Guest: Dr. Stella Kafka, AMS Executive Director

The world of meteorology is vast, with the options of different career paths spreading far and wide! You don’t have to be on TV in order to be a successful meteorologist, nor do you have to work for the government at the National Weather Service. In that same vein, you don’t have to be a meteorologist to be involved in the American Meteorological Society, even though it’s in the name! Your career may take you in a different direction, but there is always a weather geek in there somewhere. That’s why today on Weather Geeks, we have the new Executive Director of the AMS Dr. Stella Kafka on the show to talk about her journey into this position and where she wants to take the organization in the future…

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Guest: Dr. Brian LaPointe, Research Professor at Florida Atlantic University

As we are heading into the throes of summer, a lot of you are going to be slathering on sunscreen and heading to the beaches! Heck, you may be listening to this podcast while ON the beach! While you’re there, wouldn’t you want to know more about the waters surrounding you and what little microscopic critters could be floating around in there? Maybe, maybe not, but we are going to geek out about it either way! I’m here with Dr. Brian LaPointe from FAU who is an industry expert in water quality across our country’s shorelines.

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction and Background
• 08:29 Eutrophication and Water Quality
• 27:12 Regulation and Management for Coastal Protection
• 37:13 Warming Water Temperatures and the Growth of Sargassum
• 45:04 The Human Alteration of the Nitrogen Cycle and Harmful Algal Blooms

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Guest: Charles Peek, Storm Tracker for The Weather Channel

It’s the thrill of the chase! After a record-breaking severe season, countless jaw-dropping videos of supercells and tornadoes were live streamed from every inch of Tornado Alley. Coupling that with the much anticipated release of the movie Twisters this summer, the sport of storm chasing has been a hot topic conversation. A lot of chasers would tell you that the movie Twister inspired them to pursue this career, but a LOT has changed since 1996! More technology, the rise of social media, and other avenues to make money are all on the table! On the show today, we have long-time storm chaser Charles Peek from The Weather Channel to talk about chasing in the year 2024 and beyond…

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Guest: Campbell Watson, Senior Research Scientist at IBM Research

As artificial intelligence, or AI, continues to become more pervasive in our technology, it’s only natural to wonder what it means for meteorology and climatology. Believe it or not, AI is already revolutionizing how we develop models in the Earth and Space sciences. Joining us today is Campbell Watson, a Senior Research Scientist at IBM Research, to discuss how we are creating these AI models, and the opportunities and advancements we hope to learn from using them.

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction to AI in Meteorology and Climatology
• 01:35 Campbell Watson's Background and Interest in Weather
• 04:18 The Use of AI in Weather Forecasting
• 05:24 The Evolution of AI in Weather Forecasting
• 06:26 Understanding AI at its Core
• 08:09 Difference Between AI and Conventional Weather Model Forecasting
• 10:44 The Difference Between AI and Conventional Weather Model Forecasting
• 13:31 AI Models Learning from Weather Models
• 20:30 Foundation Models and Unsupervised Learning
• 25:12 Verification of AI in Weather Forecasting
• 27:57 The Robustness of AI Models
• 28:24 Learning from Observations
• 29:23 AI Models Learning from Observations
• 30:09 The Importance of Observations
• 30:38 Comparing Deep Learning and AI with Traditional Weather Forecasting Models
• 35:38 Trustworthiness in AI Forecasting
• 36:12 Adopting AI in Weather Forecasting
• 41:46 Nowcasting with AI
• 44:03 AI in Climate Forecasting
• 47:38 The Future of AI in Weather Forecasting

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Guest: Dr. Amanda Schroeder, NWS Fort Worth

Description: Flooding can occur any time of the year and in any part of the United States. It is a weather catastrophe that knows no limitations. Each year, too many people lose their lives to flooding. Communicating the risks of flash flooding can be just as difficult as forecasting flash flooding itself. No one understands that better than Dr. Amanda Schroeder, a Senior Service Hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. She was key in the development of the Flash Flood Severity Index, a scale designed to help convey the risks associated with flood events.

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction
• 01:42 Dr. Amanda Schroeder's Background
• 04:04 Early Work on Flash Flood Research
• 05:16 Work on the Spread Project
• 08:52. Role of a Senior Service Hydrologist
• 10:21 Challenges of Flood Forecasting
• 11:34 Impact-Based Forecasting
• 13:17 Flash Flood Severity Index
• 19:06 Implementation of the Index
• 20:17 Potential Global Application
• 23:16 Memorable Flooding Events
• 26:01 Impact of Climate Change on Flooding
• 28:11 Takeaways for the Public
• 31:08 Overcoming Challenges in the Field
• 32:27 Availability of Information on the Flash Flood Severity Index
• 33:46 A Day in the Life of a Senior Service Hydrologist
• 35:45 Conclusion

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Guest: Clinton Wallace, Director of the SWPC

Weather Geeks often spend their time looking up at the sky, but there are some Geeks that look even farther up! Forecasters at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center are tasked with looking at everything PAST our atmosphere to warn us of any impending threats. However, sometimes those threats can be visualized as a spectacle with the Northern Lights, which we were ALL treated to one of the greatest shows of our lifetimes back in early May. How did the Space Weather Prediction Center forecasters know this event was coming? Well they were led by Director Clinton Wallace, and we have him on the show!

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Guest: John Ross, author

Whether you’ve heard about D-Day or the Battle of Normandy through a textbook at school many years ago or from a documentary on TV, the images you’ve seen of the seaborne invasion surely are etched into your mind. All of the troops storming the beaches from the sea, flanked by gunfire and explosions. Of course the logistics of conducting such an organized siege is one thing, but one aspect that many people don’t know is how much of an impact the weather had on that pivotal battle. And if that battle did not happen, there would be cascading effects that would change our history forever. Ahead of the 80th Anniversary of D-Day, we have author John Ross on the podcast today

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Guest: Charlie Peachey, Mount Washington Weather Observer

The United States sees almost every kind of meteorological phenomena imaginable, but there’s one place where the weather can be amplified. Located at over 6000 feet in New Hampshire, Mount Washington is famous for its weather extremes. The Mount Washington Observatory is a world renowned institution with a mission to advance understanding of the natural systems that create Earth’s weather and climate. Our guest today is a Weather Observer and Research/IT Specialist with the observatory… welcome to the show Charlie Peachey!

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Guest: Dr. Falko Judt, Research Meteorologist at NCAR

In tropical meteorology, the term ‘rapid intensification’ describes a tropical cyclone that does just that: it rapidly intensifies. The official definition is a tropical system whose maximum sustained winds increase by at least 35 mph in a 24-hour period. Sometimes though, it’s much more intense. In 2023, Hurricane Otis in the Eastern Pacific saw its winds increase by 115 mph in less than 24 hours before slamming into Mexico as a rare Category 5 storm, while Hurricane Idalia intensified by 55 mph from a tropical storm to a Category 5 hurricane in the day before making landfall in Florida’s Big Bend. The ‘how’ and ‘why’ some storms rapidly intensify is still shrouded in a bit of mystery. Here today to help us unveil a bit of that, we welcome Falko Judt, a research meteorologist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

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Guest: Dr. Amy McGovern, University of Oklahoma

We as humans all have biases whether we like to believe it or not, especially when it comes to meteorology. You may have heard of confirmation bias, Dunning-Kruger effect, survivor’s bias, cognitive dissonance and more! However, humans aren’t the only ones who are susceptible to bias: it has been shown in newly-evolving AI. How can we nip these glitches in the bud before they could potentially get out of hand? Our guest today Dr. Amy McGovern from the University of Oklahoma is working to tackle that exact problem…

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