WeatherBrains 933: A Unicorn Puked On It

WeatherBrains Episode 933 is now online (December 4th, 2023). If you are crazy about weather, this is THE podcast for you!

Tonight’s show is all about fire warnings and wildfire forecasting.

Our first Guest WeatherBrain is the Science and Operations Officer with the NWS Norman.  He’s previously worked in Amarillo, Lubbock, Midland and Tulsa NWS.  He recently received the Charles L Mitchell Award for his years of work in fire weather forecasting.  Todd Lindley, thanks for joining us tonight.

Forecasters must look to ground for wildfires, researcher says | The Journal Record

Second Guest WeatherBrain is the Deputy Fire Management Chief of the Oklahoma Forestry Services.  He’s responsible for both fighting fires on the ground as well as prescribed fire management.  He’s also part of the Northern Rockies Incident Management Team One.  Drew Daily, thanks for being a part of the show.

Our email officer Jen is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners. Reach us here: email@weatherbrains.com.

  • What is a Deputy Fire Management Chief?  (09:10)
  • NWS Fire Weather Program (13:30)
  •  Current state of fire prediction (17:45)
  • What are fuels and how do we acquire that information and account for it?  (23:00)
  • Red Flag Thread Index (27:00)
  • Role of media in wildfire preparation and awareness (36:00)
  • Invasive species/Red Cedar and fire threat (40:00)
  • Outside variables for controlled burns (45:30)
  • Diurnal range of energy release component (58:00)
  • Satellites and wildfire detection (01:02:00)
  • What is column collapse?  (01:30:00)
  • The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:41:27)
  • This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:43:30)
  • National Weather Round-Up (01:49:30)
  • E-Mail Segment (01:45:30)
  • and more!

Web Sites from Episode 933:

Northern Rockies Incident Management Team 1

Picks of the Week:

Drew Daily – Oklahoma Wildfire Situation Report

Todd Lindley – NOAA GSL Fire Weather Testbed

James Aydelott – Fire Mike Tomlin on X

Jen Narramore – The Immeasurable Cost of the December 10-11th 2021 Tornado Outbreak

Rick Smith – Wildfire Weather Safety

Neil Jacobs – Octopus tornado on YouTube

Troy Kimmel – NTSB Docket open on Feb 2023 FedEx/Southwest Airlines Near Miss at KAUS

Troy Kimmel – NYT Investigation of Air Traffic Controllers Pushed to the Brink

Kim Klockow-McClain – Mesonet OK-FIRE

Bill Murray – Foghorn

James Spann – National Reflectivity Mosaic

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like Troy Kimmel, Bill Murray, Rick Smith, James Aydelott, Jen Narramore, Dr. Neil Jacobs, and Dr. Kim Klockow-McClain. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating podcast about weather.

 

 

WeatherBrains 932: Okies for Hokies

WeatherBrains Episode 932 is now online (November 27th, 2023). If you are crazy about weather, this is THE podcast for you!

 

Tonight’s first WeatherBrain is the suggestion of listener Edward Shaw and is a previous alumni of the show.  He’s a professor in the Department of Geography at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg.  He is a native of Roanoke Virginia and studied environmental science as an undergraduate before completing his graduate work through the Department of Geosciences at Mississippi State. Connections to Virginia Tech spread through his family as five other family members completed either undergraduate or graduate degrees at the university. Before joining the Department of Geography’s new meteorology degree program, Dave spent several years teaching a dual-enrollment Applied Meteorology course for accelerated high school students and undergraduates through Virginia Tech’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Dave Carroll, welcome to the show.

David Carroll | Geography | Virginia Tech

Our second Guest WeatherBrain is an associate professor of geography and meteorology at Ball State University in Muncie.  He received his meteorology degree with honors from Penn State and an advanced degree in geography from Syracuse University.  David Call, welcome to the show.

