WeatherBrains

• WeatherBrains 1023B: Me And 8 Million Bags

  WeatherBrains Episode 1023B is a deep dive into 2005's Hurricane Katrina.  It's hard to believe, but the tragedy is approaching its 20th anniversary. Tonight's Guest WeatherBrain for this somber episode is the Curator of the Ground Zero Museum in Waveland, Mississippi.  She's a retired RN and was a former Nurse Administrator in New Orleans, LA.  Bernie Cullen, thanks for joining us. Guest Panelist and show veteran Mark Sudduth "The Hurricane Tracker" joins the panel's discussion by looking back at such a significant historical event, the technological challenges of twenty years ago, and looking ahead to the future.  He's a well known storm chaser and weather documentarian.  Thanks for your valuable insight on tonight's episode, Mark! Our email officer Jen is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners. Reach us here: [email protected]. Robert Ricks and his pre-landfall Katrina doomsday forecast (04:00) Tropical Storm Katrina forms on August 23rd, 2005 (08:30) 2005 tech available to hurricane chasers vs today (08:45) Katrina's Fort Lauderdale, Florida landfall (11:00) Early Katrina prep in New Orleans (17:00) 1992's Hurricane Andrew and it's forgotten second landfall in Louisiana (29:30) Lack of accurate storm surge forecasting 20 years ago (40:00) Parallels with 1969's Hurricane Camille and its change of forecasted landfall point (53:00) Katrina vs Camille wind fields (58:30) Ground Zero Museum - contents, purpose and history (01:20:00) More TikTok nonsense (01:47:30) The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:48:50) This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:50:35) E-Mail Segment (No segment this week - stay tuned!) and more! Web Sites from Episode 1023B: Waveland's Ground Zero Museum Alabama Weather Network Picks of the Week: James Aydelott - Ray Caldwell, pitching for Cleveland Indians, struck by lightning on pitchers mound - 1919 Jen Narramore - Alabama Weather Network Daily Briefing! Rick Smith - Out Troy Kimmel - Foghorn Kim Klockow-McClain - "Children of Katrina (The Katrina Bookshelf)" by Alice Fothergill and Lori Peek John Gordon - Michelle Cowbourne on X Bill Murray - Katrina: South Mississippi's Story (Full Documentary on YouTube) James Spann - Robert Ricks - On The Ground During Katrina (YouTube) The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like Troy Kimmel, Bill Murray, Rick Smith, James Aydelott, Jen Narramore, John Gordon, and Dr. Kim Klockow-McClain. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating podcast about weather.

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• WeatherBrains 1023A: NWA 2025 Preview

  WeatherBrains Episode 1023A is a preview of the upcoming 2025 NWA Annual Meeting in Huntsville, AL.  The meeting is only two weeks away from the date of recording (August 25th, 2025). Show veteran Kevin Laws joins us to dive into the upcoming NWA Annual Meeting in Huntsville.  He currently serves as the SOO (Science and Operations Officer) of the Birmingham, AL NWS office.  Kevin, it's great to see you again. David from the Texas Storm Chasers also drops in to chat with the panel about what to expect at the meeting. Our email officer Jen is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners. Reach us here: [email protected]. Tropics remain quiet (02:45) Starting the dialogue of a changing business model (07:55) Baby steps toward progress in the field starting over 15 years ago (11:00) Gatekeeping and resentment among various sectors in meteorology (12:00) Objectives of the upcoming Annual Meeting (23:00) The outdated concept of TV market boundaries (36:00) NWA registration procedures (44:00) How do we define expertise in 2025?  (48:30) What will the broadcast transition look like moving forward?  (50:45) The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (No segment for this episode) This Week in Tornado History With Jen (No segment for this episode) E-Mail Segment (No segment for this episode) and more! Web Sites from Episode 1023A: 2025 NWA Annual Meeting September 6-10th, 2025 Huntsville AL Alabama Weather Network Alabama Weather Network on Facebook Picks of the Week: James Aydelott - Cool noon temperatures in Oklahoma Jen Narramore - Out Rick Smith - The OCS/Mesonet Ticker Troy Kimmel - Foghorn Kim Klockow-McClain - Foghorn John Gordon - Out Bill Murray - Out James Spann - Foghorn The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like Troy Kimmel, Bill Murray, Rick Smith, James Aydelott, Jen Narramore, John Gordon, and Dr. Kim Klockow-McClain. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating podcast about weather.

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• WeatherBrains 1022: Tighter Than A Tick’s Butt

  Tonight's Guest WeatherBrain is a professor of mechanical engineering and applied mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania.  He previously served as a principal scientist at Microsoft Research, where he led the development of Aurora.  This was the groundbreaking AI foundation model for earth system forecasting.  Dr. Paris Perdikaris, welcome to WeatherBrains! Our email officer Jen is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners. Reach us here: [email protected]. What is Aurora and the motivation for the program? (08:15) Practical experience and forecasting with tropical forecasting with Aurora (12:30) Success stories with Aurora (14:00) Convection-allowing models (CAMS) (17:15) Convective feedback problems with models (18:45) Emergence of the Google DeepMind ensemble and other AI models (20:00) Aurora's hardware architecture and its importance (23:30) Continuing need of physics-based models in the age of AI (28:00) Ethical considerations and biases in model training data (33:30) Role of US agencies and potential loss of funding (37:55) Communicating AI forecasts to the public and the ensuing ethical issues (42:30) Broad risks of using AI (44:30) Aurora business model (58:45) The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:05:25) This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:07:25) E-Mail Segment (01:09:30) and more! Web Sites from Episode 1022: Penn's Predictive Intelligence Lab Alabama Weather Network on Facebook Picks of the Week: James Aydelott - Dr. Cameron Nixon on YouTube: Cell Mergers and Nudgers Jen Narramore - "Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991" by Thomas Grazulis Rick Smith - USA Jobs Troy Kimmel - Foghorn Kim Klockow-McClain - Out John Gordon - Live Recon in the Atlantic Basin Bill Murray - Foghorn James Spann - Weather Lab: Cyclones The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like Troy Kimmel, Bill Murray, Rick Smith, James Aydelott, Jen Narramore, John Gordon, and Dr. Kim Klockow-McClain. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating podcast about weather.

