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 2015 - Space City Weather has kept Houston informed during extreme weather events. Hurricane Harvey, the February Freeze of 2021, extreme drought to extreme floods, and last year’s Derecho - to name a few. In all, you can sum up Eric’s career - so far - as one small step for weather and giant leap for science-kind.

Chapters

1. 00:00 Introduction to Eric Berger and His Journey
2. 05:31 Transitioning from Space to Weather
3. 11:42 The Impact of Hurricane Harvey
4. 16:10 Lessons Learned from Hurricane Harvey
5. 19:56 Experiencing a Range of Extreme Weather Events
6. 25:02 Navigating the Era of Social Meteorology
7. 29:43 Key Lessons and Future Directions

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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, so do all of these models and the technology we are focusing on today on Weather Geeks is AI. While it may seem like a buzzword these days, it can be used to enhance our industry and help us all reach our common goal: saving lives and property. We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Ilan Price to discuss GenCast, Google’s weather forecasting model that is entirely powered by AI. How does it stack up to the models we know and love? The answer may surprise you…

Chapters

1. 00:00 Introduction to AI in Weather Forecasting
2. 02:10 Meet the Experts: Ilan Price and Matthew Wilson
3. 06:34 Understanding GenCast: The AI Weather Model
4. 10:47 Machine Learning vs Traditional Forecasting
5. 13:22 Data Sources and Ethical Considerations
6. 15:10 Handling Extreme Weather Events
7. 21:15 Validation and Verification of GenCast
8. 23:26 Impact of GenCast on Weather Forecasting

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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 available to you at all because of the weather? That is the current reality for some home and business owners across the U.S. Today on Weather Geeks, we brought on economist Dr. Philip Mulder who has already crunched the numbers about why that is and how insurance providers can get away with this..

Chapters

1. 00:00 Introduction to Homeowner's Insurance and Climate Risks
2. 02:53 The Role of the National Flood Insurance Program
3. 05:54 Challenges of Flood Mapping and Insurance Coverage
4. 09:08 Impact of Recent Hurricanes on Insurance
5. 11:54 Understanding Mortgage Escrow and Insurance Premiums
6. 14:56 Trends in Homeowners Insurance Premiums
7. 17:49 The Role of Reinsurance in Insurance Markets
8. 21:05 Climate Change and Future Insurance Trends
9. 23:59 Insurance Burden on Low-Income Communities
10. 27:04 Future Research Directions in Insurance and Climate Risk

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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 infrastructure is put to the test.  But do we know all we can about these hail storms and how we can mitigate future disasters? Today, we are welcoming back a friend of the show Dr. Victor Gensini to discuss his upcoming field campaign, which is the largest one that has ever been funded that focuses solely on hail.

Chapters

1. Introduction to Hailstorms and Their Impact
2. Victor Gensini's Journey in Meteorology
3. Understanding Hail: Current Knowledge and Gaps
4. The IceChip Field Campaign: Goals and Logistics
5. A Day in the Life of a Field Campaign
6. Future Aspirations in Hail Research

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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 Markowski is the Head of the Meteorology and Atmospheric Science Department at Penn State and an expert in tornado research. You will be surprised with how many papers he’s written on aspects of tornadoes you’ve probably never even heard of! We’ve also got Dr. Greg Postel on the show today so we can have an all-encompassing tornado geek out!

Chapters

1. 00:00 Introduction to the Guest and Topic
2. 01:26 How Dr. Paul Markowski Became Interested in Weather
3. 05:51 Dr. Markowski's Journey in Meteorology
4. 06:19 Dr. Markowski's Career at Penn State
5. 07:10 Dr. Markowski's Research and Field Work
6. 09:22 The Experience of Storm Chasing
7. 18:19 Transition to New Research and Theories
8. 29:02 Previous Understanding of Tornado Formation
9. 29:31 Dr. Markowski's Perspective on Tornado Research
10. 30:03 Statistically Identical Environments
11. 31:21 Sensitivity of Storm Behavior
12. 32:19 Discovering New Paradigms
13. 33:21 Role of Turbulent Eddies
14. 34:17 Impact of Cold Air
15. 35:16 Laminar Environments vs. Turbulent Environments
16. 37:18 Theoretical Outcome vs. Real Atmosphere
17. 38:34 Implications for Predictability
18. 39:04 AI in Tornado Warnings
19. 46:52 The Role of AI in Forecasting

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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 not just to compete, but also think about our environment and climate as they do so? We have sports ecologist Dr. Jessica Murfree here on the show today to talk about the unique intersection of sports, our changing climate, and extreme weather events, and how that intersection can make all of us more future-thinking so we can go for the gold!

Chapters

00:00 Introduction: Exploring the Intersection of Sports, Weather, and Climate

09:51 Understanding Sports Ecology: The Study of Relationships Between Sports and the Natural Environment

15:49 The Environmental Challenges of the Olympics: Heat and Climate Change

21:23 Adapting Sports to Climate Change: Considerations for Spectators and Infrastructure

25:47 The Impact of Climate Change on Sports: Spectator Experience and Adaptation

36:10 Rethinking Infrastructure and Practices: How Climate Change is Shaping Major Sports Leagues

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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. Jared Rennie is a Research Meteorologist with NCEI and works to support the integration of both climate and socioeconomic data. His work encompasses an operational as well as a research aspect with respect to software used in data processing.

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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 Twister, which inspired meteorologists all across the country to pursue their passion? Will we see a brand new wave of Kates and Tylers in the coming decades? Before we think too far ahead, we’ve got to break down the SCIENCE in the film, and who better to do that with than Rick Smith, the Warning Coordination Meteorologist at NWS Norman…

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction to Twisters and Rick Smith
• 09:14 Involvement with the Movie Twisters
• 23:12 Accuracy of Science in Twisters
• 34:02 Weather Modification and Taming Tornadoes
• 36:42 The Future of Twisters and Potential Sequels

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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 what that could entail, but is the rest of the general public ready? And today we’re not talking about prep kits or boarded up windows, we’re talking about how the public understands the risks that they are under during a landfalling tropical cyclone. Let’s discuss that and many more topics with the University of Alabama’s Dr. Jason Senkbeil…

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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 Geeks show; first starting as a half-hour geek out on The Weather Channel and now a podcast that you’re listening to wherever you are! And since the beginning, Dr. Marshall Shepherd from the University of Georgia has been your host and he’s sitting down with us to reminisce and regale about the past 10 years of Weather Geeks…

Chapters

• 00:00 The Fascination of Weather Geeks
• 02:14 Bitten by the Weather Bug
• 04:28 Creating a Meet the Press for Weather
• 05:07 The Reluctant Host
• 10:39 The Evolution of Hosting
• 16:17 Fascinating Guests
• 21:39 Geeking Out with Ginger Zee and Janice Hough
• 22:05 A Place to Geek Out
• 22:42 The Value of Weather Geeks in the Weathergeek Community
• 24:21 Challenges and Surprises of Hosting a TV Show
• 26:33 Influencing Teaching Strategies through Weather Geeks
• 29:03 The Future of Weather Geeks: AI, Social Sciences, and Immersive Mixed Reality
• 31:27 Exploring the Fascination of Weather with Weather Geeks

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