Weather Geeks

Guest: Dan Lindsey, GOES-R Program Scientist Introduction: While the debate of “model wars” continues into the new decade, the satellite technology that the United States has advanced over the years is second-to-none! Being able to see the atmosphere from a top-down view has changed the way that meteorologists around the world can forecast the daily weather. They can see where severe storms are to provide up-to-the-second forecasts in order to keep people safe. One of the men behind these great satellites is here with me today. Dan Lindsey is a research scientist at NOAA and he was at the forefront of one of the latest major satellite launches, the GOES-16 geostationary satellite.

Guest: Michael Kane, Water Resources EngineerIntroduction: Hydrology is the study of the movement, distribution and management of water on Earth, including the water cycle, water resources, and environmental watershed sustainability. Hydrologists work with other scientists to investigate how water impacts their respective fields, so meteorologists and hydrologists have a special relationship. Meteorologists focus on the water coming down from the sky, and the hydrologists focus on what that water will impact when it hits the ground and where it will end up. What happens when there is too much water and flooding ensues? Hydrologist Michael Kane is my guest today and we are going to talk about that...

Guest: Dr. Peter Bauer, ECMWF Deputy Director of Research & Head of the Scalability ProgrammeIntroduction: I need more power…!! Computing power that is. This has been a major focus for numerical weather prediction in hopes of creating more accurate and detailed predictions of Earth’s systems. The highly touted European Model has long been one of the leaders in numerical weather prediction performance. As the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) prepares to integrate the next generation of supercomputers, model efficiency may suffer as more data is computed at higher resolutions. Current processing capabilities and codes are not adapted to meet these needs. Today’s guest, Dr. Peter Bauer, will outline how they are working with meteorological modellers, computer scientists and hardware providers to make sure the EURO is ready for this upgrade. 

Guests: Greg Kopp & David Sills, Western University Intro: While severe weather prediction continues to improve here in the United States, a nearby neighbor is currently deep into their most comprehensive tornado study ever! As we travel north of the border to our neighbors in Canada, the team at Western University is conducting the Northern Tornadoes Project, or NTP. This project seeks to have profound impacts on tornado and severe weather prediction across the forecasting community, both nationally and internationally. Today on Weather Geeks, we’re joined by the two project leads at Western University; Greg Kopp who is the lead researcher, and David Stills, the executive director on the project. 

Guest: Kim Klockow-McClainBroadcast meteorologists are often the face of severe weather as they are the first people we see when severe weather is expected. However, there is a larger network of people from broadcasters, to emergency managers, law enforcement officers, and state and local officials who must work together to best serve the community before and after a disaster. Today’s guest is Kim Klockow-McClain, a societal impacts researcher from the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies (CIMMS). Her focus is to gather and share the human stories that unfold during severe weather events, and with each interaction, she strives to learn how our network of communicators can improve the warning-decision process.

Guest: Dail St. Claire: Daughter of the June Bacon-Bercey, the 1st African-American Female TV MeteorologistIntroduction: If I were to ask a room full of meteorologists who their role model was, I am sure that a handful of them would say the late June Bacon-Bercey. She was the first African-American female television meteorologist, and with that achievement, she broke MANY barriers. In a time where most of the women giving the weather reports in the morning weren’t trained in meteorology in the slightest, June was determined to follow her passion and that is why she is recognized to this very day. Today I have her wonderful daughter Dail St. Claire with me today so we can celebrate her mother’s legacy...

Introduction:  A lot of people choose to live in a certain place based on how the winters are. If you love wearing big comfy sweaters and playing out in the snow, odds are you live in the midwestern or northeastern United States. If you would rather turn on your heat for only a couple days in the season and enjoy the occasional chilly, rainy day, then you’d love the south! Regardless of the region, scientists have developed a method that can measure how severe the winter has been where you live. It is called the Accumulated Winter Season Severity Index, and I have the co-creator Dr. Barb Mayes Boustead here with me today to discuss it!

Introduction:  As Weather Geeks, we know that the climate is changing and the Earth has needs that it wants to meet. As human beings, we are also changing and our bodies and minds have needs that they want met as well. Both of these sets of needs cannot be ignored or else there will be ramifications down the line. Scientists who are tasked with tackling and researching climate change are starting to experience mental and emotional health issues, because of all the pressures that this monumental event brings. My guest today is Susanne Moser, who is shedding light on these issues, along with the personal challenges that being an on-camera meteorologist in this current age brings.

Guest:  Keith Stellman, Meteorologist-in-Charge NWS AtlantaIntro:The National Weather Service is a lot more than the blaring alerts on your TV when there is a tornado warning in your area or the notifications on your phone about the severe thunderstorm watch issued for your state. The NWS operates over 120 weather forecast offices across the country and each office is constantly issuing local public, marine, aviation, fire, and hydrology forecasts 24/7! The NWS never sleeps because the weather itself never sleeps, and I’m sure my next guest can attest to many sleepless nights on the job. Keith Stellman is the Meteorologist-in-Charge for NWS Atlanta/Peachtree City, and as I know personally, this area rarely has a dull weather day! 