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• WeatherBrains 1021: I’m Glad You Wear Pants Now

  Tonight's First Guest WeatherBrain is a meteorologist and veteran storm chaser who has documented tornadoes, hurricanes and supercells across the United States since 2015.  He has degrees from Arizona State University and the University of Oklahoma, where he operated a mobile radar under tornado research pioneer Dr. Howie Bluestein.  Trey Greenwood, welcome to the show! Our Second Guest WeatherBrain is a professional broadcaster and CEO of storm chaser Coaching, hosting over 200 episodes of the Chaser Chat Podcast since 2020.  He leads the company's mission to centralize storm chasing education through structured courses and a long-term membership model connecting learners with experienced coaches.  Gabriel Harber, thank you for joining us tonight. WeatherBrains veteran Sandy LaCorte also joins the panel to discuss the upcoming NWA Meeting 2025.  It's great to see you again, Sandy. Our email officer Jen is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners. Reach us here: [email protected]. End of dog days of summer; fall is on our doorstep (04:30) NWA Annual Meeting 2025 Huntsville, AL (07:30) Invest in others and pay it forward!  (13:00) Trey's first tornado chase in 2015 and the takeaways (33:00) Working with Dr. Bluestein in the field (36:00) What is storm chaser coaching and how did it come to be? (43:00) Bill Murray's first tornado intercept (48:45) No such thing as a bust when storm chasing in the field! (52:45) Driving etiquette/mob behavior ruining storm chasing (55:30) Risks/distractions/recommendations of storm chasing solo (01:11:30) Analysis of the economics of storm chasing (01:15:30) Oklahoma storm chaser license legislation (01:18:15) Role of drones in the storm chaser toolkit (01:22:00) Under-appreciated aspects of storm chasing (01:31:30) The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:35:15) This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:37:15) E-Mail Segment (01:38:30) and more! Web Sites from Episode 1021: Storm Chaser Coaching Gabriel Harber on X Alabama Weather Network on Facebook Picks of the Week: Trey Greenwood - Convective Chronicles on YouTube James Aydelott - Shea Gibson on Facebook: Mt. Pleasant, SC video James Aydelott - James Aydelott on Facebook: Meade, KS heat burst Jen Narramore - Mongolian supercells Rick Smith - Out Troy Kimmel - Official launch of the Alabama Weather Network Kim Klockow-McClain - Congressman Eric Sorensen on Defending Climate Science, Depoliticizing Weather and Bringing Scientific Rigor To Capitol Hill John Gordon - NWS ABQ - Heat Bursts Bill Murray - Foghorn James Spann - Mount Pleasant PD on X: Lightning strike outages/delays The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like Troy Kimmel, Bill Murray, Rick Smith, James Aydelott, Jen Narramore, John Gordon, and Dr. Kim Klockow-McClain. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating podcast about weather.

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• WeatherBrains 1020: Slashing Tires

  Tonight's special Guest WeatherBrain is Evan Fryberger, who is an independent content creator and a weather communicator who has built a loyal following online.  He's a calm and informed voice in the ever-noisy world of weather streaming.  His no-hype approach stands out in an age of rising anxiety and clickbait.  Evan, welcome to WeatherBrains! Our email officer Jen is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners. Reach us here: [email protected]. New record low maximum for Birmingham, AL on August 4th at 77 (02:00) One week away from launch of Alabama Weather Network (05:30) Looking back at 9/11/2001 and Hurricane Gabrielle (19:30) Fighting clickbait and hype online (26:00) 2025 Mental health crisis (33:00) Storm chasing overcrowding and dangers on the road (43:30) Blurring lines and reaching saturation in the weather entertainment/streaming world (46:30) Approaching urgency and calmness during severe weather streams (53:30) National Integrated Warning Team meeting (01:04:00) Preparing for an active severe weather day as a streamer/content creator (01:09:15) When does Evan bring his dog on stream?  (01:19:00) Experiences with demonetization and copyright issues as a streamer (01:24:30) The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:27:50) This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:29:50) E-Mail Segment (01:31:45) and more! Web Sites from Episode 1020: Alabama Weather Network on Facebook Evan Fryberger on YouTube Evan Fryberger on X Picks of the Week: Evan Fryberger - SPC Mesoscale Analysis Pages Evan Fryberger - NASA Worldview Satellite Data James Aydelott - SPC Average Number of Tornadoes Per State By Month (All tornadoes 2000-2024) Jen Narramore - Out Rick Smith - Tropical Storm Dexter Troy Kimmel - Out Kim Klockow-McClain - Foghorn John Gordon - Coral Reef Watch Eastern Persian Gulf Regional Products Bill Murray - Foghorn James Spann - Alabama Weather Network main site The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like Troy Kimmel, Bill Murray, Rick Smith, James Aydelott, Jen Narramore, John Gordon, and Dr. Kim Klockow-McClain. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating podcast about weather.

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