizing how we develop models in the Earth and Space sciences. Joining us today is Campbell Watson, a Senior Research Scientist at IBM Research, to discuss how we are creating these AI models, and the opportunities and advancements we hope to learn from using them.

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction to AI in Meteorology and Climatology
• 01:35 Campbell Watson's Background and Interest in Weather
• 04:18 The Use of AI in Weather Forecasting
• 05:24 The Evolution of AI in Weather Forecasting
• 06:26 Understanding AI at its Core
• 08:09 Difference Between AI and Conventional Weather Model Forecasting
• 10:44 The Difference Between AI and Conventional Weather Model Forecasting
• 13:31 AI Models Learning from Weather Models
• 20:30 Foundation Models and Unsupervised Learning
• 25:12 Verification of AI in Weather Forecasting
• 27:57 The Robustness of AI Models
• 28:24 Learning from Observations
• 29:23 AI Models Learning from Observations
• 30:09 The Importance of Observations
• 30:38 Comparing Deep Learning and AI with Traditional Weather Forecasting Models
• 35:38 Trustworthiness in AI Forecasting
• 36:12 Adopting AI in Weather Forecasting
• 41:46 Nowcasting with AI
• 44:03 AI in Climate Forecasting
• 47:38 The Future of AI in Weather Forecasting

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Amanda Schroeder, NWS Fort Worth

Description: Flooding can occur any time of the year and in any part of the United States. It is a weather catastrophe that knows no limitations. Each year, too many people lose their lives to flooding. Communicating the risks of flash flooding can be just as difficult as forecasting flash flooding itself. No one understands that better than Dr. Amanda Schroeder, a Senior Service Hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. She was key in the development of the Flash Flood Severity Index, a scale designed to help convey the risks associated with flood events.

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction
• 01:42 Dr. Amanda Schroeder's Background
• 04:04 Early Work on Flash Flood Research
• 05:16 Work on the Spread Project
• 08:52. Role of a Senior Service Hydrologist
• 10:21 Challenges of Flood Forecasting
• 11:34 Impact-Based Forecasting
• 13:17 Flash Flood Severity Index
• 19:06 Implementation of the Index
• 20:17 Potential Global Application
• 23:16 Memorable Flooding Events
• 26:01 Impact of Climate Change on Flooding
• 28:11 Takeaways for the Public
• 31:08 Overcoming Challenges in the Field
• 32:27 Availability of Information on the Flash Flood Severity Index
• 33:46 A Day in the Life of a Senior Service Hydrologist
• 35:45 Conclusion

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Clinton Wallace, Director of the SWPC

Weather Geeks often spend their time looking up at the sky, but there are some Geeks that look even farther up! Forecasters at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center are tasked with looking at everything PAST our atmosphere to warn us of any impending threats. However, sometimes those threats can be visualized as a spectacle with the Northern Lights, which we were ALL treated to one of the greatest shows of our lifetimes back in early May. How did the Space Weather Prediction Center forecasters know this event was coming? Well they were led by Director Clinton Wallace, and we have him on the show!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: John Ross, author

Whether you’ve heard about D-Day or the Battle of Normandy through a textbook at school many years ago or from a documentary on TV, the images you’ve seen of the seaborne invasion surely are etched into your mind. All of the troops storming the beaches from the sea, flanked by gunfire and explosions. Of course the logistics of conducting such an organized siege is one thing, but one aspect that many people don’t know is how much of an impact the weather had on that pivotal battle. And if that battle did not happen, there would be cascading effects that would change our history forever. Ahead of the 80th Anniversary of D-Day, we have author John Ross on the podcast today

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Charlie Peachey, Mount Washington Weather Observer

The United States sees almost every kind of meteorological phenomena imaginable, but there’s one place where the weather can be amplified. Located at over 6000 feet in New Hampshire, Mount Washington is famous for its weather extremes. The Mount Washington Observatory is a world renowned institution with a mission to advance understanding of the natural systems that create Earth’s weather and climate. Our guest today is a Weather Observer and Research/IT Specialist with the observatory… welcome to the show Charlie Peachey!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Falko Judt, Research Meteorologist at NCAR

In tropical meteorology, the term ‘rapid intensification’ describes a tropical cyclone that does just that: it rapidly intensifies. The official definition is a tropical system whose maximum sustained winds increase by at least 35 mph in a 24-hour period. Sometimes though, it’s much more intense. In 2023, Hurricane Otis in the Eastern Pacific saw its winds increase by 115 mph in less than 24 hours before slamming into Mexico as a rare Category 5 storm, while Hurricane Idalia intensified by 55 mph from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in the day before making landfall in Florida’s Big Bend. The ‘how’ and ‘why’ some storms rapidly intensify is still shrouded in a bit of mystery. Here today to help us unveil a bit of that, we welcome Falko Judt, a research meteorologist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Amy McGovern, University of Oklahoma

We as humans all have biases whether we like to believe it or not, especially when it comes to meteorology. You may have heard of confirmation bias, Dunning-Kruger effect, survivor’s bias, cognitive dissonance and more! However, humans aren’t the only ones who are susceptible to bias: it has been shown in newly-evolving AI. How can we nip these glitches in the bud before they could potentially get out of hand? Our guest today Dr. Amy McGovern from the University of Oklahoma is working to tackle that exact problem…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Baker Perry, National Geographic Explorer

 When it comes to the highest places on Earth, the Rockies, the Andes and of course, the Himalayas come to mind. And while hikers have scaled these peaks, real-time weather data is scarce at these high altitudes. These are not highly populated areas, so why would we need to have weather stations installed in these remote frontiers? Joining us today to explain why and what it means for not only our understanding of the present climate, but the past as well, is National Geographic Explorer Dr. Baker Perry.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Nicole Mölders, Professor at University of Alaska Fairbanks

If you grew up in a colder climate, your parents always told you that you have to dress in layers, all the way down to your socks! But if you grew up in a warmer climate, you were told to wear lighter fabrics and colors so the sun’s heat wasn’t too intense on your body. These are more than just pieces of advice that have been passed down through the years, they have foundations in science! On Weather Geeks today, we have Dr. Nicole Mölders, who is the leading expert on the intersection of weather and fashion and we’re going to dive into her latest book about the certainly geeky topic…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Stephan Rasp, Senior Research Scientist at Google

As technology continues to improve, weather models are becoming increasingly more accurate in the short term due to increased computing power and increased resolution. But how can we quantify that increase in accuracy? It seems like a basic question, but one that isn’t so easy to answer....without the assistance of machine learning!. Joining us today is Stephan Rasp, to talk about WeatherBench, an open-source framework that aims to help answer the questions on weather model accuracy.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Craig Ramseyer, Assistant Prof. at Virginia Tech

When a drought is depicted on TV or in movies, you’ll usually see parched farmland with wilted crops and a distressed farmer in denim overalls looking over them. What about the drought that resides in the column of air above our heads, what does that look like? Well, there hasn’t been a TON of research on that aspect of drought…until now with my guest today! Craig Ramseyer is utilizing a newly proposed drought index to predict and measure flash droughts in the Caribbean, which aims to trigger policymakers to enact drought mitigation faster and more efficiently.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Jeff Berardelli, WFLA-TV Chief Meteorologist

As you go about your daily life, you may check your local news station for the weather for the day and for the rest of the week. How about a little sprinkling of the weather for the rest of the year? Or the rest of the decade? Our guest today has been incorporating hints of our changing climate in his local weather segments in hopes of getting his audience to be a little more conscious about the environment around them. Not too much to scare them, but just enough to make them stop and think! Let’s welcome Jeff Berardelli to the Weather Geeks podcast…!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Madison Condon

As much as you’d want to stop drinking out of plastic straws or hop on public transportation, there is only so much that one person can do to help save our environment and curb the effects of climate change. A lot of the responsibility comes down to our political and financial leaders. We have to hope that they have the right information provided to them to make critical decisions about our planet’s future, and if they don’t have that information, they may not be asking the right questions and thus getting the wrong answers. We have a special guest on Weather Geeks today to talk all about climate & environmental law, and that is professor Madison Condon from the Boston University School of Law.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Kevin Simmons

Episode Intro: In our current tornado and severe thunderstorm warning system, if you are put under a warning, there is no question that you should take action and protect yourself and your property. But what if the warning is posed with a probability of the storm making a severe impact? Would you be more or less influenced to take action? What about if you own a business and have to make decisions not just for yourself, but also your employees and customers. A lot of questions and we’ve got just the guy here on the show today to maybe give us some insight into the answers! Dr. Kevin Simmons, who is a professor of economics at Austin College, focuses on natural hazards and he is here with us on Weather Geeks today…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Evan Bentley

Episode Intro: In the world of meteorology, the letters “SPC” carry a lot of weight. From severe weather to flooding and fire, the Storm Prediction Center covers almost everything under the sun! Today’s guest has spent the past several years on staff at the SPC as a mesoscale-assistant/fire weather forecaster. He has brought his years of forecasting to Norman, Oklahoma and today he joins us on Weather Geeks… Welcome to the show Evan Bentley….

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. David Wilmouth

Episode Intro: On January 15, 2022, a massive eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano occurred, sending literal shockwaves around the globe and releasing millions of tons of material into the atmosphere. This eruption was unprecedented in the modern satellite era in terms of how much water vapor was injected into the stratosphere and just how far into the stratosphere it penetrated. Here to talk about the impacts of the eruption on the stratosphere is Dr. David Wilmouth.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Adam Smith, NOAA / NCEI

Episode Intro: 2023 set the record for the most billion dollar disasters in the United States in one calendar year. As the name suggests, a billion dollar disaster is a weather or climate disaster event with losses exceeding one billion dollars. From flooding to drought, winter storms to hurricanes, there were 28 billion dollar disasters last year. Our next guest is the lead scientist for the National Centers for Environmental Information Billion-dollar Weather and Climate Disasters analysis. Welcome to the show Adam Smith…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Jonathan Kahl, Professor at UW-Milwaukee

If you’re a sports fan, you may know the term “Scorigami!” When you have a score combination that has never occurred before, you achieve Scorigami! And this inspired our guest Dr. Jonathan Kahl to create “Weathergami.” Instead of Team A vs Team B, he looks at high temperature vs low temperature at each location. While it sounds like a fun way to organize and visualize temperature data, it can have simple to digest benefits to discussing climate data across the country. Now, let’s geek out about Weathergami with the creator Dr. Jonathan Kahl…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Greg Carbin

Over the past half a century, we’ve been experiencing the same thunderstorms, blizzards, and hurricanes. Our changing climate may have altered how these weather phenomena act, and in turn the technology we use to research and forecast these events have changed as well! From a local NWS office to the SPC and the WPC, today’s guest has seen decades of change across these institutions and has made them all greater along the way. We’re talking to Greg Carbin, chief of forecast operations at the WPC, ahead of his well-deserved retirement today on Weather Geeks

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Justin Sharpe

We all know the saying “if a tree falls in a forest and there’s nobody around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Well in our world, we can say something like “if a forecast is perfect, but it doesn’t get disseminated properly, did it do any good?” There are still leaps and bounds that need to be made in the weather industry to bridge the gap between the research and communication when it comes to severe weather of all shapes and sizes. We have Dr. Justin Sharpe here on the show today to discuss the work being done in the social sciences both in the present and future…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Liz Leitman

You are probably familiar with severe thunderstorm and tornado watches. The storm prediction center and its predecessors have been issuing them since the 1950’s to alert people that thunderstorms may develop and bring damaging winds, hail or tornadoes. About a hundred of these are issued every year. Believe it or not, the first convective watch issued by a woman was just last year in 2023. The author of that severe thunderstorm watch was Liz Leitman - and she is here today on Weather Geeks!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Michael Mann

The topic of climate change and the future of our planet is both a controversial as well as at times difficult topic to understand. But if we want to know more about our future, we need to take a look into the history of our planet and our species. In his latest book, Our Fragile Moment, Dr. Michael Mann walks readers through our paleoclimate record and illustrates how it can serve as a roadmap to preserving our fragile moment. What you decide to do from there is entirely up to you.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Jessica Arnoldy

Introduction: A lot of us have memories of being carpooled to your Saturday morning Little League game or having PB&J’s at the picnic table after soccer practice with your teammates before seeing them in class the very next day.  Or how about waking up early to tailgate for the afternoon football game?  Sports have such an impact on all of our lives, whether we are actually playing or just enjoying from the stands, and both of those scenarios tend to involve the weather!  How much of an impact can the weather have on some of our beloved outdoor sports?  We have Jessica Arnoldy here to provide some unique insight…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Roundtable with: Jen Carfagno, Dr. Greg Postel, Heather Zons

Another year around the sun means another year of all sorts of weather, both the beautiful and the horrible. Every single season brought its own flavor of extreme weather, from crippling winter storms to monstrous tornadoes to scalding wildfires and of course tropical storms and hurricanes. Even if these weather events didn’t physically impact you, their scope in the weather world was so large that you couldn’t ignore the conversation. And speaking of conversation, we’re going to close out the year on the Weather Geeks podcast and break down these most notable weather events of 2023!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Derek Manzello, Program Coordinator

Picture a coral reef, and you probably have visions of Flounder from The Little Mermaid or Crush from Finding Nemo. Coral reefs should be brimming with life, and are one of Earth’s most diverse ecosystems, providing significant ecological, economic and societal benefits. Unfortunately, they are threatened by climate change, pollution and more. Dr. Derek Manzello - an award winning coral reef ecologist - leads NOAA’s efforts in the Coral Reef Watch Program to understand and predict the trends in warming oceans and our fragile coral reefs.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Chris Goode, Climavision Founder

Introduction: You know the saying: if you put good in, you get good out! In the meteorology world, if you put good data in, you’ll get a good forecast out. But what about the areas that don’t have good data to put into the model, more specifically good radar data? Some areas just aren’t adequately covered and lie in what’s called a radar gap or a doppler dead zone. This makes researching and forecasting severe weather in these areas much more difficult. One way to alleviate this issue is to install more hi-res radars which is what a company called Climavision is doing. Joining us today is Chris Goode, the Founder & CEO, to talk about why it’s important to install these radars and what their company hopes to do with the information it collects.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Mayra Oyola-Merced, Assistant Professor at UW-Madison

Introduction: Whether it is preparing for hurricane season or getting ready for a severe weather outbreak, you might hear the phrase “weather models.” All kinds of data go into these models, but a new input could be game changing for weather modeling as we head into the future. Satellites. Our next guest is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where her research focuses on satellite and space-borne remote sensing, specifically in the areas of aerosol and cloud radiative effects, severe weather, air quality, and disaster/hazard risk reduction. Welcome Mayra Oyola-Merced to the show…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Andrew Schwartz

For several months of the year, the Central Sierra Snow Lab looks like a winter wonderland. Over 60 feet of snow fell this past winter at the lab and our next guest was there to experience it all. Dr. Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist and station manager of the University of California Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab, studies snowfall, snowpack, and the impact of climate change on these.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Stephanie Zick, Associate Professor at Virginia Tech

When we think of tornadoes, our minds are immediately drawn to the Southern Plains or the Southeast, right? Well the Midwest has also had their fair share of damaging and deadly tornadoes, not just historically but every single year. A lot of research has been focused on our typical “Tornado Alleys” but sometimes the Midwest gets lost to the wayside. However, researchers at Virginia Tech have discovered multiple different breakthroughs in tornadogenesis all throughout our atmosphere over the Midwestern states. Today on the show, we have Dr. Stephanie Zick to break it all down for us…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Host Jen Carfagno with Guest Dr. Greg Postel

With a raging El Nino in effect, the Eastern Pacific hurricane season was bound to be above average.  However, the number of storms that have impacted land has been surprising!  From October 9th to October 25th, western Mexico has been hit by FOUR consecutive tropical cyclones.  Three were hurricanes at landfall, and the one we want to focus on today is Hurricane Otis.  First thought to make landfall as either a strong tropical storm or a weak hurricane ended up becoming the strongest landfalling hurricane in the Eastern Pacific in under 24 hours!  How did this happen and what can we as an industry learn about this storm to help improve forecasting and communications in the future…?