Guest: Dr. David Peterson, NASA/Naval Research LabAs millions of acres have been ablaze across Australia in recent weeks, those wildfires have formed incredible smoke plumes that tower thousands of feet into the atmosphere. These “pyrocumulonimbus clouds” can transport massive amounts of smoke and ash into the sky, and some of that smoke has even been found to have circled the globe! Today’s guest is Dr. David Peterson from the Naval Research Lab, and his research focuses on the far-reaching impacts these monster clouds can have, including how they generate their own weather! We’ll discuss what techniques he uses to observe these events and whether or not we can expect more events in a warming climate. 

Intro:  With the increasing number of climate change impacts being seen across the globe, it is becoming apparent that not all communities are affected equally. Today’s guest has dedicated his career to being a champion for at-risk populations facing environmental challenges, and has even been lauded as the Father of Environmental Justice. Dr. Robert Bullard is an award-winning author and also serves as a Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy at Texas Southern University. We’ll discuss how his work aims to bring attention to such humanitarian crises and how we can work together to secure the environmental health and resilience of all communities being affected by extreme weather.

Guest: Chris Fisher, Archaeologist Colorado State UniversityIntro: It is no secret that our Earth is changing, but it may be faster than you’d think! What if we had the ability to see what parts of the Earth were changing day-by-day? How much of the Southeast U.S. coast is shrinking due to sea level rise? Or how raging wildfires in California are changing our landscapes? Well, there is a group of scientists who are taking the initiative on this! My guest today is archaeologist Chris Fisher, who is the co-owner of the Earth Archive Project. This project will use LIDAR technology to take high-quality imagery of the most vulnerable places on our planet and help preserve them for future generations.  

Guest: Dr. Marshall ShepherdIntro: As you are listening to this episode, the American Meteorological Society’s annual meeting will be going on in Boston. These large gatherings only happen once a year...but this year is something special! It is the 100th meeting of the AMS, commonly called the Centennial. As I was the former president of the AMS and had to work through the logistics of organizing this wonderful meeting with some of the greatest weather and climate minds in the country, I wanted to make a quick episode to highlight all that AMS has to offer those in the Meteorology field!

Guest: Dr. Wenyuan FanIntro: “Stormquakes!” The word that has captured the attention of both the scientific community and public alike. Dr. Wenyuan Fan, a professor at Florida State University has discovered this remarkable way that the atmosphere can actually transfer energy deep into the earth! Something like a hurricane or other strong storm can spark seismic events in the ocean as strong as a 3.5 magnitude earthquake. He coined the term, stormquakes.

Guest: Dr. Louis Uccellini  Intro: Today on Weather Geeks, it’s all about the National Weather Service turning 150 years old!  We’ll take a look back at 2019, and who better to do it with than with Dr. Louis Uccellini, Director of the National Weather Service! We’ll recap the 2019 Hurricane Season, the forecast advancements we made, and look ahead to the 2020 year for the National Weather Service and forecasting community!

Guest: Heather Zons2019 was a wild year of weather. From record-breaking spring floodingin the Midwest to another devastating hurricane season, all while theglobal temperature keeps ticking up and up. And we had over 80episodes of Weather Geeks talking to scientists from all corners ofthe country to cover those topics and many, many more! We are usingthis last episode of the year to look back on our favorite episodesand answer your weather, science, and podcast-related questions to puta bow on Weather Geeks for 2019.

Guest: Russ Schumacher, Asst. Professor & State ClimatologistIntro: The Centennial State is known for its diverse landscapes. From the snow-covered, Rocky Mountain peaks towering above the High Plains, to the river canyons and deserts below, Colorado has much to offer for any outdoor enthusiast.  But this state also offers up a variety of weather, and 2019 proved to be one for the record books! Today we welcome Russ Schumacher, State Climatologist and Director of the Colorado Climate Center, and we’re going to revisit some of those extreme events.  We’ll also get a preview of Russ’s latest research endeavors at Colorado State University, and we’ll end the episode with an interesting fact about him that may have you asking all kinds of questions.

Guest: Dr. Thomas L. Mote, Distinguished Research Professor, UGAIntroduction: The Greenland ice sheet has become a hotbed of climate change research in recent decades. The alarming rate of warming being observed has garnered attention from scientists across the globe, including today’s guest, Dr. Tom Mote. He has ventured to the ice sheet himself to observe and measure the rapidly changing landscape, but his work also uses remote sensing to measure the changing continent. Today we’ll discuss the science behind this incredible melting and how these changes are altering global sea-levels, water currents, and even weather patterns. 

Guest: Tony Knap, Director of Geochemical & Environmental Research Group (GERG) at Texas A&MIntro:  The effects of the Gulf Loop Current on tropical cyclone development and intensification is often a major focus of forecasters.  However, this current has much broader impacts beyond tropical cyclones, such as extra-tropical cyclone development and even tornadoes. Today, we welcome Dr. Anthony Knap, Director of the Geochemical & Environmental Research Group at Texas A&M University and Member of the Board of Directors for the Gulf Research Program.  We’ll explore current research being done to improve our understanding and predictive skill of the Loop Current System and its eddies.  Dr. Knap will also discuss how his team at Texas A&M plans to increase observations of the loop current to aid in regional forecasting capabilities.    

In the middle of one of the busiest travel weeks of the year, two major winter storms are impacting millions of people with snow, wind, and even severe storms. Today we welcome back meteorologist Stephanie Abrams to discuss how these massive storm systems are causing delays and making for dangerous driving conditions. She’ll also provide an inside look at how we’re working behind the scenes to communicate these forecasts to help you safely arrive at your holiday destinations.