Meteorology Matters

Before satellites, radar, and computer models, Italian scientists were helping transform how humanity observed, measured, and predicted the weather. In this special Italian-American Heritage Month episode of Meteorology Matters, we trace centuries of scientific breakthroughs, from Galileo’s early temperature experiments and Evangelista Torricelli’s invention of the mercury barometer to the pioneer...

Hurricane Isaias has reached Category 3 strength with sustained winds of 120 mph, and time is running out for communities along the northern Gulf Coast. As dangerous winds, storm surge, flooding, and tornadoes threaten Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and areas farther inland, the most important question isn’t simply where the hurricane will make landfall. It’s what you can still do to survive. What...

The Atlantic has experienced one of the strangest hurricane seasons in modern history. Now Hurricane Isaias is threatening the Gulf Coast, while Tropical Storm Rachel raises concerns about heavy rainfall and flooding in Southern California. What makes this situation especially unusual is the powerful, already-established El Niño, which continues to strengthen and evolve. Its influence has helped s...

A tropical cyclone is increasingly likely to form in the Gulf of Mexico, and if it becomes the next named Atlantic storm, it will be Isaias. The National Hurricane Center now gives Invest 92L an 80 percent chance of development within both 48 hours and seven days, saying a tropical depression is likely to form within the next couple of days. At the same time, some of the latest Google DeepMind ens...

One of the world’s most advanced AI hurricane models saw a growing tropical threat in the Bay of Campeche. Google DeepMind’s WeatherNext system can generate 1,000 possible atmospheric futures, and its development signal climbed sharply before suddenly backing off. So did the AI get it wrong, or is changing the forecast exactly what a good probabilistic model should do? In this episode of Meteorolo...

Can religious faith change how people understand climate change? And can religious beliefs succeed where scientific facts alone sometimes fail? In this episode of The Meteorology Matters Podcast , produced by Meteorologist Rob Jones, we investigate the surprising relationship between religion, climate change, extreme weather and the psychology of scientific communication. Inspired by Robert Klitzm...

A powerful early-season nor’easter is developing off the U.S. East Coast, with the Northeast facing an extended period of coastal flooding, high surf, strong winds and heavy rain from Friday through the weekend. In this episode of Meteorology Matters, we take an inside look at what is actually happening with this unusual September coastal storm and why its evolution deserves close attention. We ex...

Hurricane Polo delivered one of the most extraordinary rapid-intensification episodes of the 2026 Eastern Pacific hurricane season — exploding from a 50-mph tropical storm into a Category 5 hurricane, then reaching an astonishing 180 mph with a central pressure of 892 millibars according to NOAA Hurricane Hunter reconnaissance. In this episode of Meteorology Matters, we examine how Polo intensifie...

One hundred years ago, on September 18, 1926, the Great Miami Hurricane struck a booming, vulnerable South Florida and permanently changed the region’s history. Meteorology Matters reconstructs the storm, the uncertain forecasts and the public confusion surrounding its arrival—including the tropical system that had brought flooding only days earlier and the newspaper headlines that finally warned...

The Atlantic hurricane season has passed its climatological peak without producing a single hurricane an extraordinary modern-era record occurring while much of the planet and its oceans remain exceptionally warm. In this episode of Meteorology Matters, we examine how a rapidly strengthening El Niño is reorganizing tropical weather around the world: suppressing Atlantic development, helping fuel a...

Twenty-five years after September 11, 2001, Meteorology Matters looks back at the extraordinary weather story unfolding alongside one of the darkest days in American history. That morning, New York City sat beneath an unusually clear post-frontal sky while Hurricane Erin churned hundreds of miles offshore. After the World Trade Center attacks, satellite imagery captured something remarkable: the e...

On Labor Day 1935, one of the most powerful hurricanes ever to strike the United States exploded into a Category 5 storm and slammed into the Florida Keys with estimated sustained winds of 185 mph and a central pressure of 892 mb, the lowest pressure assigned to a U.S. hurricane landfall. But this disaster is about much more than the storm itself. Hundreds of World War I veterans were living in fe...