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Greg Postel & Jen Carfagno, The Weather Channel

Introduction: With a raging El Nino in effect, the Eastern Pacific hurricane season was bound to be above average. However, the number of storms that have impacted land has been surprising! From October 9th to October 25th, western Mexico has been hit by FOUR consecutive tropical cyclones. Three were hurricanes at landfall, and the one we want to focus on today is Hurricane Otis. First thought to make landfall as either a strong tropical storm or a weak hurricane ended up becoming the strongest landfalling hurricane in the Eastern Pacific in under 24 hours! How did this happen and what can we as an industry learn about this storm to help improve forecasting and communications in the future…?

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Lonnie Thompson

It’s not just superheroes and first responders that risk their lives to save others, but what about a climatologist? Would you believe that our guest today climbed the summit of multiple mountains for climate research so we could all better understand how our climate has changed over the years? Well it’s true, and it really is an honor to have him on the podcast today! Subject of the upcoming documentary CANARY, Dr. Lonnie Thompson went where no other climate scientist would dare to go in order to find information and observations that changed how we can see centuries in the past.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Rei Goffer, Tomorrow.io

Ursa Minor. Canis Major. Orion. These are all star patterns that you can detect in the night sky called constellations! No matter where you live on Earth, there are constellations that will greet you as you look up. That same principle inspired the company Tomorrow.io to create a plan to launch dozens of radar satellites to help increase coverage of life-saving weather observations around the entire globe, in the hopes that they will be able to sample every point on the planet, nearly every hour. Sounds like an immense undertaking doesn’t it? Well we wanted to talk to Tomorrow.io’s co-founder Rei Goffer about this ambitious plan…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Don Hartsell

Introduction: In the upcoming months, we have not one, but two solar eclipses that are set to sweep across the continental United States: an annular eclipse on October 14 and a total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. The eclipse in April will be the second total eclipse to cross the country in the past decade and the last until 2044. It will also serve as the final exclamation point on a month-long research expedition across the country aimed at collecting data on airborne microplastics aboard an airship as it travels from California to Texas. Joining us is one of the leaders of the expedition, Don Hartsell, to discuss the journey and what the group on board hopes to achieve.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Randy Cerveny

When we hear about extreme weather and changing climate, often we hear about the extreme records that are associated with these events: Things like the hottest temperature streak, the heaviest rainfall, and so forth. You may notice when these events are reported, it’s often with the caveat: “if verified”. An often overlooked, but vitally important caveat. So, who are these verifiers and how do they corroborate world record weather? For the World Meteorological Organization, one of those people is Dr. Randy Cerveny and he’s joining us today to discuss how extreme events are verified and why it’s so important to go through a rigorous verification process.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Michael Mann

The topic of climate change and the future of our planet is both a controversial as well as at times difficult topic to understand. But if we want to know more about our future, we need to take a look into the history of our planet and our species. In his latest book, Our Fragile Moment, Dr. Michael Mann walks readers through our paleoclimate record and illustrates how it can serve as a roadmap to preserving our fragile moment. What you decide to do from there is entirely up to you.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Justin Sharpe

We all know the saying “if a tree falls in a forest and there’s nobody around to hear it, does it make a sound?” Well in our world, we can say something like “if a forecast is perfect, but it doesn’t get disseminated properly, did it do any good?” There are still leaps and bounds that need to be made in the weather industry to bridge the gap between the research and communication when it comes to severe weather of all shapes and sizes. We have Dr. Justin Sharpe here on the show today to discuss the work being done in the social sciences both in the present and future…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Dr. Linnea Avallone & Nicholas Anderson, National Science Foundation

While aircraft radar has come along away over the past several decades, the U.S. National Science Foundation, or NSF, is looking to take things a step forward with an investment of over 90 million dollars to create the Airborne Phased Array Radar. This will be a state-of-the-art radar that will be attached to the outside of an aircraft and flown over land and oceans to get remarkably close 3D views of what is going on deep inside clouds and severe storms. And the weather research implications of this new system could bring new understanding to severe storms and tropical cyclone research. Joining us today from the NSF are Dr. Linnea Avallone, Chief Officer for Research Facilities, and Nicholas Anderson, Program Director for Physical and Dynamic Meteorology.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Rick Knabb

Introduction: As we approach the midpoint of the 2023 Atlantic Hurricane Season, we just experienced the landfall of Hurricane Idalia: a major hurricane. With much of the season still ahead of us, we're joined today by The Weather Channel hurricane expert, Dr. Rick Knabb, to discuss the storm and what to expect going forward into the rest of the season.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: John Valliant

While this year’s wildfire season in the United States hasn’t really picked up steam, the wildfires in Canada have taken over the headlines.  Not just because of the extent of the fires, but because of the smoke they are emitting that is wafting into the U.S. and causing some of the worst air quality seen in years.  This has been forcing Americans to pay attention to what is happening north of the border and ask questions about these fires, in the past, present and future tense.  Today, my guest and I are taking a look at Canada's wildfire past with one of the worst in the country’s history at Fort McMurray.  Let’s welcome author John Vaillant to Weather Geeks

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Sundararaman Gopalakrishnan

With the Atlantic hurricane season in full swing, a new hurricane forecast model is ready to improve forecast accuracy as well as increase our understanding of tropical cyclones. Joining me today is Dr. Sundararaman “Gopal” Gopalakrishnan, senior meteorologist and leader of the modeling team that is behind NOAA’s newest hurricane forecast model. The Hurricane Analysis and Forecast System, or HAFS, integrates the best of existing hurricane forecast models while adding in key advancements in research. The result is a more accurate forecast that helps scientists as well as the public. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Lieutenant Commander Valerie Gardner, Chief of Behavior Health and Wellness at the National Weather Service

Forecasting for natural disasters brings one level of stress, and the aftermath can raise it to a whole new level of challenges. There is a lot of attention on the well-being of the people affected by these natural disasters…but what about those making the forecasts? Lieutenant Commander Valerie Gardner has extensive experience in this field and now she is extending her expertise with meteorologists at the National Weather Service. Lieutenant Commander, we welcome you today to the Weather Geeks podcast!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: WDSU New Orleans' Chief Meteorologist Margaret Orr

For over 40 years, viewers in New Orleans have tuned in and watched Margaret Orr deliver their forecast on their local news, eventually becoming her station’s chief meteorologist in 2009. Throughout her career, she’s covered numerous landmark weather events in southeast Louisiana and earned her viewers trust as not only a meteorologist but also with her efforts to give back to the community she calls home. Here to discuss her career, her passions, and the uniqueness that is the city of New Orleans, we’re joined with Margaret herself today!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Liz Leitman

Introduction: You are probably familiar with severe thunderstorm and tornado watches. The storm prediction center and its predecessors have been issuing them since the 1950’s to alert people that thunderstorms may develop and bring damaging winds, hail or tornadoes. About a hundred of these are issued every year. Believe it or not, the first convective watch issued by a woman was *this* year: 2023. The author of that severe thunderstorm watch was Liz Leitman - and she is here today on Weather Geeks!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Fred Malik, IBHS

Introduction: After severe weather barrels through a town and destroys everything in its wake, there are stories of survival and perseverance. But then, these communities are tasked to rebuild. But are they rebuilding correctly? Are the new homes being built going to keep the owners more safe than they were before, or do they have to experience the terror of severe weather over and over again? There has to be a better way! Well a company called IBHS is working towards that goal! They are working towards a new FORTIFIED standard that is changing the way we build, and we have Fred Malik here to talk about it…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Jim Minick

Introduction: Tornadoes are one of the most violent weather phenomena on our planet, the strongest of which have been rated an EF5, or an F5 before 2007 when the Enhanced Fujita scale was put into practice. These incredibly violent tornadoes are uncommon, with the last one occurring 10 years ago in 2013. Today, we’re going to go back even further, and take a look at the deadliest twister in Kansas history; an F5 that struck the city of Udall, killing 82 people. Joining us today is Jim Minick, author of Without Warning: The Tornado of Udall, Kanas, to discuss this deadly moment in weather history.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Jase Bernhardt, Ph.D.

Introduction: They say you have to see it to believe it, and that phrase has been tested time and time again in social sciences, especially in the meteorology field. Can you believe that there is a tornado outside during a tornado warning if you can’t see it if you look down the street? How would you know how to react to certain natural disasters without being able to see them with your own eyes? Would you know how to act or react in order to save your life when caught in a rapidly evolving situation, like a rip current or flash flood? Well our guest on this episode has been conducting research using the next best thing: virtual reality. Let’s chat with Jase Bernhardt today on Weather Geeks…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Bruckner Chase

Introduction: As we head into the swimming season, many of us are going to be flocking to the beach for a bit of surf, sand and fun! In addition to the fun memories that you’ll be making, there are a few things to be aware of when it comes to keeping yourself safe when heading into the ocean and today we’re going to dive into the topic of rip currents. NOAA has launched a new initiative called ‘Wave Safe’ aimed at reshaping the conversation around rip currents and ocean safety. Joining us today is Bruckner Chase, an ocean safety expert and host of this new program.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Rep. Frank Lucas

Introduction: As we Weather Geeks reside in our science world, sometimes we can be critical of how other industries perceive us and the work that we do. It can be especially frustrating when one of those circles is our own government, where science can become a polarizing issue on opposite sides of the aisel. When they don’t take the science seriously, that can have repercussions not just with lawmaking, but also in their constituents that listen to and trust them. Our guest today is on a path to make sure that our industry, mainly NOAA, is held in high regard among his peers by enshrining into law. What does that mean exactly? Well let’s talk to the source, Representative Frank Lucas…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Daniel Blackman, Senior Advisor for STEM Recruitment and Diversity at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Introduction: On November 29th, 2021, President Biden appointed Daniel Blackman to serve as the regional administrator for EPA's Southeast Region Four. In this role, Daniel served as the EPA's lead on protecting public health and the environment for the region spanning Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and six federally recognized tribes. I'm joined by Mr. Blackman today to discuss that role and a new role within the Environmental Protection Agency.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Dr. Dalia Kirschbaum, Director of Earth Sciences Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Introduction: Studying the science of our planet and solving the problems its inhabitants face has been Dr. Dalia Kirschbaum’s mission since joining NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center over ten years ago. Her career has been nothing short of impressive, and since June 2022, she has served as the Director of the Earth Sciences Division. Her research interests are centered on rainfall-triggered landslide modeling. This includes using remotely sensed information to conduct landslide hazard and risk studies. It’s my pleasure to welcome Dr. Kirschbaum to our show today. Thank you for joining us!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Ken Graham

The National Weather Service needs no introduction here on Weather Geeks and last year, a new director was appointed to lead the agency in charge of disseminating vital weather information across the U.S.. Ken Graham is joining us today to look back at his first year as head of the NWS as its 17th director and if his name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s been a guest of the podcast before last year when he initially took over the position and while leading the National Hurricane Center! Today, we’re going to discuss his vision for the future of the National Weather Service as well as his take on how the past year has been for the agency.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Dr. Mike Brennan

From June 1st to November 30th all eyes in the weather world turn to the tropics. The 2023 Hurricane Season will be the first as the National Hurricane Center Director for our next guest. Mike Brennan is the new director of the National Hurricane center, a role he began in April of 2023. Mike‘s tropical weather knowledge and 15 years of experience at the NHC makes him the perfect candidate to lead the hurricane center this season and beyond.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Jamie Winterstern

Introduction:  If you found your passion for meteorology or storm chasing through severe weather focused movies or shows, you will love this episode of Weather Geeks! Our guest on today’s podcast is Jamie Winterstern who wrote and directed the movie 'Supercell' that was recently released in mid-March to kick off the severe weather season.  Jamie is the youngest to ever direct and produce an NBC primetime drama show called ‘Siberia’ about survival in the frigid wilderness, so he knows a thing or two about creating suspense in the elements!  Will Supercell become the new Twister, or will it create its own path within the weather movie genre?

