Weather Geeks

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...

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,...

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 s...

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 weat...

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...

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 Ce...

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...

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 NOA...

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...

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 an...

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 Commit...

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 Challenge...

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 tha...

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 Southwes...

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 th...

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 sho...

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 Institu...

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 ho...

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,...

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 P...

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 a...

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 Weathe...

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 Researc...

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 l...