David Call

Also stopping by as our Guest Panelist is Stephanie Zick, an assistant professor and core faculty member for Virginia Tech’s B. S. meteorology program.  She’s a tropical weather expert as well as numerical weather prediction and model forecast verification expert who joined Virginia Tech University in 2016.  Thanks for joining us!

Stephanie Zick

Our email officer Jen is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners. Reach us here: email@weatherbrains.com.

  • Bringing the community into a University meteorology program (06:45)
  • Superstorm of Thanksgiving 1950 (09:30)
  • Ball State storm chasing program (24:25)
  • Deeper look at geography program at Virginia Tech (50:00)
  • AMS/NWA chapters (01:07:30)
  • The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:47:50)
  • This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:49:40)
  • National Weather Round-Up
  • E-Mail Segment (No segment this week)
  • and more!

Web Sites from Episode 932:

“Superstorm 1950: The Greatest Simultaneous Blizzard, Ice Storm, Windstorm, and Cold Outbreak of the Twentieth Century” by David A Call

Picks of the Week:

David Call – “Buckeye Blizzard: Ohio and the 1950 Thanksgiving storm” by Roger Pickenpaugh

David Call – “White Hurricane: A Great Lakes November Gale and America’s Deadliest Maritime Disaster” by David G Brown

James Aydelott – Early season NW Oklahoma snow preliminary totals

Jen Narramore – Out

Rick Smith – Out

Neil Jacobs – Out

Troy Kimmel – The Tornado Project Online

Kim Klockow-McClain – Out

Bill Murray – Foghorn

James Spann – Fallstreak hole over Alabama photos on X

James Spann – Chris Elick on X announcement about his research on perceptions of weather-based pain forecasts

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like Troy Kimmel, Bill Murray, Rick Smith, James Aydelott, Jen Narramore, Dr. Neil Jacobs, and Dr. Kim Klockow-McClain. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating podcast about weather.

 

 

WeatherBrains 931: No Bulging Warm Front

WeatherBrains Episode 931 is now online (November 20th, 2023). If you are crazy about weather, this is THE podcast for you!

Tonight will be a Thanksgiving week homegrown show with the regular panelists.

Our email officer Jen is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners. Reach us here: email@weatherbrains.com.

  • Weather podcast fundraiser/telethon benefitting the Red Cross (06:00)
  • Severe weather across southern Mississippi (24:00)
  • NWS Chat 2.0 (28:00)
  • Disconnect between forecasters and general public during active weather events (46:15)
  • Outdated concept of local TV market DMAs (55:45)
  • Looking ahead to future planned WeatherBrains guests (58:00)
  • AI and the future of weather forecasting (01:30:00)
  • The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (No segment this week)
  • This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:20:17)
  • National Weather Round-Up (01:21:50)
  • E-Mail Segment
  • and more!

Web Sites from Episode 931:

National Storm Chaser Summit 2024

Weather Pods Disaster Relief Telethon supporting the American Red Cross Part 1

Weather Pods Disaster Relief Telethon supporting the American Red Cross Part 2

Picks of the Week:

James Aydelott – Out

Jen Narramore – The Tornado Project

Rick Smith – IDSS Forecast Points

Neil Jacobs – Out

Troy Kimmel – Out

Kim Klockow-McClain – Out

Bill Murray – Foghorn

James Spann – Understanding GraphCast, Google’s AI weather forecasting tool

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like Troy Kimmel, Bill Murray, Rick Smith, James Aydelott, Jen Narramore, Dr. Neil Jacobs, and Dr. Kim Klockow-McClain. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating podcast about weather.

 

 

WeatherBrains 930: Did Someone Say “Wine”?

WeatherBrains Episode 930 is now online (November 13th, 2023). If you are crazy about weather, this is THE podcast for you!

Tonight we will be discussing the Weather Pods Disaster Relief Telethon being held this Saturday, November 18th benefitting the American Red Cross.

Tonight’s Guest WeatherBrain is a former broadcast meteorologist for Birmingham’s CBS 42 and now works in higher education at Auburn University.  It’s an honor to have you on the show tonight.  Ashley Gann, welcome to WeatherBrains.