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Vice President Kamala Harris, Dr. Marshall Shepherd, and Dr. Isaiah Bolden

All of us Weather Geeks know how important our changing climate is for the future of our world. It is going to shape our lives and our children's lives if we do not take action soon, and that action needs to be more than on a personal level. We need our government bodies all the way up to the White House to take action. We had the amazing opportunity to sit down with Vice President Kamala Harris and Dr. Isaiah Bolden from Georgia Tech back in February to have a roundtable discussion on climate change and how the Presidential office plans to address it.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Weather Geeks Team

Description: One of the biggest metrics for tracking extreme weather events that impact our country is quantifying them as “Billion Dollar Disasters.” Earlier this week, NOAA announced that 7 separate billion-dollar disasters have occurred so far in 2023. Every month of the year so far has had at least one disaster, ranging from winter events to tornadoes. We are going to take time during this episode to break down each one and how that sets up these regions for the rest of the year ahead with more of the severe season still ahead of us and tropical season looming around the corner…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Dr. Steven Thur

Introduction: When extreme weather events rear their ugly heads, our first concerns are naturally with people and property.  But sometimes, we tend to forget the impacts on the environment around us and the animals that also inhabit the same spaces we live and breathe. The impact on their environment also leads to huge impacts on the economies around their habitats as well. As we move on and focus our attention on the next weather event, the unheard cries of the environment beg for us to notice them.  Additionally, as our climate is changing and the world continues to get warmer, those impacts can become more and more exasperated.  What do we need to do as an industry of meteorologists and scientists to start focusing more on these issues before our attention is taken elsewhere?  We’ve brought in Dr. Steven Thur, Director of NOAA’s Oceanic and Atmospheric Research division, to discuss…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Rear Admiral Ronald J. Piret

Introduction: The United States Navy is stationed all over the globe and requires accurate weather and ocean forecasting in order to operate to achieve their mission as well as assist other branches of our military. Today we want to dive into that complex operation and shed some light on the over 2,500 Sailors, Scientists, Engineers and Technicians at the Naval Meteorology & Oceanography Command. Joining us is the Commander of that group, Rear Admiral Ronald J Piret. Thank you for joining us today! 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Rep. Eric Sorensen

Introduction: In the United States, our congressional representatives and senators play an important role in how the conversation and actions on climate change occur in our country. Yet, for the most part, those same individuals don’t have a background rooted in meteorology or climate sciences. Representative Eric Sorensen seeks to change that and become the first meteorologist to serve in congress in nearly 50 years. He’s joining us today to discuss how his career transitioned from a broadcast meteorologist to politician and how and where he hopes to see the congressional conversation on climate change move. Congressman, thank you for joining us today!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Joel Gratz

Introduction: “Never miss a powder day.”  Those coveted days with deep, fresh, powdery snow on the slopes.  That was a mantra turned into a successful snow forecasting business.  Today on Weather Geeks, meet Joel Gratz - an entrepreneurial meteorologist who has figured out how to optimize forecasting mountain snow.  Find out how he sees forecasting and communication changing in the future. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Helen Roberts

You’ve seen the warnings: "Don’t drive through floodwaters." "Evacuate when officials ask during hurricanes or wildfires." "Tornadoes can strike any town, even if they’ve never hit your town before." "Heat is the biggest weather-killer." These are some of the messages meteorologists put out there in extreme weather events. Today on WeatherGeeks…we delve into why these extreme weather warnings can go *ignored* and find out what we can do about it with Helen Roberts from the UK Met Office. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Weather Geeks Team with Dr. Greg Postel

As the sun set over the Magnolia state on Friday March 24th, Mississippian lives were changed forever. A charged supercell cut across the midsection of the state, spawning a tornado that caused EF4 damage in the towns of Rolling Fork and Silver City and then EF3 damage in Amory, all over the course of a few hours while many slept. While the event was well forecasted by meteorologists across the country, NOTHING could prepare a person for the severity of what the victims experienced and what we all saw at first light the next morning. We want to take this episode of Weather Geeks to break it all down and look ahead to the tornado potential of the next event.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Dr. Victor Gensini & Dr. Harold Brooks

In the minds of many, Spring may be king when it comes to tornadoes, but we know they can happen any month of the year. We also know during the colder months, we tend to observe certain types of tornadoes and severe weather in favored parts of the country. Today we will be joined by severe weather experts Dr. Harold Brooks from the National Severe Storms Lab and Dr. Victor Gensini from Northern Illinois University to discuss severe weather during the winter and why it presents a unique set of challenges.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Laura Myers

Watch, warning, advisory. These are just a few of the words you may hear a meteorologist say, but do you know exactly what they mean and how you should prepare if you hear them? Today’s guest on Weather Geeks, Dr. Laura Myers, is a social scientist and current director of the Center for Advanced Public Safety at The University of Alabama. Part of Dr. Myers’ work is to study human behavior in relation to severe weather events before, during, and after the storm.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Dr. Upmanu Lall, Director of the Columbia Water Center at Columbia University

Introduction: Since the beginning of this year, California has been the focal point of international news all due to flooding caused by an on-going atmospheric river. The big stream of moisture has left a large footprint over the state by improving drought and shattering many rainfall and snowfall records. But all of this rain and snow comes with a price that may be too high for some residents to handle. This has led some researchers to ask the question: Can We Move an Atmospheric River? Today we are joined by Dr. Upmanu Lall to talk about that very question. Dr. Lall thanks for being here!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Kaitlin Parramore

Introduction: If you are put under a tornado warning at this very moment, would you know where to go?  Always the lowest level and most interior room, right?  Well for some of us, that option may not always be the safest.  What if you live in a mobile or manufactured home?  Or, you are at your workplace with windows lining the walls?  Instead of relying on the infrastructure around you, a company called Survive-a-Storm has designed and built shelters that can be installed ANYWHERE and protect you from an EF5 tornado.  To talk about the advancements that have been made in storm shelter technology over the years, we have Survive-a-Storm’s Kaitlin Parramore to discuss

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. David Call

Whenever we look back at historical anniversaries of major events, we tend to think about the areas and the people that were impacted.  Lives were lost but homes and businesses were rebuilt on the same land and life tends to go “back to normal” after a certain amount of time.  But as our world and our climate is constantly changing around us, one has to ask, “what if this natural disaster happened today?  Would we be in a better or worse position than we were back then, in terms of our infrastructure, communication, and overall disaster response?”  Well, that is what my guest today Dr. David Call is focusing on with his new book Superstorm 1950.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Lance Blocker, Jen Carfagno, & JD Disharoon

You watch them when you need the latest forecast when severe weather threatens your area. Broadcast meteorologists are an important part of our daily lives. Today, we are talking with three broadcast meteorologists in a roundtable. I'm joined by: Jen Carfagno, on-camera meteorologist and host of America's Morning Headquarters at The Weather Channel, Lance Blocker, weekend meteorologist at CBS17 in Raleigh, NC and JD Disharoon, Senior Weather Producer at The Weather Channel.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. DaNa Carlis

Introduction: "Expanding scientific discoveries while elevating diversity, Dr.DaNa Carlis has been a champion for both during his 20 year career at NOAA. Carlis’ hard work and years of experience have prepared him for his new role as director of NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory. He is the first African American to be named a lab director in NOAA’s office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. As he bridges the gap between science and society, Carlis continues to work for equity and inclusion for all. Dr. Carlis, thank you so much for joining us today!"

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Andrew Kruczkiewicz

Introduction: Our world constantly cycles through drought and flooding, drenching one side while parching another.  It may seem erratic at times, but it’s all Mother Nature’s way of keeping the balance.  And to the people that are on the ground that rely on the water for food and business, it may seem unfair.  At the end of the day, when people are caught in the crossfire of extreme rainfall and flooding events, there are some that are more impacted than others.  Is that really fair?  Today we’re talking to Andrew Kruczkiewicz who has been studying these impacts and how we as a society can improve to avoid the extent of them.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Weather Geeks Team

Introduction: We are now officially halfway done with meteorological winter! Some of you may be jumping for joy or rushing to plan your last ski trip of the season hearing that, right? While there is still plenty of time to go and weather left to see this winter, we are going to take a few moments in this episode to look back at what we’ve already seen and experienced this season. So grab your nearest warm drink and let’s geek out about winter 2022-23 so far!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Jason Deese

Introduction:  Lighting is one of the most spectacular weather phenomena, but it can also be one of the deadliest. About 2,000 people across the globe are killed each year by lightning. You might picture a beach in the summertime when you think of lightning, but it can strike during various weather events. In the recent lake-effect snow event for western New York, “thundersnow” was heard many times due to the vigorous storm system. Today’s guest, Jason Deese, is going to discuss the recent events in western New York as well as other important information about lightning. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Steve Bowen

Every year, we are seeing dozens of Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters that range from flooding to drought to landfalling hurricanes to tornado outbreaks. While the number of events may fluctuate, the dollar amount of these damages has been getting higher and higher. Steve Bowen, chief science officer at Gallagher Re, was on the show last February and we dove deep into the data that highlights not only the increasing financial impact of these disasters, but the increasing humanitarian toll as well.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Weather Geeks Team

As the year comes to a close, the Weather Geeks team takes a look at the biggest weather moments and stories from 2022 and what we’ve learned from them to take into the new year. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Kieran Bhatia

Introduction: Over the course of the last several years, numerous major hurricanes have struck the United States, including Hurricane Ian this past September. And with our increasing knowledge on climate change and its effects on our planet, more and more attempts at connections between the two are being made... but it’s not quite that simple. Joining us today is Kieran Bhatia, Vice president of Guy Carpenter, a reinsurance company providing global risk and reinsurance solutions, and he’s here to discuss the nuances and difficulties that go into making these connections.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Judah Cohen

 As the seasons change, we tend to look forward with anticipation of what’s to come, and meteorology is no different. Meteorological winter begins on December 1 every year, and in order to look ahead, we first have to examine the present conditions. Joining us today is Dr. Judah Cohen, Director of Seasonal Forecasting at Atmospheric and Environmental Research, to discuss what’s going on currently that is helping shape their Winter 2022-23 Outlook.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Rick Knabb

Seven consecutive above-average hurricane seasons in a row.  Even though it may not have always felt like it, the 2022 Hurricane season turned out to be record breaking in so many ways. From Hurricane Alex being the earliest Florida landfall to Hurricane Ian producing a 7.26 foot storm surge in Fort Myers, Florida to finally capping it off with Hurricane Nicole just a few weeks ago. November 30th marked the end of the Atlantic hurricane season, so we are going to spend this episode looking back at it with The Weather Channel’s hurricane expert, Dr. Rick Knabb.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Caryn Hill

Introduction: Caryn Hill has been storm chasing and guiding educational weather tours with her husband, Roger Hill, for decades. While Roger is known for his forecast expertise, Caryn sees weather through a different lens. Her passion for photography helps showcase what nature has to offer. From lightning, to tornadoes, to shelf clouds, Caryn Hill is here to discuss her fascination and dedication to photography with Silver Lining Tours. Welcome Caryn and thanks for joining us!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Paul Pisano

Ground transportation is something we all deal with on a daily basis, whether it’s in our cars, on a bus, or the subway. Navigating poor road conditions during inclement weather can be very treacherous, but new technologies and innovating thinking are working to keep people safe. Today we’re joined by Paul Pisano from the Road Weather Committee of the Transportation Research Board. Paul understands that ground transportation infrastructure is a vital asset that can’t be neglected. With extreme weather conditions becoming more prevalent, we must ensure that the meteorological & transportation communities are working together to pave the way for smarter, safer, and more sustainable methods of travel.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Carl Parker

Introduction:  All eyes are on Egypt as the Conference of the Parties, or COP, is now underway for the 27th time. And with more records and weather disasters in the headlines, it is crucial to globally curb rising temperatures. Here to discuss COP27 and where we stand in the climate crisis is Carl Parker. Parker has been with The Weather Channel since 1999 and with their Expert Team since 2011. He leads climate coverage at the network and hopes to educate on how climate is changing our weather today, as well as inform on how we can be better stewards of our planet tomorrow. Carl, thank you for joining us today.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Alex Robel

Introduction: Climate change and melting glaciers are synonymous at this point when the topic is discussed and usually addresses the future impacts of melting ice and its effects on coastal communities. But how do we determine what those impacts are and when they could occur? Joining us today is Dr. Alex Robel, a researcher who helps to develop mathematical models that provide this information and he’s here to give us his insight to how all of this happens.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Roger Hill

When it comes to searching the skies and finding the next storm to chase, it’s hard to find someone with more experience than Roger Hill. As co-owner and tour director of Silver Lining Tours, he and his wife Caryn seek to provide not only the chasing chance of a lifetime, but an education about the beauty and severity of Mother Nature. In addition to chasing storms for over 30 years, Hill is an author, photographer, avid bowler and all around Weather Geek.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Tim Guinne

Climate change is fact, not fiction, and is something that affects everyone on the planet. Over the years, Hollywood has touched on climate change in movies like The Day After Tomorrow and Don't Look Up! Our guest this week is no stranger to the movies: actor Tim Guinne is a featured film, television, and stage actor who has appeared in Iron Man, Stargate SG1, Blade, The Good Wife, and many other productions. However, his passion and activism about climate change is not scripted. It's real.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: TWC Meteorologist Panel

The weather around us can be described in many different ways and on both ends of the spectrum from absolute terror to stunning beauty. These two qualities tug on our heartstrings the most as human beings.  We have to grasp the fear of a tornado wiping our home off of the map but we will all take the opportunity to take a smiling selfie with a vibrant rainbow.  So it may come as no surprise that Hollywood leans into the weather when making some blockbuster movies and TV shows.  But how much is too much, or is it all in good fun?  We’ve got a special episode today on Weather Geeks to talk about it…!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Sarah Kapnick 

Dr. Sarah Kapnick is the newly appointed Chief Scientist at NOAA and only the third woman in NOAA’s history to be appointed to this role. She brings not only a background in climate sciences, but extensive knowledge in economics as well.  Dr. Kapnick joins us today to discuss her journey to becoming Chief Scientist, her new role and what is in the extended forecast for NOAA. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Mike Seidel

Celebrating 30 years at the Weather Channel, Mike Seidel is no stranger to covering storms in every season. Most recently, as Hurricane Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida, Mike anchored his live shots from Fort Myers. During one of his segments, Mike said, and I quote: “This is one of the worst hurricanes I’ve ever been in, and maybe the worst as far as covering”. For a man who has provided over 20,000 live shots and worked in over 90 storms for the Weather Channel, that was a powerful statement… and one we want to dig into. So joining us this week is Mike Seidel!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