The seismic signal initially looked like an earthquake. It was the mountain itself collapsing. On August 26, bedrock and glacier ice tore loose high above the Nepal–China border, transforming into a rock–ice avalanche, debris flow, and devastating flood. Meteorology Matters reconstructs that cascading disaster, explains why the evidence points away from a conventional glacial-lake outburst flood,...

What if some of the features you see every time you look in the mirror were partly shaped by weather experienced thousands of years before you were born? In this episode of Meteorology Matters , we explore the extraordinary evidence connecting human evolution with temperature, humidity, sunlight, drought, atmospheric pressure and other environmental conditions. From the shape of the human nose and...

Meteorologist Rob Jones traveled to Zaragoza, Spain, with only hours of planning to chase the August 12, 2026 total solar eclipse — all for about 84 seconds inside the Moon’s shadow. What followed was part science experiment, part logistical scramble: sold-out trains and buses, basic hotel rooms approaching €600, rental cars over €800, extreme heat, thousands gathering along the Ebro River, and a...

History is often told through kings, presidents, generals, and revolutions—but what if the atmosphere was quietly shaping those decisions all along? In this episode of Meteorology Matters, we explore ten remarkable moments when weather altered the course of history. From the forecast that helped launch D-Day to the typhoons that confronted the Mongol invasions of Japan, the Bhola Cyclone that acce...

Flash floods can happen almost anywhere from New York City subways and the rivers of Central Texas to mountain villages in Italy, the streets of China, and communities across Europe, Asia, and Africa. Why do they become deadly so quickly, even when people know heavy rain is coming? In this episode of Meteorology Matters , we explore the science behind one of the world’s fastest and most misunderst...

Why are beaches across Florida, the Caribbean, Mexico, and parts of the Gulf Coast being buried under mountains of seaweed and why has it become one of the fastest-growing environmental and economic challenges facing coastal communities? In this episode of Meteorology Matters , we explore the remarkable story of sargassum, a floating seaweed that serves as a vital offshore ecosystem but becomes a...

A hurricane forecast is only valuable if people understand it, trust it, and know how to act on it. In this episode of Meteorology Matters , meteorologist Rob Jones’ production explores why effective hurricane communication can be just as important as the forecast itself. Using lessons inspired by the career of hurricane specialist Bryan Norcross, we discuss how meteorologists communicate uncertai...

In July 1895, one of the most remarkable and least remembered tornado disasters in the history of the New York metropolitan area struck without warning. Historic Cherry Hill near modern day Hackensack and River Edge, New Jersey, was devastated as homes, businesses, farms, churches, and the railroad community were torn apart. The same day, another destructive tornado ripped through Woodhaven in wha...

What if one weather event quietly transformed an entire nation? The deadly heat wave of 1936 was far more than a record-breaking summer. It changed how Americans dressed, where they lived, how buildings were designed, and accelerated the adoption of air conditioning that would reshape cities, businesses, and everyday life for generations. In this episode of Meteorology Matters , we explore how ext...

Can scientists really change the path of a hurricane or is that still science fiction? This episode explores one of the most fascinating questions in atmospheric science: whether humans could ever influence one of nature’s most powerful storms. From Project STORMFURY to modern cloud seeding research, computer modeling, and artificial intelligence, the conversation separates what is scientifically...

America’s 250th birthday celebration was supposed to be one of the biggest events in the nation’s history. Instead, record-breaking heat, dangerous thunderstorms, emergency evacuations, and severe weather forced officials to cancel parades, alter major events, and protect hundreds of thousands of people from life-threatening conditions. Discover how a powerful heat dome sent temperatures soaring a...

A powerful early-season heat dome is pushing temperatures above 40°C across parts of Europe, threatening records from Spain and France to the United Kingdom. In this episode of Meteorology Matters, meteorologist Rob Jones examines the June 2026 European heat wave, what records have already fallen, what may still be broken, and how long the dangerous conditions are expected to last. Beyond the fore...

Twenty years after An Inconvenient Truth , how well have scientific warnings held up? In this episode of Meteorology Matters, we examine the lessons of the past two decades, from the recovery of the ozone layer and the decline of acid rain to growing concerns about extreme heat during the 2026 FIFA World Cup and remarkable winter warmth in Antarctica. We also explore a new challenge facing researc...