Weather Geeks

Guest: Dr. Judah Cohen   As the seasons change, we tend to look forward with anticipation of what’s to come, and meteorology is no different. Meteorological winter begins on December 1 every year, and in order to look ahead, we first have to examine the present conditions. Joining us today is Dr. Judah Cohen, Director of Seasonal Forecasting at Atmospheric and Environmental Research, to discu...

Guest: Dr. Rick Knabb Seven consecutive above-average hurricane seasons in a row.  Even though it may not have always felt like it, the 2022 Hurricane season turned out to be record breaking in so many ways. From Hurricane Alex being the earliest Florida landfall to Hurricane Ian producing a 7.26 foot storm surge in Fort Myers, Florida to finally capping it off with Hurricane Nicole just a fe...

Guest: Caryn Hill Introduction:  Caryn Hill has been storm chasing and guiding educational weather tours with her husband, Roger Hill, for decades. While Roger is known for his forecast expertise, Caryn sees weather through a different lens. Her passion for photography helps showcase what nature has to offer. From lightning, to tornadoes, to shelf clouds, Caryn Hill is here to discuss her fas...

Guest: Paul Pisano Ground transportation is something we all deal with on a daily basis, whether it’s in our cars, on a bus, or the subway. Navigating poor road conditions during inclement weather can be very treacherous, but new technologies and innovating thinking are working to keep people safe. Today we’re joined by Paul Pisano from the Road Weather Committee of the Transportation Research Boa...

Guest: Carl Parker Introduction:   All eyes are on Egypt as the Conference of the Parties, or COP, is now underway for the 27th time. And with more records and weather disasters in the headlines, it is crucial to globally curb rising temperatures. Here to discuss COP27 and where we stand in the climate crisis is Carl Parker. Parker has been with The Weather Channel since 1999 and with th...

Guest: Dr. Alex Robel Introduction:  Climate change and melting glaciers are synonymous at this point when the topic is discussed and usually addresses the future impacts of melting ice and its effects on coastal communities. But how do we determine what those impacts are and when they could occur? Joining us today is Dr. Alex Robel, a researcher who helps to develop mathematical models that...

Guest: Roger Hill When it comes to searching the skies and finding the next storm to chase, it’s hard to find someone with more experience than Roger Hill. As co-owner and tour director of Silver Lining Tours, he and his wife Caryn seek to provide not only the chasing chance of a lifetime, but an education about the beauty and severity of Mother Nature. In addition to chasing storms for over 30 ye...

Guest: Tim Guinne Climate change is fact, not fiction, and is something that affects everyone on the planet. Over the years, Hollywood has touched on climate change in movies like  The Day After Tomorrow  and  Don't Look Up!  Our guest this week is no stranger to the movies: actor Tim Guinne is a featured film, television, and stage actor who has appeared in  Iron Man ,&nb...

Guest: TWC Meteorologist Panel The weather around us can be described in many different ways and on both ends of the spectrum from absolute terror to stunning beauty. These two qualities tug on our heartstrings the most as human beings.  We have to grasp the fear of a tornado wiping our home off of the map but we will all take the opportunity to take a smiling selfie with a vibrant rainbow.&n...

Guest: Dr. Sarah Kapnick  Dr. Sarah Kapnick is the newly appointed Chief Scientist at NOAA and only the third woman in NOAA’s history to be appointed to this role. She brings not only a background in climate sciences, but extensive knowledge in economics as well.  Dr. Kapnick joins us today to discuss her journey to becoming Chief Scientist, her new role and what is in the extended...

Guest: Mike Seidel Celebrating 30 years at the Weather Channel, Mike Seidel is no stranger to covering storms in every season. Most recently, as Hurricane Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida, Mike anchored his live shots from Fort Myers. During one of his segments, Mike said, and I quote: “This is one of the worst hurricanes I’ve ever been in, and maybe the worst as far as covering”. For a...

**RECORDED ON TUESDAY EVENING** Hurricane Ian is heading towards Florida's Gulf Coast and is slated to impact millions of people. Up until this moment, the journey that Ian has been on has been an interesting one. Weather Channel meteorologists and Weather Geeks producers JD Disharoon and Heather Zons sit down to discuss Hurricane Ian and its impending destructive path through the S...