**RECORDED ON TUESDAY EVENING** Hurricane Ian is heading towards Florida's Gulf Coast and is slated to impact millions of people. Up until this moment, the journey that Ian has been on has been an interesting one. Weather Channel meteorologists and Weather Geeks producers JD Disharoon and Heather Zons sit down to discuss Hurricane Ian and its impending destructive path through the Southeast.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Paul Iñiguez

If you asked 100 people what the deadliest weather risk is, odds are they would pick some of the more flashy natural disasters, like hurricanes, tornadoes or lightning.  Some may even say the cold temperatures with how brutal it gets in the northern tier during the winter. But the real answer is the heat!  And it’s not necessarily the record heat during the hottest time of the day, it also includes the overnight temperatures that don’t let our body cool down.  And that’s the keyword right there: our body.  NWS meteorologists in the western region have developed a forecast product that will make it easier for everyone to understand their heat risk, and we have Paul Iñiguez on the show today to talk about it!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Kurt Shickman

We’ve been naming tropical systems since the late 1940s and the Weather Channel has been naming winter storms in the United States since 2012 while other nations have been naming storm systems for over a decade. But what about heat waves? The point of naming storm systems is to raise awareness, preparedness, and prevent the loss of life and property… and extreme heat is the deadliest weather-related killer in the United States, taking more lives on average each year than hurricanes and tornadoes combined. Joining us today is Kurt Shickman, director of Extreme Heat Initiatives at the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center to talk about bringing more awareness to the deadly heat that affects our country.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Tyler WInkler

Introduction: The 2020 and 2021 hurricane seasons were among the top 3 most active on record. But, for now, the hurricane “record” extends only as far back as historical stories or modern weather data.  Could we actually be at a historical low in tropical cyclone activity?  Scientists, like Dr. Tyler Winkler, have discovered a new way of uncovering the past using sediment cores from Blue Holes. Tyler’s work was featured on an episode of the Nat Geo documentary “Years of Living Dangerously”, and he joins us on Weather Geeks.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dana Nuccitelli

On Aug 16, 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law. This piece of legislation is the single biggest step forward by the U.S. Government focusing on our changing climate. Today on Weather Geeks we will be joined by environmental scientist and climate journalist Dana Nuccitelli to discuss the impacts that the Inflation Reduction Act will have on our climate.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Jennifer Walton

Storm chasers range from professionally trained photographers to research meteorologists to thrill seekers watching radar on their phones. And yet, still even today, the majority of them are male.  Girls Who Chase is an organization born out of the desire to elevate the efforts of women chasers.  To give them a community.  And to empower them - to do that thing they most long to do, no matter how daunting, non-stereotypical, or mathematical it might seem.  The founder of Girls Who Chase, Jen Walton, joins us today on Weather Geeks.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Melissa Roberts

Introduction: In recent decades, extreme rainfall events have been on the increase. There have been 36 billion dollar flood disasters since 1980, and 11 of them have happened in the last 5 years. Sea level rise is leading to more coastal flooding, even in the absence of rain.  Who is going to organize the charge to address these rising flood concerns?  Melissa Roberts founded the American Flood Coalition to raise awareness to the reality of higher seas, stronger storms, and more frequent flooding.  She is here today on Weather Geeks to tell us more.  

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Mike Kozar & Robert Muir-Wood

Introduction: With August now in full swing, it’s just a matter of time before the tropics start to stir and the risks start to rise for communities. Risk Management Solutions is tackling and transforming the catastrophe risk industry, including hurricane risks. RMS HWind is a tool that is crucial to understanding as well as dealing with tropical cyclone risks. Joining us today are Mike Kozar and Robert Muir-Wood of RMS. Kozar is the lead on all their HWind products, and Muir-Wood has been with RMS over 18 years and is the Chief Research Officer.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Tim Walsh

Introduction: Weather satellites in the Earth’s orbit supply vital information to meteorologists across the globe. Did you know that over 90% of the data that is used in weather forecast models comes from satellites? Our next guest has spent plenty of time working on improving weather satellites and the information that they obtain and share. From the heart of hurricane season to the middle of the winter, satellites are an integral part of keeping people safe. Today on Weather Geeks we are joined by Tim Walsh, Deputy Director of the Joint Polar Satellite System Program at NOAA. Thanks for being with us Tim…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Victoria Ludwig

Introduction: When the temperature heats up, people living in cities are often even hotter. That's because the parking lots, roads, and human activities in cities cause the urban heat island. Victoria Ludwig is the national program manager for the Heat Island Reduction Program at the US Environmental Protection Agency. She is here today to explain what urban heat islands are, how we can reduce them, and why the EPA is concerned. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Derrick Herndon

Introduction: After two back-to-back supercharged hurricane seasons, 2022 is again expected to be well above average. When tropical systems are spinning far out in the ocean and away from land, meteorologists compare satellite imagery of the current storm to past storms to estimate its intensity. It's a technique that dates back to the ‘70s called the Dvorak Technique, and it is still used today.  Satellite meteorologist Derrick Herndon joins Weather Geeks today to share how the Dvorak technique has been upgraded. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Ken Graham

The National Weather Service needs no introduction here on Weather Geeks and recently, a new director was appointed to lead the agency in charge of disseminating vital weather information across the U.S.. Ken Graham is taking the reins of the NWS as its 17th director and if that name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s been a guest of the podcast before while leading the National Hurricane Center! Today, we’re going to discuss his vision for the future of the National Weather Service as well as his past endeavors that have led up to this point.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Eric Klinenberg

 When we talk about preventing deaths from natural disasters, we often look at our physical infrastructure and how to build it to withstand withering conditions. But what about our social infrastructure: the network of spaces, institutions, and groups that help foster social connections? What role do they play in protecting the vulnerable? Our guest today is Eric Klinenberg, author of Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago, and it's an in depth look at the factors that led to one of America's deadliest heat waves.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Tim Marshall

Introduction: When natural disasters strike, those affected work to rebuild their lives and livelihoods; but before we rebuild, we must assess the damage that has occurred. By doing this, we can work to improve the structures where we live and work and hopefully prevent the same damage from happening again. Dr. Tim Marshall is joining us today and is one of the nation’s preeminent forensic engineers. He was also involved in the development team that produced the Enhanced Fujita Scale for tornado damage assessment as well as a major contributor to the committee to update the Saffir-Simpson scale.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Joseph Trujillo Falcón

Bilingual communities across the country are at a disadvantage when weather warnings are issued because the current infrastructure does not adequately translate the weather terminology into Spanish. Some progress has been made in recent years, but there is still a long way to go. Our next guest on Weather Geeks, Joseph Trujillo Falcón, is working to bridge the gap between weather warnings and bilingual communities…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Jim Kossin

The 2020 and 2021 hurricane seasons were both above average based on the number of named storms. The changing climate and its impact on the strength and frequency of tropical cyclones is constantly being studied. Our next guest has focused his studies on hurricanes and the impacts that the climate and climate change are having on these systems. With another active hurricane season expected in 2022, we welcome Senior Scientist with The Climate Service, Dr. Jim Kossin, to this week’s episode of Weather Geeks…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Ali Van Fleet

Introduction:  All-time record heat waves… mega-droughts & record large wildfires…flash floods from incredible rain… often come with a Climate Change fingerprint on them. Is there anything we can do?  Pattrn is a social and streaming media brand with a mission to explore, inform, and engage in Earth’s changing patterns.  Ali Van Fleet, meteorologist and Climate Science Producer at The Weather Channel, is here today to tell us more about Pattrn and share her personal experience with several historic climate-fueled weather events.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Adam Houston

It’s been more than 25 years since the movie Twister came out, depicting scientists trying to gather data from inside tornadoes by leaving instruments in their paths. As happens with time, technology improves and now it’s not just in the movies where scientists are attempting to get data from inside a tornado. One group of scientists are using drones to intercept tornadoes to gather data to help shed light on their inner workings and also to help the National Weather Service issue more accurate tornado warnings with longer lead times. The head of that project, Dr. Adam Houston, is here with us today.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Phil Klotzbach

Introduction: “Is it going to be a busy hurricane season?” is one of the most commonly asked questions to meteorologists, especially this time of year. After two back-to-back seasons with a super-charged Atlantic basin, this year is indeed expected to be above average again.  What that means for impacts and how those predictions are made are just some of the topics to talk about with atmospheric scientist and premier hurricane season predictor - Dr. Phil Klotzbach - on this episode of Weather Geeks.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Ed Kearns

If you’ve been keeping tabs on the natural disasters impacting our country, you may have noticed that wildfires have become more intense, larger, and are occurring more frequently, scorching everything in their path. First Street Foundation, a science and technology nonprofit, has released a new study evaluating the wildfire risk to our nation’s critical infrastructure. But just how do you model out something with so many variables that differ from one part of the country to the other? Joining us today is Dr. Ed Kearns, the chief data officer at First Street Foundation, to break down the methodology, findings and impacts of this expansive research study.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Andrew Grundstein

Many of us have seen first-hand the impacts weather can have on our daily lives, and today we’re going to focus on the dangers associated with heat and thunderstorms. Heat related illnesses are often underrated and sadly, this can lead to many trips to the emergency room...or worse. Today’s guest, Dr. Andrew Grundstein of the University of Georgia, has been focusing on one particular aspect of the heat: how it impacts athletes and children in hot cars. These situations can lead to dozens of deaths each year, so we’re going to discuss the meteorological and even some of the psychological factors at play in these events. Finally, we’ll discuss the impacts of thunderstorms on asthma...an idea which may be counterintuitive to many of you...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Jen Carfagno, Kelly Cass, Felicia Combs, Paul Goodloe, Jacqui Jeras, Dr. Rick Knabb, Molly McCollum

On May 2, 1982, The Weather Channel launched and changed the way we received weather information forever. Over these past 40 years, technology has changed not only the way we study meteorology, but also how we get life saving information out to the public, a core tenet of The Weather Channel’s mission. Joining us today are several meteorologists at the Weather Channel to discuss their experiences and where they see the next 40 years going.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Craig Clements

We saw a record number of acres of beautiful countryside go up in flames in 2020. In recent years, many across the West have seen some of the deadliest & most destructive wildfires that our country has ever experienced.  Whether they have been accelerated by climate change or extreme drought conditions, there is no denying that millions of lives have been changed forever as these millions of acres are scorched beyond repair.  Today on the show, we are talking with someone who wants this trend to stop and wants to forecast the wildfires before they cause their destruction.  His name is Dr. Craig Clements from the SJSU Fire Weather Research Lab in California and we are so excited to sit down with him today...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Kevin Petty

Introduction: As technology has progressed over the past century, scientists and engineers have discovered ways to make technology smaller and smaller and still yield the same or even greater results. Satellite technology is no exception to this progress of miniaturization. Nanosatellites are satellites that have a mass between 1 and 10 kg and are populating low-level orbit more and more frequently. As of August 2021, over 1,600 nanosatellites were in orbit around Earth. Joining us is Dr. Kevin Petty, Vice President of Earth System Science and Technology at Spire, a company that utilizes nanosatellites to predict environmental change.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Kevin Petty

Introduction: As technology has progressed over the past century, scientists and engineers have discovered ways to make technology smaller and smaller and still yield the same or even greater results. Satellite technology is no exception to this progress of miniaturization. Nanosatellites are satellites that have a mass between 1 and 10 kg and are populating low-level orbit more and more frequently. As of August 2021, over 1,600 nanosatellites were in orbit around Earth. Joining us is Dr. Kevin Petty, Vice President of Earth System Science and Technology at Spire, a company that utilizes nanosatellites to predict environmental change.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Karen Kosiba

When we assign a rating to a tornado, it’s based on the damage it’s left behind. But what happens when a powerful tornado roars through a field? Is the rating assigned accurate if there wasn’t a building there to damage? Dr. Karen Kosiba joins us to talk about the research she and her colleagues have done in this subject and we’ll get an inside look on what it’s like to experience a storm from inside a mobile radar, the tool used to help determine tornadic wind speeds in these rural tornadoes. She’s also part of the PERiLS research team we talked about a few weeks ago here on the podcast and we’ll get an update on the research after the storms we’ve seen roll through the south over the past few weeks.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Stephen Strader

Introduction: Severe weather comes in many forms, and tornadoes are amongst the deadliest on a yearly basis. When severe weather strikes, many people feel as if the safest place to be is their home, but is that the case for all types of homes? Our next guest has studied the vulnerability of humans that live in mobile and manufactured homes during severe weather events. Dr. Stephen Strader, assistant professor at Villanova University, is here today to discuss his findings and ways that we can improve safety throughout tornadic events…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Tony Lyza

When you think of tornadoes, you probably think of a big supercell in Tornado Alley in Texas or Oklahoma or Kansas. However, the idea of a “tornado alley” can be misleading.  Tornadoes in the Deep South are just as likely to occur and perhaps more deadly than in the Great Plains.  Today’s guest is part of one of the largest and most comprehensive severe storm field campaigns in the Southeastern United States. The field program is called PERilS - Propagation, Evolution, and Rotation in Linear storms. Tony Lyza, from the University of Alabama Huntsville, is here today to discuss the plan for the research and what scientists hope to discover.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Kevin Cooley

When life-threatening weather is occurring, the National Weather Service not only monitors the threat, but also puts out products through a variety of sources in order to convey the severity and timing of the threat. But how exactly do they accomplish this? In the age of technology where a tweet can be seen just as widely as a bulletin on television, how does the NWS balance the juggling act of ensuring their message is seen by as many people as possible but also staying on top of the threat as it’s unfolding? Joining us today is Kevin Cooley, the Director of Office of Planning & Programming for Service Delivery for the N-W-S, and that’s exactly what his job handles.  

