Weather Geeks

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

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Guest: Rick Smith, Warning Coordination Meteorologist for NWS Norman

If you feel it, chase it! That is the tagline for one of the biggest movies of the summer and probably the biggest weather movie of the decade: Twisters. After the initial geek out took place, we were left with a lot of questions! Did it live up to its predecessor Twister, which inspired meteorologists all across the country to pursue their passion? Will we see a brand new wave of Kates and Tylers in the coming decades? Before we think too far ahead, we’ve got to break down the SCIENCE in the film, and who better to do that with than Rick Smith, the Warning Coordination Meteorologist at NWS Norman…

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction to Twisters and Rick Smith
• 09:14 Involvement with the Movie Twisters
• 23:12 Accuracy of Science in Twisters
• 34:02 Weather Modification and Taming Tornadoes
• 36:42 The Future of Twisters and Potential Sequels

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Guest: Dr. Jessica Murfree, Assistant Professor at UNC Chapel Hill

The biggest event in the sporting world is taking place in Paris this summer! The Olympics brings in hundreds of athletes and even more spectators from all across the world from so many different backgrounds and ideologies. How do all of these minds come together not just to compete, but also think about our environment and climate as they do so? We have sports ecologist Dr. Jessica Murfree here on the show today to talk about the unique intersection of sports, our changing climate, and extreme weather events, and how that intersection can make all of us more future-thinking so we can go for the gold!

Chapters

00:00 Introduction: Exploring the Intersection of Sports, Weather, and Climate

09:51 Understanding Sports Ecology: The Study of Relationships Between Sports and the Natural Environment

15:49 The Environmental Challenges of the Olympics: Heat and Climate Change

21:23 Adapting Sports to Climate Change: Considerations for Spectators and Infrastructure

25:47 The Impact of Climate Change on Sports: Spectator Experience and Adaptation

36:10 Rethinking Infrastructure and Practices: How Climate Change is Shaping Major Sports Leagues

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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…

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Guest: Dr. Shepherd & the Creators of Weather Geeks

As long as there has been weather, we have had weather geeks. Before we had the radar to see storms from different layers and the satellites to see hurricanes from space, the fascination of weather has always been there. But only for the past 10 years has there been a Weather Geeks show; first starting as a half-hour geek out on The Weather Channel and now a podcast that you’re listening to wherever you are! And since the beginning, Dr. Marshall Shepherd from the University of Georgia has been your host and he’s sitting down with us to reminisce and regale about the past 10 years of Weather Geeks…

Chapters

• 00:00 The Fascination of Weather Geeks
• 02:14 Bitten by the Weather Bug
• 04:28 Creating a Meet the Press for Weather
• 05:07 The Reluctant Host
• 10:39 The Evolution of Hosting
• 16:17 Fascinating Guests
• 21:39 Geeking Out with Ginger Zee and Janice Hough
• 22:05 A Place to Geek Out
• 22:42 The Value of Weather Geeks in the Weathergeek Community
• 24:21 Challenges and Surprises of Hosting a TV Show
• 26:33 Influencing Teaching Strategies through Weather Geeks
• 29:03 The Future of Weather Geeks: AI, Social Sciences, and Immersive Mixed Reality
• 31:27 Exploring the Fascination of Weather with Weather Geeks

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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

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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

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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!

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Guest: Dr. Dawn Wright, United States Science Envoy

One of the greatest joys in being a scientist is passing your knowledge onto others, whether that is esteemed colleagues on the other side of a breakthrough or young minds that are infatuated with the field. Sometimes, passing that knowledge takes us out of our comfort zone and into other fields, and even other countries! Our guest today is one of the newly selected Science Envoys for the United States, where she will be sharing her wealth of knowledge while also collaborating and barrier-breaking along the way. Dr. Dawn Wright is an esteemed oceanographer with wondrous stories to tell us about her journeys to the bottom of the sea, and she joins us on the Weather Geeks podcast…

Chapters

1. 00:00 Introduction and Background of Dr. Dawn Wright
2. 18:28 The Importance of Ocean Mapping and Seabed 2030
3. 28:16 Becoming a Science Envoy for Ocean Sustainability
4. 34:35 Establishing Centers of Excellence
5. 46:51 Taking Responsibility for Protecting the Ocean

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Guest: Dr. Jason Senkbeil, Associate Professor at the University of Alabama