Ashley Gann | CBS 42

Also stopping by as Guest Panelist is the proprietor of the Chaser Chat weather podcast.  Gabe Harber, welcome to the show.

Our email officer Jen is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners. Reach us here: email@weatherbrains.com.

  • Weather Pods Disaster Relief Telethon (07:00)
  • March 2019 tornado outbreak analysis (45:00)
  • Looking back at April 27, 2011 (49:00)
  • International Association of Emergency Managers event discussion (01:18:30)
  • The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:35:00)
  • This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:37:02)
  • National Weather Round-Up (01:42:45)
  • E-Mail Segment (01:40:00)
  • and more!

Web Sites from Episode 930:

Weather Pods Disaster Relief Telethon

Chaser Chat Podcast on X

Ashley Gann on X

Picks of the Week:

Ashley Gann – 1983 Iron Bowl receives over 9 inches of rain

James Aydelott – Michael Lowry on X: Total Time in NHC Forecast Cones in 2023

Jen Narramore – Iowa Helicopter survey of Stratford Iowa tornado

Rick Smith – Out

Neil Jacobs – Full Committee Markup of H.R. 6093

Troy Kimmel – Foghorn

Kim Klockow-McClain – NOAA forecasts quicker, stronger peak of solar activity

Bill Murray – Weather Channel Morning Brief Newsletter

James Spann – Professor Aims to Improve Emergency Alerts for Deaf Community

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like Troy Kimmel, Bill Murray, Rick Smith, James Aydelott, Jen Narramore, Dr. Neil Jacobs, and Dr. Kim Klockow-McClain. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating podcast about weather.

 

 

WeatherBrains 929: Krazy With A Capital K

WeatherBrains Episode 929 is now online (November 6th, 2023). If you are crazy about weather, this is THE podcast for you!

Tonight’s Guest WeatherBrain needs no introduction.  He grew up in Central Florida.  He’s a TV meteorologist and hurricane specialist.  He was previously the chief meteorologist for WTVJ-TV in Miami where he became well-known for his excellent coverage of 1992’s Hurricane Andrew, and subequently became Director of Meteorology for WFOR-TV, and a hurricane analyst for CBS News in New York City.  He currently works for Fox Weather in NYC.  Bryan Norcross, it’s an honor to have you on the show tonight.

Bryan Norcross | FOX Weather

Our email officer Jen is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners. Reach us here: email@weatherbrains.com.

  • Looking back at 1969’s Hurricane Camille (09:00)
  • Looking back at 1965’s Hurricane Betsy (26:30)
  • Hurricane Otis vs Andrew (30:00)
  • Hurricane behavior comparisons between the 70s/80s and today (53:00)
  • Lack of media coverage with Otis (01:12:00)
  • Future of Saffir-Simpson Scale (01:26:30)
  • The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:34:25)
  • This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:32:50)
  • National Weather Round-Up (01:
  • E-Mail Segment (01:
  • and more!

Web Sites from Episode 929:

Bryan Norcross – Hurricane Specialist and Director of Meteorology

Bryan Norcross on X

“My Hurricane Andrew Story” by Bryan Norcross

Picks of the Week:

Bryan Norcross – Lightning Bolt hits water tower in Homestead, FL week after Hurricane Andrew

James Aydelott – Alex Spahn on X: Ada, OK supercell photo

Jen Narramore – Jersey tornado believed to be most powerful recorded in British Isles for nearly 70 years

Rick Smith – Angel Enrique on X: Montana aurora photo

Neil Jacobs – Out

Troy Kimmel – IAEM Annual Conference 2023

Kim Klockow-McClain – Out

Bill Murray – Foghorn

James Spann – Professor Aims to Improve Emergency Alerts for Deaf Community

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like Troy Kimmel, Bill Murray, Rick Smith, James Aydelott, Jen Narramore, Dr. Neil Jacobs, and Dr. Kim Klockow-McClain. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating podcast about weather.