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Harrison Prieto

Student athletes at the collegiate level have to balance a plethora of responsibilities, both academic and athletic. For one of those student athletes, meteorology plays a huge role on the academic side of things: Harrison Preito is a student at Florida State University and also pursuing his Masters in Meteorology. We’re sitting down today to talk about that balance, how weather became such an important part of his life, and where he sees himself moving forward.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

GUEST: David Hondula

INTRODUCTION: Weather is an awe-inspiring phenomenon that captures the attention of everyone at some point in their lives, but it’s also powerful and can be deadly as well. When we think of life threatening weather, hurricanes, severe storms, and flooding come to mind first, but did you know extreme heat is one of the leading killers when it comes to weather-related fatalities? The city of Phoenix, Arizona is keenly aware of this, ranking near the top for hottest cities in the United States. This is also one of the reasons why the city became the first in the nation to have a publicly funded office for heat response and mitigation. A Heat Officer, if you will. David Hondula is that officer and he’s joining us today! Welcome, David!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Steve Bowen

Looking back to last year, 2021 continued the trend of increasing damage from weather-related disasters with 20 Billion-dollar events. While there weren’t as many events as the record year of 2020, the actual damage amount was higher, giving another data point to the trendline demonstrating the heightened costliness and severity of these events. Steve Bowen, meteorologist and head of Catastrophe Insight at Aon, is here today to dive deeper into the data that highlights not only the increasing financial impact of these disasters, but the increasing humanitarian toll as well.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Katherine Calvin

Dr. Katherine Calvin has been an Earth Scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Joint Global Change Research Institute since 2008.  Just recently, Dr. Calvin was appointed as NASA’s Chief Scientist AND Senior Climate Advisor.  She’s here today to talk about that new dual role at NASA and share how NASA observations, measurements, and technologies will help us as we look for ways to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Michael Farrar

Introduction: 

A man of many meteorological backgrounds, our next guest is taking on a new journey as he steps into the role as the new director of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction, commonly referred to as “NCEP.” In today’s episode we will be joined by Dr. Michael Farrar where we will discuss his expectations for the future of NCEP as well as his past endeavors that have led up to this point…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Art delaCruz

When disaster strikes, help may not arrive wearing a cape, but it very well may be wearing a Grey shirt. The men and women wearing grey shirts that make up Team Rubicon descend on areas hit by a weather disaster or humanitarian crisis. Team Rubicon is a disaster relief organization, founded by veterans, that mobilizes veterans, first responders and civilians to serve communities in need. Today we talk to a veteran - the CEO of Team Rubicon- Art delaCruz.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Bob Henson

Introduction: On December 30, 2021, The Marshall Fire ripped through suburban neighborhoods in the Denver-Boulder metropolitan area - spread by high winds and fueled by months of drought. The wildfire left two people presumed dead, burned more than 6000 acres and destroyed more than 1000 homes.  Bob Henson is one of several atmospheric scientists who call that area near Boulder, Colorado home.  He joins us today to talk about the fire on this edition of Weather Geeks.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Keith Seitter

The American Meteorological Society has been a collective of meteorologists and a fixture in the professional community since its foundation in 1919. Since then, numerous achievements in the field have taken us through the discovery of the radar, the satellite era, and the constant advancement in atmospheric modeling. The AMS has been there throughout this technological journey. Since 2004, Dr. Keith Seitter has been the Executive Director of the AMS and almost 20 years later, he is retiring from the organization. He’s here joining us today to reflect on his time with the Society; so please welcome, Dr. Keith Seitter!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr Amy McGovern

Introduction:

Artificial intelligence continues to make advances in leaps and bounds across the scientific spectrum. Our guest today is looking to apply this growing technological field to high-impact weather phenomena, including: tornadoes, hail, flooding, drought, turbulence and more. Dr. Amy McGovern leads the NSF AI Institute for Research on Trustworthy AI in Weather, Climate, and Coastal Oceanography and is joining us today, to talk about AI, the applications of it in the field of meteorology and more. Welcome, Dr. McGovern!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Lisa Graumlich

Introduction:

From a young child who witnessed the Cuyahoga River burning... to a pioneer in connecting tree-ring data to climate change, Dr. Lisa Graumlich has become a powerful voice in climate change communication, adaptation and solutions.  She will take us through what we learned at COP26 and from the latest IPCC report, and give us a preview of what's to come at this year’s big Fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union which is themed “Science is Society.”

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Sarah Dillingham, Jason Disharoon, Josh Vexler & Brian Kucinski

As 2021 comes to a close, the Weather Geeks team takes a look at the biggest weather moments and stories from 2021 and what we’ve learned from them to take into the new year. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Steve Conney & Luke Stone, Powderchasers

When you were a kid, you would fall asleep on a winter night dreaming of waking up to a snow day, though children that lived in the southern tier of the U.S. had a dream a little bit harder. You didn’t have to go to school and you could play in the snow all day! Well my guests today spend their days playing in the snow and have made a career out of it! Steve Conney and Luke Stone are members of the Powderchasers team that travels across the Rockies to forecast the biggest snowstorms to give you the freshest powder for your weekend ski trip! How will this upcoming La Nina winter impact their chases? Let’s find out...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Rick Spinrad

Introduction:

Earlier this year in June there was a change in leadership at the top of NOAA. Appointed by President Joe Biden, our next guest has spent decades in atmospheric sciences. Today we are joined by the 11th, and current, NOAA Administrator Dr. Rick Spinrad. Dr. Spinrad is going to share with us how his first few months on the job have gone as well as goals for the future...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Craig McLean

Introduction:

When we think of NOAA, a multitude of things can come to mind from our planet’s oceans and atmosphere. The research in these fields has yielded us scientific advancements in weather forecasting, oceanography, and atmospheric chemistry just to name a few. But what is the process for conducting this research and allocating the resources across such a broad spectrum? Today’s guest helps to do just that. He is the Active Chief Scientist and Assistant Administrator for Oceanic and Atmospheric Research at NOAA. Please welcome Craig McLean! 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Marty Ralph

Introduction:

You can’t row a boat in an atmospheric river, but it is a powerful force of nature that transports massive volumes of water vapor. The director of the Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at Scripps Institution of Oceanography Dr. Marty Ralph is a pioneer in the study of atmospheric rivers affecting the Western US and has been leading the development of a category scale, like the hurricane saffir-simpson scale, to classify the strength of atmospheric rivers. He’s here today to talk about atmospheric rivers, the scale, and why it's important for forecasting and communication.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Al Roker has been giving forecasts for ‘your neck of the woods’ for over 20 years...He is America’s Weatherman, appearing on the TODAY show, Nightly News and a host of other television and news shows over the years. He has a knack for channeling his on-air charisma into many different media platforms, including penning a New York Times best seller, dishing out award-winning cookbooks, and lending his voice to critically-acclaimed movies. In this week's Weather Geeks podcast we learn about Al’s deep passion for weather, how he continues to evolve with the ever-changing media landscape and how he manages to balance it all.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Eric Fisher, Author of Mighty Storms of New England

Meteorologist Eric Fisher says there are few places on earth that produce weather like New England.  It offers the challenges of blockbuster snowstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, heat waves, frigid cold snaps and dramatic seasonal shifts. Eric just penned a book:  “The Mighty Storms of New England - The Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Blizzards, and Floods that Shaped the Region”.  He writes that knowing the past is a critical part of understanding and forecasting the weather.  The stories in his book describe not only the loss and damage caused by the storms but also the progress made as a result.  Perhaps one of the most valuable lessons we can learn from the past is how to better communicate the risks.  And Eric is just the meteorologist to talk about this…

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Ryan Lanclos

Introduction:

    When disasters strike, emergency responders and government agencies must act quickly, but large-scale events make it difficult to determine where resources should be allocated first.  Technological advances in Geographic Information Systems, or GIS, have helped improve disaster responses across the globe and become an invaluable way to process data.  Today we’re joined by Ryan Lanclos, Director of Public Safety Solutions at Esri, who will share how GIS is being used to supplement a variety of natural and man-made disasters. Plus, we’ll discuss other GIS applications that are used in our everyday lives, even though we may have taken it for granted... 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Scott Braun

After a record-breaking 2020 Atlantic hurricane season and this season’s forecast to be above average, it might be a good time to get a grip on the tropics. In this case: GRIP is an acronym for Genesis and Rapid Intensification Processes and is the name of a NASA field experiment that was designed to understand how tropical systems form and develop into major hurricanes. Dr. Scott Braun worked on the GRIP project and joins us today to dive into the project and other hurricane research of which he’s been a part.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Tom Di Liberto

It’s baaack!! The NOAA Climate Prediction Center recently announced that La Nina has returned and will likely remain with us throughout the 2021-2022 winter season. But what exactly does that mean for us? For the globe? Luckily, we have someone who can help shed some light on its potential impacts. Tom Di Liberto is a meteorologist at Collabralink Technologies, and throughout his career, he has been researching, forecasting, and blogging about ENSO events for NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. Today, we’ll shed light on how these events form and discuss if climate change is impacting them. Plus, we’ll touch on the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference known as COP26, which could impact climate change policies across the globe.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Jeremy Porter

When we talk about weather disasters, our minds often go towards tornadoes, hurricanes, and severe weather. But flooding is the most common, and most expensive, natural disaster in the United States. First Street Foundation, a science and technology nonprofit, has released a new study evaluating the flood risk to our nation’s critical infrastructure. The study evaluates the risk for every neighborhood, zip code, city and county in the country. Joining us today is Dr. Jeremy Porter, who leads the research & development efforts at First Street Foundation, to break down the findings and impacts of this expansive research study.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Introduction:

Technology is advancing at an amazing pace, creating products and services that were only dreams a decade ago. One of those long lasting dreams, and has been for decades, is an automobile that drives itself. We’re just now getting to the point where that technology is not only possible but available, and part of that process is for a vehicle to be able to sense conditions on the road. Joining us today is Dr. Bill Gail, CEO and co-founder of Global Weather Corporation, a company that is helping to predict road conditions all across the globe. He’s also the former president of the American Meteorological Society, so we’ll be picking his brain a bit on other areas as well! Please welcome Dr. Bill Gail.

Guest:

Dr. Bill Gail

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Chris Vagasky

Introduction: The joy that fills sports fans' hearts as they loudly sing, “Take me out to the ballgame…” is almost palpable, but one thing that may not come to their mind is the threat lightning poses. We’ve seen the images of lighting bolts racing across the sky as fans hunker down in their seats, and this reminds us how deadly this phenomenon can be. Meteorologist Chris Vagasky, who is the Lightning Applications Manager at Vaisala, has dug through the data and found some shocking statistics for some of the league’s most popular stadiums. We’ll break down who’s most at risk for lighting and discuss how his research is being used to improve MLB’s weather safety policies. Get your peanuts & join us for the discussion...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Allison Wing

Introduction:

We’ve got our heads in the clouds today on Weather Geeks! When you see clouds dotting the skyscape, you may only think about how picturesque they look, but they actually play very important roles in weather and climate. Today’s guest is Dr. Allison Wing who has been studying the presence and patterns of clouds in a warmer world and how they’re accounted for in our climate models. Since clouds can affect our planet’s radiation balance, it’s important we know how they will behave in an increasingly warmer world. Dr. Wing and her colleagues have developed climate models to help answer some of these questions.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Rick Knabb

Introduction:

Hurricane Ida became a storm for the record books as it made landfall in Port Fourchon, LA on August 29th with sustained winds of 150 mph.  The devastation from Ida’s high-end category 4 hurricane winds, storm surge, and torrential rainfall were widespread across Louisiana, but the devastation didn’t end there. As Ida’s remnants tracked into the Northeast, it produced prolific amounts of rainfall, breaking records and claiming dozens of lives. With such extreme events on the rise, communication of their potential impacts can bring challenges for forecasters and emergency managers. Here to highlight those challenges is The Weather Channel’s own, Dr. Rick Knabb, former Director of the National Hurricane Center. Let’s discuss...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Robert Rohde

Introduction:

While the science of humans’ impact on climate change is now clear, there are still a lot of skeptics out there. One group of scientists was tasked with evaluating concerns of climate skeptics to disprove climate warming, but once they dug into and processed the data, their work only confirmed the warming. We’re talking with Dr. Robert Rohde, lead scientist at Berkeley Earth about the work he and his organization have been doing to further the science of climate change. To create accurate assessments and projections of our climate requires scientists to process A LOT of data, and Robert is one of the key people helping to do that. We’ll talk about how Berkeley Earth is working to educate people about climate change and how they hope to build partnerships with environmental and industry groups around the world.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Louis W. Uccellini

After an incredible career that has spanned more than 50 years, the Director of the National Weather Service, Dr. Louis Uccellini, has announced he will be retiring on January 1, 2022.  As one of our most esteemed returning guests, we are honored to have this opportunity to speak with Dr. Uccellini and recollect the countless contributions he has made to the weather and climate enterprise.  Throughout his career, he has been a dedicated public servant, an innovative leader at the highest levels of NOAA and the National Weather Service, and led the charge in having the United States become a Weather-Ready Nation.  His legacy will have lasting impacts on the field of meteorology, and today, we’re excited to celebrate his accomplishments and discuss what’s next for him.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Aaron Tartakovsky

Introduction:

Water is one of our most precious natural resources. We can’t live without it and we have a finite supply of it.  That’s why it’s so important to not only manage how we use it, but also how we reuse it.  Today we’re joined by CEO and co-founder of Epic Cleantec, Aaron Tartakovsky, who’s company has been working to create more sustainable methods for water and wastewater management.  With the world’s growing population, aging infrastructures, and increasing concerns of water scarcity due to climate change, we have a greater responsibility to ensure this vital resource keeps flowing to everyone who needs it. We’ll talk about how new strategies are being implemented by Epic Cleantec, and hopefully, you’ll learn a little more about ways you can help.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Ken Graham

Introduction:

June 1st through November 30th, it’s a time many people, especially those who live along the U.S. coastline, are watching for what’s going on in the Atlantic Ocean. Following a record-setting 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, and a quick start to the 2021 season, many are wondering what may lie ahead. Today, we’re talking with the director of the National Hurricane Center, Ken Graham. We’ll discuss some of the recent storms from last season and the 2021 season so far, changes to certain storm products, and messaging to the general public. Let’s get started...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Ran Korber & Paul Walsh

Introduction:

When it comes to keeping ourselves healthy, we know about eating right and keeping active, but there’s another thing we should keep an eye on as well: air quality. And it’s not just smog we’re talking about: it’s also things like wildfires and pollen that affect the air we breathe. Today’s guest started his business because he was looking for a new place to live with his wife, who has asthma. They were looking for a city where air quality wouldn’t have as big of an impact on her health but found the data to help make that decision was hard to come by. Ran Korber founded Breezeomter, a company that helps fill in the gaps in existing air quality monitoring and joins us today to discuss what goes into air quality monitoring and some of the ways this data is used might surprise you!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Rear Admiral Timothy Gallaudet

