Weather Geeks

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...

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 exper...

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 Chri...

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 cli...

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.&n...

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 Se...

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 even...

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 clim...

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...

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 seve...

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, C...

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 th...

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 th...