Hurricane season is rapidly approaching! Many elements that go into a busy tropical season, like warm SST’s and the ENSO phase, already have forecasters worried that we could have a blockbuster season. I’m sure a lot of us Weather Geeks are prepared for what that could entail, but is the rest of the general public ready? And today we’re not talking about prep kits or boarded up windows, we’re talking about how the public understands the risks that they are under during a landfalling tropical cyclone. Let’s discuss that and many more topics with the University of Alabama’s Dr. Jason Senkbeil…

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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

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Guest: Dr. Paul Markowski, Penn State

We are in the throes of the springtime severe season and even as we transition to summer, the potential for supercells and tornadoes doesn’t slow down. In fact, the severe risk moves more from the Central Plains and into the Eastern states…and that’s where we find today’s guest! Dr. Paul Markowski is the Head of the Meteorology and Atmospheric Science Department at Penn State and an expert in tornado research. You will be surprised with how many papers he’s written on aspects of tornadoes you’ve probably never even heard of! We’ve also got Dr. Greg Postel on the show today so we can have an all-encompassing tornado geek out!

Chapters

1. 00:00 Introduction to the Guest and Topic
2. 01:26 How Dr. Paul Markowski Became Interested in Weather
3. 05:51 Dr. Markowski's Journey in Meteorology
4. 06:19 Dr. Markowski's Career at Penn State
5. 07:10 Dr. Markowski's Research and Field Work
6. 09:22 The Experience of Storm Chasing
7. 18:19 Transition to New Research and Theories
8. 29:02 Previous Understanding of Tornado Formation
9. 29:31 Dr. Markowski's Perspective on Tornado Research
10. 30:03 Statistically Identical Environments
11. 31:21 Sensitivity of Storm Behavior
12. 32:19 Discovering New Paradigms
13. 33:21 Role of Turbulent Eddies
14. 34:17 Impact of Cold Air
15. 35:16 Laminar Environments vs. Turbulent Environments
16. 37:18 Theoretical Outcome vs. Real Atmosphere
17. 38:34 Implications for Predictability
18. 39:04 AI in Tornado Warnings
19. 46:52 The Role of AI in Forecasting

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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!

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Guest: Jared Rennie, NCEI Research Meteorologist

Gathering and analyzing data today to help us prepare for tomorrow. One sentence with a multitude of implications. NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information seeks to provide not just data, but solutions to help the U.S. and those around the world as our climate continues to change. Jared Rennie is a Research Meteorologist with NCEI and works to support the integration of both climate and socioeconomic data. His work encompasses an operational as well as a research aspect with respect to software used in data processing.

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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.

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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…

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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.

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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…

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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.

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Guest: Dr. C. Alex Young, NASA Heliophysicist

You may have noticed there’s been plenty of conversation concerning the closest star to us over the past year or so. From the total solar eclipse in April to the increase in solar storms as we approach the solar maximum, the sun has been getting plenty of attention. So we wanted to take a deeper look into our celestial neighbor and what better way to do that than to invite Dr. Alex Young, a heliophysicist, on the weather geeks podcast!

Chapters

1. 00:00 Introduction and Background
2. 06:21 Fascination with Eclipses
3. 09:02 Total Solar Eclipse and Eclipse Season
4. 12:34 Chasing the Eclipse
5. 15:16 Partial Eclipse and Viewing Techniques
6. 22:15 Factors for a Good Totality Location
7. 26:19 Scientific Opportunities during Eclipses
8. 30:45 Solar Maximum and its Impact
9. 32:27 What Drives Solar Activity
10. 37:23 Solar Maximum and the Corona
11. 40:07 Comparison of Solar Cycles
12. 43:28 Aurora Borealis and Australis
13. 46:17 Impacts of Solar Storms
14. 50:47 Space Weather and Rocket Launches
15. 53:21 Effects on Power Grids
16. 54:29 Protecting Infrastructure from Solar Storms
17. 01:00:29 Tips for Viewing Solar Eclipses
18. 01:03:35 Tips for Viewing the Aurora

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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.

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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…!

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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.

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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…

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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….

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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.

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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…

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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…

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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

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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…

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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!

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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.

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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…

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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…

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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.

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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…

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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…?

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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…?

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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.

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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…

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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…

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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.

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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.

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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

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