Weather Heroes

The episode starts with the trailer of the exciting 1996 film “Twister,” featuring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton. It sets the stage for our interview today with Mark Fox. As the Meteorologist-in-Charge at the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Norman, Oklahoma—a notorious tornado hot-spot – Mark’s mission is the preservation of lives and property. As a seasoned tornado expert, he is the right person in the right place, puttin...

Each type of disaster presents unique challenges and in these critical moments, logistics plays a pivotal role.  Today we talk with Angela Ruth Corbett. She has extensive experience in disaster response logistics and can shed light on the many challenges involved in setting up and supplying disaster sites. She is widely recognized as a leader and innovator. I met Angela while she worked at a major insurance company. Today she is wo...

Did you know that the National Weather Service has a SWAT Team? Well, not quite SWAT, but pretty close! Today we talk with Robert Rickey who is an IMET – an Incident Meteorologist. They are a group of about 100 forecasters who go to where the danger is, in harm’s way.  They primarily get deployed to wildfire events, but have worked at floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and even oil spills. Their main goal is to provide weather informat...

There have been many hurricanes before, but not like Andrew. It changed many things, not just for Miami, but across the US: how everyone prepares for hurricanes, building codes, insurance practices, mitigation efforts, the list is long. 

Andrew also ignited my passion for the excitement and reward of giving back to the community in times of disaster. That feeling carried me through decades of working in the catastrophe business. I’v...

The National Weather Service (NWS) provides weather, water, and climate forecasts and warnings for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters and ocean areas. They play an indispensable role in the protection of life and property and the enhancement of the national economy by empowering us to prepare for and respond effectively to adverse weather conditions. 

As one of the cornerstones of American safety they are a key Weat...

In 1983, the DynaTAC 8000X cellular telephone, affectionately known as “the brick,” entered the market. Those of us of a certain age, certainly remember it! Since then, cell phones have seamlessly woven themselves into our daily lives. These pocket-sized devices grant us access to seemingly endless information and provide countless ways to communicate with family, friends, and the world at large. In fact, many individuals have aban...

Welcome to Weather Heroes.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) since 1980, the U.S. has sustained over two and a half trillion dollars in weather related damage.  The cost of weather disasters can have a significant impact on the economy, environment, and people’s lives.

 Weather Heroes explores the world of planning for and responding to disasters. We visit with key “weather” players from a wide r...

After Hurricane Andrew made landfall in 1992, plywood prices rose 45% and prices for Southern pine framing lumber increased 17%. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the wood products markets reacted strongly.

Panic buying of lumber and structural panels went on for weeks. Lumber and plywood costs increased an average of 30% the four weeks after landfall, however decreased to normal over the next six to eight weeks. 

Hurricane K...