Weather Geeks

Guest: Alan Sealls, AMS President-Elect For decades, broadcast meteorologists have been the trusted voices guiding us through hurricanes, tornadoes, and everyday forecasts. But behind every great weathercaster is a deep passion for both science and communication. Few embody that balance as well as Alan Sealls—a highly respected meteorologist, educator, and soon-to-be President of the American Mete...

Guest: Stephen Wooten, Researcher As a parent, there’s nothing more important than making sure your child is safe—especially when severe weather threatens their school day. Whether it’s the decision to delay, dismiss early, or shelter in place, we rely on school officials to make the right call. But as any parent knows, those decisions aren’t always black and white. Should schools be more cautious...

Guest: John Trostel, Director From towering supercells to fast-moving derechos, severe storms are some of the most powerful and unpredictable forces in nature. Forecasting these storms requires cutting-edge technology, real-time data analysis, and years of research to improve early warning systems and save lives. That’s where institutions like the Severe Storms Research Center at Georgia Tech come...

Guest: Jenny Dissen, NCICS When a hurricane strikes, the immediate damage is only part of the story. The real test comes in the days, weeks, and even years after the storm—when communities must rebuild, adapt, and prepare for what’s next. Hurricane Helene left its mark on North Carolina, exposing vulnerabilities but also sparking efforts to create a more resilient future. Today on Weather Gee...

Guest: Dr. Rick Spinrad, Outgoing NOAA Administrator  From predicting hurricanes and monitoring our oceans to leading cutting-edge climate research, NOAA plays a critical role in protecting lives, property, and our planet. The phone that you may be listening to this podcast on right now would not have weather apps without NOAA. The computer you may be listening on won’t have easily acces...

Guest: Daniel Swain Winds are howling outside Los Angeles, California on a dry January day. The hillsides north and east of the city erupt in flames. A wall of fire begins to consume neighborhoods faster than firefighters can keep up. As wind-driven embers continue to fly down hill - a thousand miles away, Daniel Swain’s phone begins to light up. Journalists, companies, officials - all want answer...

Guests : John Banghoff, Jonathan Guseman, Jase Bernhardt We’ve all seen it. A multi-car pile-up accident that seems unstoppable. One weather phenomenon is often at the root of these - snow qualls. These aren't your typical snow flurries; they can bring sudden, near-zero visibility and treacherous driving conditions in a matter of minutes. We're joined today by 3 meteorologists with...

Guest: Dr. Sean Waugh, National Severe Storms Laboratory research scientist As we’ve seen in the movies, and real life, tornadoes are some of the most destructive forces in nature, capable of leveling homes and damaging entire communities in a matter of minutes. And what about hail? It causes BILLIONS and billions of dollars in damage in the US every year. But how do we get up-close...

Guest: Jason Deese, CEO of Flash Weather AI Weather forecasting has always been a mix of art and science, relying on tools like the Euro and GFS models to predict everything from tomorrow’s sunshine to next week’s storms. But now, artificial intelligence is reshaping the field, offering faster and more precise insights than ever before. Today on Weather Geeks , we’re exploring Flash Weather AI, a...

Guest: Anthony Edwards, Newsroom Meteorologist with the San Francisco Chronicle With every new year comes hope for a prosperous year. For thousands in southern California, that hope quickly turned into a nightmare. One week into the new year, devastation quickly set in when multiple wildfires began to spread in Los Angeles County. A historic Santa Ana Windstorm, with winds gusting to 100 mph in sp...

Guest: Eric Berger 4.…3….2….1…. Liftoff! - of this week’s episode of Weather Geeks with our special guest - Eric Berger. Launching his career as a science & space writer, Eric’s trajectory would be considered - by most in the space industry - as ‘nominal’. However, Eric’s late stage separation would send him on a new course to launching the website we all know today - Space City Weather. Since...

Guests: Dr. Ilan Price, Senior Research Scientist, & Matt Willson, Research Engineer From the Euro to the GFS to the Canadian, there are multitudes of models that forecasters use to predict our daily weather. There are models for short-term severe forecasting, 10-day outlooks from your local news, and even models that predict our climate years into the future. As technology advances,...

Guest: Dr. Philip Mulder, Assistant Professor at UW-Madison Once you become a homeowner, you are flooded with the overwhelming responsibility of protecting your home, which means that you are going to need home insurance! But is it fair that your insurance may cost significantly more because of the weather that tends to happen around you? Or, what if homeowner’s insurance isn’t even avai...

Guest: Dr. Victor Gensini When discussions are had about Billion-Dollar Disasters, odds are your mind goes to the biggest hurricane landfalls and tornadoes that struck the country this year.  But the sneakiest of disasters has become hail storms.  As the convective storm passes through a town and dumps tons of ice on cars, roofs, and windows, the costs very quickly add up and the infrast...

RECORDED MARCH 28, 2024 Originally released MAY 29, 2024 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 Marko...

RECORDED JULY 9, 2024 Originally released JULY 31, 2024 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 no...

RECORDED MARCH12, 2024 Originally released MAY 15, 2024 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....

RECORDED JULY 30, 2024 Originally released AUGUST 7, 2024 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 Tw...

RECORDED MARCH 15, 2024 Originally released JUNE 12, 2024 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 wh...

RECORDED JUNE 7, 2024 Originally released JULY 17, 2024 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...

RECORDED APRIL 1, 2024 Originally released April 3, 2024 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...

Guest : Dr. Dawn Wright, United States Science Envoy RECORDED APRIL 18, 2024. Originally Released June 19, 2024 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 zon...

Guest : Weather Geeks Team Working as a meteorologist is never boring, because the weather changes every single day! With how volatile each day could be, there are a lot of notable weather events that occur over the course of the year, and 2024 is no exception! Dozens of billion-dollar severe weather events, multiple landfalling hurricanes, and major challenges in social science regardin...

Guest : Dr. Robin Murphy, Professor at Texas A&M University With many natural disasters it takes time to fully understand the scope of the devastation. We have seen that countless times over the past few years with landfalling major hurricanes. The way that we currently assess storm damage is sufficient, but AI has recently changed the game in the way natural disasters are assessed. Joining us...

Guest : Dave Titley, Co-Founder of RV Weather Enterprises Description:  When you’re traveling somewhere, whether it’s on vacation or for business, odds are you are just going to check your phone’s weather app to let you know if you need to pack an umbrella or a heavier jacket at your destination. But what about traveling by RV the entire distance? Your journey could be plagued...