Guest: Paul Iñiguez If you asked 100 people what the deadliest weather risk is, odds are they would pick some of the more flashy natural disasters, like hurricanes, tornadoes or lightning.  Some may even say the cold temperatures with how brutal it gets in the northern tier during the winter. But the real answer is the heat!  And it’s not necessarily the record heat during the hotte...

Guest: Kurt Shickman We’ve been naming tropical systems since the late 1940s and the Weather Channel has been naming winter storms in the United States since 2012 while other nations have been naming storm systems for over a decade. But what about heat waves? The point of naming storm systems is to raise awareness, preparedness, and prevent the loss of life and property… and extreme heat is the de...

Guest: Dr. Tyler WInkler Introduction:  The 2020 and 2021 hurricane seasons were among the top 3 most active on record. But, for now, the hurricane “record” extends only as far back as historical stories or modern weather data.  Could we actually be at a historical low in tropical cyclone activity?  Scientists, like Dr. Tyler Winkler, have discovered a new way of uncovering the past...

Guest: Dana Nuccitelli On Aug 16, 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act into law. This piece of legislation is the single biggest step forward by the U.S. Government focusing on our changing climate. Today on Weather Geeks we will be joined by environmental scientist and climate journalist Dana Nuccitelli to discuss the impacts that the Inflation Reduction Act will have...

Guest: Jennifer Walton Storm chasers range from professionally trained photographers to research meteorologists to thrill seekers watching radar on their phones. And yet, still even today, the majority of them are male.  Girls Who Chase is an organization born out of the desire to elevate the efforts of women chasers.  To give them a community.  And to empower them - to do that thin...

Guest: Melissa Roberts Introduction:  In recent decades, extreme rainfall events have been on the increase. There have been 36 billion dollar flood disasters since 1980, and 11 of them have happened in the last 5 years. Sea level rise is leading to more coastal flooding, even in the absence of rain.  Who is going to organize the charge to address these rising flood concerns?  Meliss...

Guest: Mike Kozar & Robert Muir-Wood Introduction:  With August now in full swing, it’s just a matter of time before the tropics start to stir and the risks start to rise for communities. Risk Management Solutions is tackling and transforming the catastrophe risk industry, including hurricane risks. RMS HWind is a tool that is crucial to understanding as well as dealing with tropical cycl...

Guest: Tim Walsh Introduction:  Weather satellites in the Earth’s orbit supply vital information to meteorologists across the globe. Did you know that over 90% of the data that is used in weather forecast models comes from satellites? Our next guest has spent plenty of time working on improving weather satellites and the information that they obtain and share. From the heart of hurricane seas...

Guest: Victoria Ludwig Introduction:  When the temperature heats up, people living in cities are often even hotter. That's because the parking lots, roads, and human activities in cities cause the urban heat island. Victoria Ludwig is the national program manager for the Heat Island Reduction Program at the US Environmental Protection Agency. She is here today to explain what urban heat islan...

Guest: Derrick Herndon Introduction:  After two back-to-back supercharged hurricane seasons, 2022 is again expected to be well above average. When tropical systems are spinning far out in the ocean and away from land, meteorologists compare satellite imagery of the current storm to past storms to estimate its intensity. It's a technique that dates back to the ‘70s called the Dvorak Technique,...

Guest: Ken Graham The National Weather Service needs no introduction here on Weather Geeks and recently, a new director was appointed to lead the agency in charge of disseminating vital weather information across the U.S.. Ken Graham is taking the reins of the NWS as its 17th director and if that name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s been a guest of the podcast before while leading the National...

Guest: Eric Klinenberg   When we talk about preventing deaths from natural disasters, we often look at our physical infrastructure and how to build it to withstand withering conditions. But what about our social infrastructure: the network of spaces, institutions, and groups that help foster social connections? What role do they play in protecting the vulnerable? Our guest today is Eric Kline...

Guest: Dr. Tim Marshall Introduction:  When natural disasters strike, those affected work to rebuild their lives and livelihoods; but before we rebuild, we must assess the damage that has occurred. By doing this, we can work to improve the structures where we live and work and hopefully prevent the same damage from happening again. Dr. Tim Marshall is joining us today and is one of the nation...