Weather Geeks

Guest: Stephen Wooten, Researcher

As a parent, there’s nothing more important than making sure your child is safe—especially when severe weather threatens their school day. Whether it’s the decision to delay, dismiss early, or shelter in place, we rely on school officials to make the right call. But as any parent knows, those decisions aren’t always black and white. Should schools be more cautious, or are they sometimes too...

Guest: John Trostel, Director

From towering supercells to fast-moving derechos, severe storms are some of the most powerful and unpredictable forces in nature. Forecasting these storms requires cutting-edge technology, real-time data analysis, and years of research to improve early warning systems and save lives. That’s where institutions like the Severe Storms Research Center at Georgia Tech come in. Today on Weather ...

Guest: Jenny Dissen, NCICS

When a hurricane strikes, the immediate damage is only part of the story. The real test comes in the days, weeks, and even years after the storm—when communities must rebuild, adapt, and prepare for what’s next. Hurricane Helene left its mark on North Carolina, exposing vulnerabilities but also sparking efforts to create a more resilient future. Today on Weather Geeks, we’re joined by Jenny D...

Guest: Dr. Rick Spinrad, Outgoing NOAA Administrator 

From predicting hurricanes and monitoring our oceans to leading cutting-edge climate research, NOAA plays a critical role in protecting lives, property, and our planet. The phone that you may be listening to this podcast on right now would not have weather apps without NOAA. The computer you may be listening on won’t have easily accessible radar data over the i...

Guest: Daniel Swain

Winds are howling outside Los Angeles, California on a dry January day. The hillsides north and east of the city erupt in flames. A wall of fire begins to consume neighborhoods faster than firefighters can keep up. As wind-driven embers continue to fly down hill - a thousand miles away, Daniel Swain’s phone begins to light up. Journalists, companies, officials - all want answers to California’s extreme w...

Guests: John Banghoff, Jonathan Guseman, Jase Bernhardt

We’ve all seen it. A multi-car pile-up accident that seems unstoppable. One weather phenomenon is often at the root of these - snow qualls. These aren't your typical snow flurries; they can bring sudden, near-zero visibility and treacherous driving conditions in a matter of minutes. We're joined today by 3 meteorologists with snow squall experience: ...

Guest: Dr. Sean Waugh, National Severe Storms Laboratory research scientist

As we’ve seen in the movies, and real life, tornadoes are some of the most destructive forces in nature, capable of leveling homes and damaging entire communities in a matter of minutes. And what about hail? It causes BILLIONS and billions of dollars in damage in the US every year. But how do we get up-close, real-time data on these v...

Guest: Jason Deese, CEO of Flash Weather AI

Weather forecasting has always been a mix of art and science, relying on tools like the Euro and GFS models to predict everything from tomorrow’s sunshine to next week’s storms. But now, artificial intelligence is reshaping the field, offering faster and more precise insights than ever before. Today on Weather Geeks, we’re exploring Flash Weather AI, a cutting-edge tool designed t...

Guest: Anthony Edwards, Newsroom Meteorologist with the San Francisco Chronicle

With every new year comes hope for a prosperous year. For thousands in southern California, that hope quickly turned into a nightmare. One week into the new year, devastation quickly set in when multiple wildfires began to spread in Los Angeles County. A historic Santa Ana Windstorm, with winds gusting to 100 mph in spots, sent flames into highl...

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 ...

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 ...

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...

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....

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 th...

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...

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 Res...

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 ...

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,...

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 star...