WeatherBrains

The first named storm of 2018 is now in the books, so we're going to be talking with two experts in the area of tropical weather, Max Mayfield, left, and Bryan Norcross, right.  These two hurricane specialists currently work for WPLG in Fort Lauderdale. They both need no introduction. Max Mayfield, former Director of the National Hurricane Center, and Bryan Norcross, Mr. Hurricane who appeared on the show a few months ago when his book came out.

Tonight’s Guest WeatherBrain was an Air Force Meteorologist in the late 80s and early 90s. In the late 1990s, he left the Air Force to run his weather consulting programming business. He has published numerous books on weather forecasting. Tonight, we will watch over his shoulder as he broadcasts his nightly Meteorology Lab program on YouTube. Think of it as a 45 minute Weather Xterme Video like James and Brian do, only on steroids. Tim Vasquez, welcome to WeatherBrains.

Tonight's Guest WeatherBrain is a Research Meteorologist at National Severe Storms Laboratory and a visiting Professor of Atmospheric Science at Desert Research Institute and the University of Nevada-Reno. He is the author of the recent AMS Book: Verner Soumi: The Life and Work of the Founder of Satellite Meteorology. He joins us tonight from his daughter's home in Sacramento. Please welcome Dr. John Lewis to WeatherBrains.

Our guest for this episode of WeatherBrains is Rudy Simoneaux. Rudy is the engineering manager of the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, along with being the project manager of the LSU Center for River Studies. He is also the president-elect of the Louisiana Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Joining us for this episode is SPC Lead Forecaster John Hart. John is actually in the mountains of Colorado where he has been panning for gold. As far back as he can remember, he had always dreamed of being a lead forecaster for the SELS unit in Kansas City which is now called the SPC. After attending college in St. Louis, he worked at Channel 2 there for a while. Then, a few weeks after graduation he was lucky enough to get a job at the National Weather Service in Charleston, West Virginia, and interned there for two years. He was involved with a few computer programming projects there that got his name known, so when a job opened at SELS, he was able to get it. Since then, he's been in this unit, but worked multiple jobs. He became a meso-forecaster in 1995, and then a lead forecaster in 2000.

Tonight's WeatherBrain is the Emergency Response Meteorologist for the National Weather Service Southern Region Headquarters, Jennifer McNatt. Also joining us is Elinor Lutu-McMoore, the Meteorologist in Charge at the NWS office in Pago Pago, American Samoa.

Tonight's Guest WeatherBrain is the Associate Director at the Extreme Events Institute at Florida International University. Erik Salna, welcome to WeatherBrains!

Our guest WeatherBrain for this episode is Matt Solum. Matt is the Decision Support Services Program Manager at Western Region Headquarters of the National Weather Service in Salt Lake City, UT. Matt was in the California State Operations Center, basically the state EOC, supporting their full activation as a result of the fires in southern California. Their team was providing forecast information primarily for the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) and FEMA as it was a joint operation. They also provided weather information to other partners in the room including EPA, CalTrans, DOT, CalEPA, etc. He was deployed to both the October fires and the massive/prolonged December fires. Welcome to WeatherBrains, Matt.

Tonight, we have the author of the book  The Man Who Caught the Storm: The Life of Legendary Tornado Chaser Tim Samaras about the 2013 deadly El Reno, Oklahoma tornado.  He is a journalist who has written for Wire, Popular Mechanics and Texas Monthly.  Brantley Hargrove, welcome to WeatherBrains!

Joining us from Canada to talk about weather folklore is Cindy Day. Cindy began her career at CFRA radio based in Ottawa where she was the host of Ottawa AM program. Then she is known for starting, Weather by Day, her own business in which she provided seasonal forecasts, radio reports and climate data for Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec. Cindy has worked for CTV Atlantic from September, 2007, to December, 2017. She appeared on CTV News at 5, CTV News at 6 and the Late News at 11:30 p.m. Her exceptional work made her win a lot of fans and friends.  Guest panelist for the show tonight is Irene Sans. Irene was on WeatherBrains episode 630.