Introduction:

When we think of weather, climate and oceanography, one of the main organizations that comes to mind in the United States is NOAA: the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. Today we want to dive into the ‘O’ in that acronym and look at the role NOAA plays with our planet’s oceans. Who better than the former Administrator of NOAA, Rear Admiral (ret) Timothy Gallaudet of the U.S. Navy. He has almost two decades of service in the Navy, and was also appointed as Commander of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command. Welcome, Rear Admiral Gallaudet!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Chad Hanson

2020 was the worst year on record for wildfires in the state of California as more than four

million acres were burned. Words like ‘apocalyptic’ were used to describe the aftermath. The

loss of lives and property are devastating, but are we making the problem worse with

misconceptions about the role wildfires play in the forest ecosystem? Fire ecologist Dr. Chad

Benson joins us today to talk about some of the reasons that wildfires have increased over past

decades and how our actions have helped to fuel this increase.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Tracy Fanara

Today’s topic may sound like something you would see in a Sci-Fi movie…  We’re talking about Dead Zones!  No, it doesn’t have anything to do with zombies, but these dead zones can be very harmful and even deadly to aquatic life. Dr. Tracy Fanara is a scientist and engineer who has been studying these and other types of phenomena to help educate the public and work to change our practices that contribute to them. Today we’ll be focusing on the Gulf of Mexico, but these events can occur in water bodies across the globe where conditions are right.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Andrew Grundstein

Introduction:

The summer season is upon us and with it the Olympic Games in Tokyo! Today we’re going to focus on how weather comes into play not only during the events themselves, but also how it factors into planning a large-scale international sports event. Today’s guest, Dr. Andrew Grundstein of the University of Georgia, is on the International Olympic Committee for his weather-climate expertise and has been on the podcast before, for his focus on one particular aspect of the heat: how it impacts athletes. So we’re going to focus on Dr. Grundstein’s experience with how weather and climate went into the planning for the Tokyo Games and how weather can affect the athletes competing.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Kathryn Sullivan

Introduction:

“To boldly go where no man has gone before” has a great ring to it and it started many a Star Trek episode and movie, but breaking the glass ceiling to boldly go where no woman has gone before can describe our guest today who was: the 1st woman to walk in space, the 1st woman to go to deepest point in space, and the 1st woman to dive to the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the Earth's oceans. These are just a few of her many accomplishments. Today we’ll talk about breaking barriers and the amazing career of Dr. Kathryn Sullivan.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Eric Klos

Introduction:

If you suffer from ailments like asthma and allergies, you know how difficult it can be to manage your symptoms in everyday life. While there have been advancements in the medical and pharmaceutical fields, many people would prefer never having their conditions aggravated in the first place! Today we’re sitting down with the CEO and Founder of the DailyBreath app that seeks to serve as a warning system for people to manage and even avoid their triggers that can make them sick, and in the worst cases, send them to the emergency room. We’ll talk about his motivation behind this innovative application and his future plans to help keep people well.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Eric Kuhn

Introduction:

Exceptional drought conditions across the West have continued to worsen over the years. In fact, the past year has been the driest or second driest in most Southwestern states since record-keeping began in 1895. The worsening drought and warming western climate has led to record low levels in the Colorado River, the main source of water for much of the Southwest. Because the water is shared and the supply is dwindling, it’s important to bring up water rights. Today we’ll explore the impacts of the drought on the Colorado River and water rights with Eric Kuhn.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: John Jensenius 

Introduction:

When thunder roars, go indoors… You’ve all probably heard the saying, and I’m sure many of you have had your own close calls with this fearsome flash. This week is Lightning Safety Awareness Week, and today, we’re talking to the person who created this annual event! John Jensenius has spent his career keeping people safe as a meteorologist in the National Weather Service, and one of his legacies has been his work to educate and protect people from the dangers of lightning. Each year, lightning kills 49 people on average, so we’ll talk about the ways you can stay safe and even debunk some myths about lightning that may be putting you at risk. Now let’s begin what is sure to be an electric discussion!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Greg Postel

We’re only through the first couple weeks of the 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season, and we’ve already had a named storm, a tropical depression, and we’re now eyeing the Gulf of Mexico for development heading into the weekend!  Tropical cyclone forecasting has come a long way in recent decades, and there are even long-range signals we can monitor well ahead of time that show us where tropical activity could pick up. Today’s guest is Weather Channel Expert, Dr. Greg Postel, who is well versed in medium and long-range forecasting, as well as tropical cyclones. Our discussion will highlight what these signals are and how we can leverage them to alert local residents before a storm arrives.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Jared Rennie

Introduction:

Just as we do with the census, every ten years it’s time to update some things in the weather world. Among those are the climate averages we use in our almanac data. Today's guest is here to talk about our climate’s “New Normals” and help us understand what does that actually mean for us? Jared Rennie is a research meteorologist at the North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies and is here to provide some insight on the hows and whys on the need to update these averages.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Joe Moravsky, American Ninja Warrior

To become a meteorologist, it can take a lot of determination and strength with all of the math & science involved. One meteorologist has used this determination and strength to propel himself into a new career…..becoming an American Ninja Warrior! Today we’re joined by Joe Moravsky of the famed NBC TV series, and we’re going to discuss how he made this amazing leap from meteorologist to obstacle course champion. And it may come as no surprise to many of you, but on the show, he’s referred to as….The Weatherman!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Rick Knabb

Introduction:

With a new year comes a new hurricane season! Following a record-setting Atlantic hurricane season, it’s understandable that many Americans, especially those living along our coastlines, are afraid of what might be on the horizon in 2021. Today, we’re talking with our Weather Channel Hurricane Expert & former director of the National Hurricane Center, Dr. Rick Knabb. We’ll discuss the latest projections for the upcoming season, the recent changes instituted by the National Hurricane Center, and we’ll also go more in depth on how climate change may be affecting the tropics. This is sure to be a great discussion so let’s get started...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest:  Ada Monzón

Introduction:

The 2017 Hurricane Season was a memorable one for many in the Atlantic basin with 17 named storms, 10 hurricanes, and 6 major hurricanes. But, for Puerto Rico, it was especially memorable because of Hurricane Maria. The category 4 hurricane with winds of 155 mph pushed ashore near Yabucoa, Puerto Rico and became the deadliest and costliest hurricane in Puerto Rico’s history. Chief Meteorologist Ada Monzon covered the storm’s progression, landfall, and the lasting aftermath. Today we’ll explore the communication challenges she and others faced during and after the storm.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Neil Sahota

Introduction:

When we think about artificial intelligence, or A.I., what comes to mind for many folks are robots or even IBM’s Watson, which went head to head with some of Jeopardy’s greatest contestants on television among other things.. But what might not come to mind is how this branch of science and technology is being used to study weather and climate, and how these affect the global population. Our guest today is Neil Sahota, an IBM Master Inventor and United Nations Artificial Intelligence subject matter expert and we’re going to talk about how A.I. is being used to help study and better our planet.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Mike Chesterfield

Introduction:

Watch.. Warning… Advisory.. Special Weather Statement. For a lot of folks, especially the general public, weather alerts can get a bit confusing. In fact, an “Advisory” is cited as causing the most confusion among the public with a good portion thinking that an “advisory” is a downgrade from a “watch”, which isn’t the case. Our guest today is The Weather Channel’s own Senior Director of Weather Presentation, Mike Chesterfield. Mike’s been on the podcast before to discuss Immersive Realty and Weather Presentation at the Weather Channel, but today we’re going to dive into these changes that will be occurring with the National Weather Service’s alert system. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Susan Jasko

The purpose of a weather alert, whether it be a watch or warning is to reach the most people and save the most lives; but what if the message of those alerts isn't clear or causes confusion? That has been a concern of Meteorologists and Communication experts, and what sparked the reason for updating our current system. Our guest today is Dr. Susan Jasko, Senior Research Scientist at The University of Alabama . Today Dr. Jasko is here to talk about the importance of the communication side of the changes to the National Weather Service’s alert system.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Mark Torregrossa

Introduction:

    The Great Lakes account for 84% of North America’s surface freshwater, and millions of people across the region depend on these Lakes for water supplies, industry, travel, and recreation.  In recent years, these Lakes have seen a wide range of extremes from record high water levels to sudden, sharp declines, and it has been concerning local residents and officials.  Mark Terragrossa serves as the Chief Meteorologist for MLive.com in Michigan, and he’s been closely following the water levels in recent years.  We’ll discuss what factors may be at play here and how these changes could impact local communities and ecosystems.  

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Manuel De La Torre Juarez

On February 18, 2021, the world watched in amazement as the next generation of Mars Rovers set foot on the Red Planet.  Mars Perseverance is the vehicle that will venture out into the Martian desert to help create “the first weather network on another planet.” To explore the mission details of NASA’s latest rover, we’re sitting down with one of the experts, Dr. Manuel De La Torre Juarez of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. We’ll break down the suite of instruments on board that will help determine the day-today weather conditions and how those conditions may affect the future of human exploration. Get ready for an “out of this world” geek-out... 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Chris Vagasky

Introduction: The joy that fills sports fans' hearts as they loudly sing, “Take me out to the ballgame…” is almost palpable, but one thing that may not come to their mind is the threat lightning poses. We’ve seen the images of lighting bolts racing across the sky as fans hunker down in their seats, and this reminds us how deadly this phenomenon can be. Meteorologist Chris Vagasky, who is the Lightning Applications Manager at Vaisala, has dug through the data and found some shocking statistics for some of the league’s most popular stadiums. We’ll break down who’s most at risk for lighting and discuss how his research is being used to improve MLB’s weather safety policies. Get your peanuts & join us for the discussion...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Kerry Emanuel

Climate science and threats from climate change have been hot topics of conversation among the public as well as business and political leaders. But there seems to be a disparity in how climate scientists view what’s causing this change and how the public understands and feels about the issue. This ultimately hampers efforts to improve the scientific field around climate and to develop effective solutions and policies to mitigate risks. Our guest today is working to bridge that gap in understanding. Kerry Emanual is the author of Climate Science and Climate Risk: A Primer. We’ll discuss what the motivation was for authoring this book on climate science as well as what he learned from the process and how we can help promote understanding on climate science and how it’s affecting our world.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Brian McNoldy, University of Miami

A lot of us have grown accustomed to extreme weather events after watching them occur year after year, like tornadoes and hurricanes. But underneath it all, we know our earth is changing. Our hurricanes may look and feel the same way they did 100 years ago, but our rising sea levels are making the impacts to human life and property much worse. Senior Research Associate at the University of Miami Brian McNoldy has been studying this relationship and how it will affect one of the country’s largest population centers in Miami, Florida.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Sean Potter

Every big idea or organization has to get its start somewhere and the National Weather Service is no exception! More than 150 years ago, Congress established the U.S Weather Bureau in 1870, which would go on to eventually become the National Weather Service we know today. Our guest today dug into the life of the man who would become known as the Father of the National Weather Service. Sean Potter is the author of Too Near for Dreams, The Story of Cleveland Abbe, America's First Weather Forecaster. We’ll discuss Abbe’s life and passion as well as what motivated Sean to dive into the world of writing in addition to being a meteorologist..

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Matt Lanza

Introduction: Texas just experienced one of the worst weather disasters in its history as temperatures plunged into a deep freeze. All-time cold temperature records were broken, sub-freezing streaks set new records, and the energy industry learned some very hard lessons. Houston is no stranger to extreme weather, and they were hit particularly hard with this event too. Today’s guest, Meteorologist Matt Lanza, was directly affected by the weather as his family was left without power. He joins us today to discuss the range of extreme weather conditions the Space City has seen through the years, and we’ll get his perspective on forecasting for day-to-day and extreme weather events for the region. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Valerie Trouet

Forests can offer us picturesque views, but did you know they also offer us a look at the past? Why is that important? To better understand our climate, we need to study the past, and inspecting tree rings is a great way to do that! We’re ringing in the new year by talking to Valerie Trouet from the University of Arizona. She uses tree rings to study past climates, forest ecosystems, atmospheric circulation patterns and more. We’ll discuss what tree rings can actually tell us about our planet’s history and how we can use that to protect future generations.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Genevieve Guenther

Introduction: 

Climate change and its impacts are becoming a regular part of conversations among scientists and even the general public at large, but are we giving it the true attention it deserves? Should the media be doing a complete overhaul of how they tackle this issue? Today we’re talking with Dr. Genevieve Guenther, founder of End Climate Silence, who’s working to change how we talk about extreme weather and its connections to climate change in both the media and in our daily lives. With the majority of Americans now wanting to learn more about climate change, there’s never been a more opportune time to educate and call people to action.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Jim Coker, EMA Director

Today’s guest has spent his life serving the Alabama community through multiple branches of law enforcement, and now, he’s taking that experience to the office of emergency management. Jim Coker is the Emergency Management Agency Director for Jefferson County, Alabama, and we’re sitting down with him to discuss the effectiveness of outdoor sirens when severe weather is approaching. We’ve heard countless stories of how people did or didn’t hear sirens before being hit by a tornado, but should an OUTDOOR siren be their main warning sign? Let’s discuss...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Zack Labe

Remember when you were anxiously awaiting your report card? It’s very likely that these events were met with mixed emotions as you awaited the results. Well when it comes to grading the health of the Arctic, we should be nervous. This region of the world is seeing some of the worst impacts from climate change, and today, we’re chatting with one of the report’s authors, Climate & Atmospheric Scientist Zachary Labe who specializes in Arctic ice conditions. He’ll reveal some of the alarming results from the latest report, and we’ll discuss what the declining health of the Arctic means for the future of our planet.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: David Pogue

One of the major topics when discussing meteorology is climate change, and we’ve certainly heard a great deal about it over the past decade. With destructive Western wildfires and stronger hurricanes, it seems climate change manages to become a major part of the conversation, and rightly so. Today we are talking with author David Pogue, who wants us to know how to prepare for the effects of climate change in our personal lives. From planning your diet, to personal investments, to how to build and fortify your home, and even how to talk to your kids about climate change, his new book outlines it all. Let’s dig in...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest:  Deanna Apps, Detroit District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Introduction:

When you hear people discussing rising water levels, you probably only think of SEA-level rise. But what about LAKE-level rise? Today’s guest is Deanna Apps, a Physical Scientist with the Detroit District of the U.S Army Corps of Engineers. She analyzes and forecasts water levels in the Great Lakes and produces weekly and monthly forecasts. As the region continues experiencing record water levels, we’ll ask her about the factors at play and how local agencies are working to mitigate impacts like coastal flooding and erosion. Let’s discuss...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Ashton Robinson Cook

Weather forecasting has made leaps and bounds in recent decades, and it’s hard to remember a time when we couldn’t get the latest forecast update with just a swipe of the finger on our phone.  But wouldn’t it be great if we could get an idea of what to expect MONTHS in advance? Well, you’re in luck because today we’re talking with Dr. Ashton Robinson Cook who has been a pioneer in understanding and improving seasonal forecasts, especially those for tornadoes.  We’ll find out how these forecasts are made and how events like La Nina and El Nino can affect them. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Phil Klotzbach, Colorado State University

If you are a purveyor of weather twitter, this man needs no introduction! Odds are you have seen at least one of his incredible and easily digestible hurricane stats during this past hurricane season as well. Today’s episode is with Dr. Phil Klotzbach from Colorado State University! We are going to discuss this monumental hurricane season and all of the records that it shattered. We will also talk about Dr. Klotzbach’s seasonal forecasts from CSU that he championed after the legendary Dr. William Gray’s passing. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Mike Bettes

2020 was, to put it lightly, an insane year.  Mother Nature didn’t care about a global pandemic either, as she lashed out during every single season.  From deadly tornadoes in the Spring, to raging wildfires in the summer, to a record number of tropical cyclones, to finally ending the year with a bonafide nor’easter!  Phew…  Well, I’ve got someone with me today who was in the studio talking about all of these events this year: The Weather Channel’s Mike Bettes!  We are going to go down the list to discuss the weather events that shaped our 2020. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Brian Cizek, Launch Weather Officer, 45th Weather Squadron

With new frontiers developing in spaceflight, it’s more important than ever to make sure we get the forecast right. There are many variables meteorologists have to monitor: cloud cover, precipitation chances, even cloud height and electric potential! To make sure every launch goes off without a hitch, you need a team of skilled, dedicated forecasters like those found at the 45th Weather Squadron. Today we’re happy to welcome Brian Cizek who serves as a launch weather officer. He’ll offer us an inside look at how these forecasts are made and why they need to be so accurate. Let’s get started in T minus 3...2...1...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Juliane Gross, Rutgers

Like searching for needles in a haystack, searching for meteorites on Earth is not an easy feat! How about searching for those meteorites while in the frigid wasteland of Antarctica? Well that is what my guest today did this past winter! Dr. Juliane Gross is an associate professor at Rutgers University and she studies the formation and evolution of the planets in our solar system. What do meteorites in the Antarctic have to do with her research? We are going to find out about that plus what living in the true frozen tundra is like!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Paul Pisano

Introduction: Ground transportation is something we all deal with on a daily basis, whether it’s in our cars, on a bus, or the subway. Navigating poor road conditions during inclement weather can be very treacherous, but new technologies and innovating thinking are working to keep people safe. Today we’re joined by Paul Pisano from the Road Weather Committee of the Transportation Research Board. Paul understands that ground transportation infrastructure is a vital asset that can’t be neglected.  With extreme weather conditions becoming more prevalent, we must ensure that the meteorological & transportation communities are working together to pave the way for smarter, safer, and more sustainable methods of travel.  

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Mike Nelson

Introduction:

Have you been struggling to understand climate change and what it means for you and your family?  What if I told you that in just 10 easy steps, YOU would be able to understand our Earth's changing climate?  Well today, we’re talking to meteorologist and author Mike Nelson who has written the book that answers those questions.  Mike Nelson has spent more than 40 years serving his local community as a broadcast meteorologist, and his work has helped revolutionize the industry.  We’ll discuss his amazing career and the journey that led to his writing this book.  Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing our world today, and it’s important to have a messenger like Mike to help people understand how it works and how we can work together to reverse its effects.  

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Mike Eilts

Introduction:

When you hear the name, Mike Eilts, a few words may come to mind: storm chaser, atmospheric scientist, journal author, entrepreneur, pioneer of weather radar...and they’re all right! Today, we’re pleased to welcome Mike Eilts who currently serves as the Vice President of the Weather Business Unit at the Data Transmission Network, or DTN. His impressive career spans nearly 4 decades, and his innovative thinking has helped both government agencies and private companies to better serve their respective communities and clients.  We’ll discuss his early contributions to severe weather forecasting and verification, and we’ll also learn about his companies’ visions of using big data solutions to provide weather analytics and improved hazardous weather prediction to customers across the globe.  

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Eric Jay Dolin, Ph.D.

Introduction: 

Over the past several decades, the way we consume weather information and receive our latest forecasts has been revolutionized.  Millions of people can tune in to watch The Weather Channel during an impending tornado outbreak or approaching hurricane. With all this information so readily at our fingertips, it’s easy to forget how far we’ve come in our knowledge of weather and how it can shape our future. Today’s guest hasn’t forgotten the past. In fact, he loves to write about it… We’re excited to welcome best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin who has authored 14 books and more than 60 articles.  Today we’ll be discussing his latest book, A Furious Sky: The 500-Year History of America’s Hurricanes, and we’ll learn what his inspiration has been for his many acclaimed works. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Craig Clements, SJSU Fire Weather Research Laboratory

Introduction:

We’ve seen a record number of acres of beautiful countryside go up in flames in 2020, and we’re not done yet. In recent years, many across the West have seen some of the deadliest & most destructive wildfires that our country has ever experienced. Whether they have been accelerated by climate change or extreme drought conditions, there is no denying that millions of lives have been changed forever as these millions of acres are scorched beyond repair. Today on the show, we are talking with someone who wants this trend to stop and wants to forecast the wildfires before they cause their destruction. His name is Dr. Craig Clements from the SJSU Fire Weather Research Lab in California and we are so excited to sit down with him today...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Margaret Crane, Child Psychologist

Introduction: 

I have had many Meteorologists come on this show and when I ask them how they got a passion for weather, a good number of them were scared of Mother Nature’s wrath at a young age. But that fear catapulted them into a passion for learning about the science behind what is happening in the sky. However, for some people, that fear doesn’t turn into passion and could even develop into a phobia. My guest today is Margaret Crane, who is a psychology PhD student specializing in anxiety disorders like storm phobias.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest:  Dr. Jamese Sims, NOAA Senior Physical Scientist

Artificial Intelligence…or AI... When you hear that term, it’s likely that your mind is flooded with images from the latest Sci-Fi flick you’ve seen, or maybe you have visions of robots taking over the world!  Well fear not, because the AI we’re focusing on today revolves around its applications to meteorology and earth sciences. We’re sitting down with Dr. Jamese Sims, senior physical scientist with NOAA, who currently serves as the agency’s Special Assistant for Artificial Intelligence.  We’ll discuss the goals of NOAA’s AI strategy and how we can use machine learning to help improve everything from numerical forecasts to interpreting the chemistry of exoplanets!  And with all the opportunities AI has to offer, we’ll discuss how agencies are working together to access the latest technology and greatest minds to help us achieve our goals.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: John Lanier

Introduction:

As geeks, we can do a lot to help out our environment by doing little things like using less water while brushing our teeth or using reusable bags instead of plastic bags while at the grocery store.  But as individuals, it is hard for us to make a large impact on the well-being of the entire globe!  That is where businesses and corporations can step in to be leaders in combating climate change!  The Ray C. Anderson Foundation is based on the values of creating a better world for tomorrow’s child through encouraging businesses to take action.  John Lanier is the Executive Director of RCAF and we are going to talk about his family ties to this wonderful foundation.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest:  Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz

Introduction: If you were to ask a meteorologist who their top 3 superheroes are, odds are X-Men’s Storm would be on that list. Sure, that may be because of Halle Berry’s portrayal of her in the movies, but mainly because she has the ability to harness the power of the weather and use it at her will! What would YOU do if you could control the weather? Would you make it rain on the house of your high school bully everyday, or keep the sun shining bright while you are on vacation on the beach? My guest today is the legendary Glenn “Hurricane” Schwartz of NBC10 in Philadelphia who wrote a book about this fictional power and the consequences that can arise from it...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest:  Nelly Carreño, KUVN

Introduction: For those of you who are hurricane buffs like us, you know where they tend to form and where they track: they either are born from a tropical wave off Africa and cross through the Caribbean OR form within the Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico.  In these areas, there is a much higher population of people who speak only Spanish while the majority of the products that the National Hurricane Center puts out are in English.  This puts a lot of pressure on our bilingual meteorologists in the community, like my guest today, to communicate the science accurately and quickly.  I’m (virtually) sitting down with Nelly Carreño from Univision in Dallas Fort Worth to discuss these challenges and what changes can be made for the future.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Troy Kimmel

Introduction: The state of Texas has many different microclimates, from the deserts in West Texas to the flood-prone grasslands of Houston to the raging heat in South Texas. How about the weather right in the middle of the state’s hill country? Austin, Texas is an eclectic city that is growing in popularity and population...but my guest today has been there for decades! Troy Kimmel is a well-known broadcast meteorologist for the city and has dedicated his life to enhancing Austin’s weather knowledge and natural disaster support.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Gavin Schmidt, Director of NASA GISS

Introduction:

NASA scientists aren’t just focused on OUTER space. They’re also focused on the INNER workings of our atmosphere, oceans, and how each has evolved over time. As past discussions on our show have confirmed, one aspect of our world we know is changing is our climate. Today we’re joined by Dr. Gavin Schmidt, Director of NASA Goddard’s Institute for Space Studies. He’s been at the forefront of climate research, using models to see how our planet has changed over centuries and how it may keep changing for centuries to come. To model a more accurate picture of our planet’s future, we must take a look at the past and understand the impacts that both internal & external forces have had. What kinds of forces, you ask? Well, let’s find out...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Bill Bauman, FAA

Introduction: With more than 5 MILLION square miles of U.S. Domestic airspace and 24 MILLION square miles of U.S. Oceanic Airspace to cover, it’s easy to see how important weather observation and forecasting are to aviation. The FAA is in the midst of a massive modernization of its air traffic management systems, and you can bet, a major focus of this overhaul includes minimizing the impacts of day-to-day weather on flight operations. Today, we welcome the manager of the FAA’s Aviation Weather Division, Dr. Bill Bauman, whose industry experience spans nearly 4 decades! Please put your trays and seat backs in the upright position, and get ready for an inside look at the next generation of the FAA!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. William McDowell, University of New Hampshire

Ecology is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans like you and me, and their physical environment. It seeks to understand the vital connections between plants and animals and the world around them! So why am I giving you a lesson on ecology in this episode of Weather Geeks? Well, what if I told you that hurricanes have a large impact on our ecology?! That is what my guest Dr. William McDowell from the University of New Hampshire is here to teach us all about. Unlike with flash flooding and storm surge, we may not know the direct impacts a storm has on our ecosystem until we are many months or even years down the road!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Special Tropical Edition - Tracking Laura

Weather Geeks host Dr. Marshall Shepherd and Meteorologist & The Weather Channel's Dr. Rick Knabb discuss the latest forecast and impacts expected from Hurricane Laura threatening the Gulf Coast of the U.S.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Jamie Rhome, NHC Storm Surge Unit

Storm surge…a tropical cyclone’s most deadly threat… Many may recall images that flooded news outlets in 2018 following Category 5 Hurricane Michael after it sent a nearly 15-foot wall of water into the seaside town of Mexico Beach, FL. If you’ve experienced storm surge, you know how quickly a hurricane can send a wall of water rushing into homes and businesses, washing away lives and livelihoods. Today, we’re joined by Jamie Rhome, leader of the Storm Surge Unit at the National Hurricane Center. Jamie will offer us an inside look to the inner-workings of this life-saving agency and its critical forecasts we depend upon. If you’ve ever heard the phrase, “Hide from the wind, run from the water,” today’s discussion will make you understand why...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Weather Geeks host Dr. Marshall Shepherd and Meteorologist & Weather Geeks Producer Sarah Dillingham discuss the latest forecast and impacts expected from Hurricane Laura threatening the Gulf Coast of the U.S.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Special Tropical Edition - Tracking Laura and Marco

Weather Geeks host Dr. Marshall Shepherd and Meteorologist & Weather Geeks Producer Sarah Dillingham discuss the latest forecast and impacts expected from the duo of tropical systems Laura and Marco threatening the Gulf Coast of the U.S.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Steve Poupos

Introduction:

When disaster strikes, establishing a reliable communication network is critical!  Someone who knows all too well about that is Steve Poupos, Director of AT&T’s Emergency Management Preparedness & Response.  This emergency response team has been aiding disaster communications for nearly 30 years, and that kind of effort certainly requires an experienced team of meteorologists, technicians, and first responders. We’ll learn about the inner workings of the recovery teams and how they’re able to spring into action at a moment’s notice. And as many of may have been wondering, we’ll discuss how they’re planning to adapt their team’s response during this global pandemic, as they gear up for what could be a very busy hurricane season...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest:  Sean Swarner, Mountain Climber & Cancer Survivor

Introduction:

The odds that you will ever find yourself in the middle of a snowstorm in Miami, Florida are slim to none.  Those are the same odds that young Sean Swarner had to survive when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer TWICE.  He survived and wanted to seize the life that he was lucky to still have.  Since then, he has climbed the highest peaks on all 7 continents, among other feats...while only having one lung.  We are talking to him today about the grueling environments he was subjected to while pushing the human body to impossible limits.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests:  Richard Henning & Kevin Doremus, Hurricane Hunters

As we’ve highlighted nearly a hundred of times on this podcast, there is a lot more to meteorology than what you see on TV!  A meteorologist can work in insurance, they can work for NASA, and they can work for airlines just to name a few.  But one of the most important and dangerous jobs that is in the field of meteorology is that of a Hurricane Hunter.  These brave men and women fly into the eye of a hurricane multiple times a day in order to bring back data that can help save lives.  I have two of these men with me today, Richard Henning & Kevin Doremus, so we can get an in-depth look at the life of a Hurricane Hunter through their eyes...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Have you ever heard someone say that they know a storm is coming because their joints start aching or they have a migraine?  Well there is a scientific basis to that, but what about general pain receptors during common weather patterns?  In past decades, it was difficult to answer such a general science question...but it’s not anymore!  Today’s guest is Dr. David Schultz from the University of Manchester to talk about his study and how smartphones helped his team complete their research!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The racial injustices experienced by millions of Americans have been brought to greater attention in recent weeks.  Among those Americans are members of our scientific community who have endured their own instances of racial discrimination along their paths to success.  Many have felt marginalized, placated, and that they are often not being offered the same opportunities as many of their fellow white colleagues. Joining me today are 3 incredibly talented atmospheric scientists: Dr. Brad Johnson, Dr. Melissa Burt, and Tevin Wooten .  While we each have had great achievements in our careers, we have still felt the added pressures of working twice as hard to be considered equals in our respective fields. Our goal in this discussion is to share the stories of our personal challenges throughout our careers and offer a guide for others to know they are not alone. The Weather Geeks team is proud to offer their support to our minority colleagues and show that by embracing diversity and inclusion, we can be a stronger scientific community.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest : Dr. Andrew Grundstein, UGA

Introduction:

Many of us have seen first-hand the impacts weather can have on our daily lives, and today we’re going to focus on the dangers associated with heat and thunderstorms. Heat related illnesses are often underrated and sadly, this can lead to many trips to the emergency room...or worse. Today’s guest, Dr. Andrew Grundstein of the University of Georgia, has been focusing on one particular aspect of the heat: how it impacts athletes and children in hot cars. These situations can lead to dozens of deaths each year, so we’re going to discuss the meteorological and even some of the psychological factors at play in these events. Finally, we’ll discuss the impacts of thunderstorms on asthma...an idea which may be counterintuitive to many of you...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Greg Dusek, NOAA Ocean Service

The oceans hold more than 96% of the Earth’s water, and it’s the motions of those oceans we’re focusing on today!  As people hit the beaches, many are unaware of underlying dangers lurking close to shore, and we’re not talking about JAWS…  We’re talking about RIP CURRENTS, which lead to some 30,000 rescues EACH YEAR!  Today’s guest is Dr. Greg Dusek, Senior Scientist at NOAA’s National Ocean Service, and he knows all about rip currents.  We’ll discuss how to spot these hazards and how you can break the grip of the rip. We also couldn’t let Greg get away without discussing a few other topics, so if you’re already wondering what a meteotsunami is...we’ll get to those later. Let’s dive in!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Daniel Swain

Introduction: 

If you’re not from California, what is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of its weather?  Severe droughts?  Constant wildfires?  75 and sunny every single day?  In any given year, those could all be correct!  But what about over the past 30 years to create a climate normal?  That’s where our guest today comes in… Dr. Daniel Swain is a climate scientist at UCLA and he’s been researching California’s weather patterns and finding the connections with our changing climate. From atmospheric rivers of moisture to raging wildfires, we’ll discuss why California and the West are so susceptible to these phenomena, and we’ll reveal the challenges that can come from studying these diverse, beautiful landscapes. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Aaron Bernstein, Harvard University

Introduction:  We all know that climate change has been detrimental to the health of our Earth, with increased deforestation and melting ice caps. But what about our own health? Or our children’s health? My guest today is Dr. Aaron Bernstein from Harvard University, who focuses on the health impacts of the climate crisis on children’s health and advancing solutions to address its causes to improve the health and wellbeing of children around the world. We are going to discuss this issue, especially related to our current COVID-19 pandemic and how that disease has a connection to our changing climate.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Marc Collins Chen, Oceanix

Introduction:  When a hurricane is fast approaching, experts always say that you have to fear the water, whether it’s rain coming down from the sky or the surge from the ocean or the flood from the rivers. What if I told you that my guest today has created a concept that would make you flock to the water and live a safer life from hurricanes? Marc Collins Chen is the CEO of Oceanix, a company that builds floating structures that can hold up to thousands of residents. Could Oceanix’s plan be the future of hurricane and climate change protection?

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Adam Sobel, Columbia University

Introduction:  

Most of the time when we bring someone on to Weather Geeks, they have a certain niche or a specific craft or an interesting line of research to discuss with us. But today, I have a guest with me who does it all! Dr. Adam Sobel is a professor of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics and of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University. He teaches everything from tropical meteorology to climate thermodynamics to differential equations, so he’s certainly going to teach us Geeks a thing or two... about a thing or two! 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Ryan Stauffer, NASA

Introduction:  

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how we all live our lives, both in the present and in the future. We’ve all been stuck in our homes and adopted teleworking techniques in order to reduce as much time as possible with other people that may be sick. With these changes, we have noticed some positive impacts to our environment, including animals flocking to places they normally don’t and improved air quality in major cities. Today we’ve brought in Dr. Ryan Stauffer from NASA to discuss how this quarantine has impacted our current pollution output and how it is modeled out in the future.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Ivona Cetinic, NASA Oceanographer

Introduction: 

NASA does a lot more than mapping our solar system...they have also been mapping our oceans for over 20 years! The ocean is extremely important in our Earth’s health, circulation, and economy, so it is equally as important that our ocean is in good health too! In 2022, NASA will be launching the PACE mission, which stands for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem, to further advance their understanding of our oceanic and atmospheric health. Today’s guest is Ivona Cetinic, who is the project science lead for Ocean Biogeochemistry on this mission and has devoted her entire career to better understanding our world’s oceans.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Bernadette Woods - Placky

Introduction:

The proper communication of climate science is just as important as communicating it at all! In an ever-changing world, keeping up with communication techniques is extremely important. The intersection of television and science has never been more vital than today! On this episode, we’re joined by Bernadette Woods Placky, Chief Meteorologist and Climate Matters program director, a division of Climate Central. As an Emmy Award winning on-camera-meteorologist Placky, can help us fully understand the line between proper and poor climate communication techniques!  

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Stephen Strader, Villanova University

Introduction:

Hurricane Harvey...Hurricane Dorian...the deadly Camp Fire...the devastating Super Tornado Outbreak of 2011… These disasters likely bring to mind the powerful images you saw from communities hardest hit by these extreme weather events. In a world with an increasing number of disasters, it’s becoming more apparent that we need to work to understand our own vulnerabilities so we can prevent future disasters. Today’s guest is Dr. Stephen Strader, Assistant Professor of Geography and the Environment at Villanova University. In addition to his knowledge of the atmosphere, his work also focuses on the hazards and risks associated with extreme weather. We’ll discuss the various tools he uses to determine areas at risk, as well as ways we can understand and prepare our society to reduce future effects of disasters. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Stephen Nesbitt, University of Illinois

Introduction:

Today we’re happy to welcome Professor Stephen Nesbitt from the University of Illinois. Dr. Nesbitt has his hands in a variety of projects & research interests, including mesoscale and cloud dynamics, radar and satellite meteorology, and tropical meteorology. His extensive field research has taken him to 5 continents for more than 20 field campaigns! One such project required his team to travel to Argentina & Brazil to study some of Mother Nature’s fiercest thunderstorms. We’ll also learn more about the great Atmospheric Science program at Illinois and learn about new and exciting projects he has planned in the future.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Marilyn Brown, Georgia Tech 

Introduction: 

The word “drawdown” is used in multiple fields, from banking to investing, but for today’s episode, the most important use of the word is in climatology. Climate drawdown is the point at which greenhouse gas concentrations begin to decline on a year-to-year basis in order to reach carbon neutrality. The United States still has to take many steps in order to achieve drawdown, but there are many teams of brilliant scientists across the country that are putting solutions on the table to make this goal attainable. One of those brilliant scientists is my guest today, Dr. Marilyn Brown from Georgia Tech.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Harold Brooks, NSSL

Introduction: 

The United States is known to produce some of nature’s most severe weather as it allows for just the right ingredients to come together.  As extreme weather becomes a more common occurrence, many have begged the question: Will we see more severe storms and even tornadoes as our world continues to warm?  Today’s guest is Dr. Harold Brooks of the National Severe Storms Research Lab, and his research seeks to help answer this very question. His extensive background in severe weather has offered him the opportunity to study these changing trends in tornadoes and severe storms in recent decades. While storms may be getting worse, the exact answers of what we can expect in the future are more complicated than you think. Let’s dive in!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dan Lindsey, GOES-R Program Scientist 

Introduction: While the debate of “model wars” continues into the new decade, the satellite technology that the United States has advanced over the years is second-to-none! Being able to see the atmosphere from a top-down view has changed the way that meteorologists around the world can forecast the daily weather. They can see where severe storms are to provide up-to-the-second forecasts in order to keep people safe. One of the men behind these great satellites is here with me today. Dan Lindsey is a research scientist at NOAA and he was at the forefront of one of the latest major satellite launches, the GOES-16 geostationary satellite.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Michael Kane, Water Resources Engineer

Introduction: Hydrology is the study of the movement, distribution and management of water on Earth, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. Hydrologists work with other scientists to investigate how water impacts their respective fields, so meteorologists and hydrologists have a special relationship. Meteorologists focus on the water coming down from the sky, and the hydrologists focus on what that water will impact when it hits the ground and where it will end up. What happens when there is too much water and flooding ensues? Hydrologist Michael Kane is my guest today and we are going to talk about that...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. Peter Bauer, ECMWF Deputy Director of Research & Head of the Scalability Programme

Introduction: I need more power…!! Computing power that is. This has been a major focus for numerical weather prediction in hopes of creating more accurate and detailed predictions of Earth’s systems. The highly touted European Model has long been one of the leaders in numerical weather prediction performance. As the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) prepares to integrate the next generation of supercomputers, model efficiency may suffer as more data is computed at higher resolutions. Current processing capabilities and codes are not adapted to meet these needs. Today’s guest, Dr. Peter Bauer, will outline how they are working with meteorological modellers, computer scientists and hardware providers to make sure the EURO is ready for this upgrade. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guests: Greg Kopp & David Sills, Western University 

Intro: 

While severe weather prediction continues to improve here in the United States, a nearby neighbor is currently deep into their most comprehensive tornado study ever! As we travel north of the border to our neighbors in Canada, the team at Western University is conducting the Northern Tornadoes Project, or NTP. This project seeks to have profound impacts on tornado and severe weather prediction across the forecasting community, both nationally and internationally. Today on Weather Geeks, we’re joined by the two project leads at Western University; Greg Kopp who is the lead researcher, and David Stills, the executive director on the project. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Kim Klockow-McClain

Broadcast meteorologists are often the face of severe weather as they are the first people we see when severe weather is expected. However, there is a larger network of people from broadcasters, to emergency managers, law enforcement officers, and state and local officials who must work together to best serve the community before and after a disaster. Today’s guest is Kim Klockow-McClain, a societal impacts researcher from the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS). Her focus is to gather and share the human stories that unfold during severe weather events, and with each interaction, she strives to learn how our network of communicators can improve the warning-decision process.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dail St. Claire: Daughter of the June Bacon-Bercey, the 1st African-American Female TV Meteorologist

Introduction: If I were to ask a room full of meteorologists who their role model was, I am sure that a handful of them would say the late June Bacon-Bercey. She was the first African-American female television meteorologist, and with that achievement, she broke MANY barriers. In a time where most of the women giving the weather reports in the morning weren’t trained in meteorology in the slightest, June was determined to follow her passion and that is why she is recognized to this very day. Today I have her wonderful daughter Dail St. Claire with me today so we can celebrate her mother’s legacy...

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Introduction:  A lot of people choose to live in a certain place based on how the winters are. If you love wearing big comfy sweaters and playing out in the snow, odds are you live in the midwestern or northeastern United States. If you would rather turn on your heat for only a couple days in the season and enjoy the occasional chilly, rainy day, then you’d love the south! Regardless of the region, scientists have developed a method that can measure how severe the winter has been where you live. It is called the Accumulated Winter Season Severity Index, and I have the co-creator Dr. Barb Mayes Boustead here with me today to discuss it!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Introduction:  As Weather Geeks, we know that the climate is changing and the Earth has needs that it wants to meet. As human beings, we are also changing and our bodies and minds have needs that they want met as well. Both of these sets of needs cannot be ignored or else there will be ramifications down the line. Scientists who are tasked with tackling and researching climate change are starting to experience mental and emotional health issues, because of all the pressures that this monumental event brings. My guest today is Susanne Moser, who is shedding light on these issues, along with the personal challenges that being an on-camera meteorologist in this current age brings.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest:  Keith Stellman, Meteorologist-in-Charge NWS Atlanta

Intro:The National Weather Service is a lot more than the blaring alerts on your TV when there is a tornado warning in your area or the notifications on your phone about the severe thunderstorm watch issued for your state. The NWS operates over 120 weather forecast offices across the country and each office is constantly issuing local public, marine, aviation, fire, and hydrology forecasts 24/7! The NWS never sleeps because the weather itself never sleeps, and I’m sure my next guest can attest to many sleepless nights on the job. Keith Stellman is the Meteorologist-in-Charge for NWS Atlanta/Peachtree City, and as I know personally, this area rarely has a dull weather day! 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Guest: Dr. David Peterson, NASA/Naval Research Lab

As millions of acres have been ablaze across Australia in recent weeks, those wildfires have formed incredible smoke plumes that tower thousands of feet into the atmosphere. These “pyrocumulonimbus clouds” can transport massive amounts of smoke and ash into the sky, and some of that smoke has even been found to have circled the globe! Today’s guest is Dr. David Peterson from the Naval Research Lab, and his research focuses on the far-reaching impacts these monster clouds can have, including how they generate their own weather! We’ll discuss what techniques he uses to observe these events and whether or not we can expect more events in a warming climate. 

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Intro:  With the increasing number of climate change impacts being seen across the globe, it is becoming apparent that not all communities are affected equally. Today’s guest has dedicated his career to being a champion for at-risk populations facing environmental challenges, and has even been lauded as the Father of Environmental Justice. Dr. Robert Bullard is an award-winning author and also serves as a Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy at Texas Southern University. We’ll discuss how his work aims to bring attention to such humanitarian crises and how we can work together to secure the environmental health and resilience of all communities being affected by extreme weather.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.