WeatherBrains 1044: Ape Crazy
WeatherBrains Episode 1044 is now online (January 19th, 2026). If you are crazy about weather, this is THE podcast for you!
Tonight’s show is dedicated to a deep dive into avalanches! Tonight’s Guest WeatherBrain is Dr. Ethan Greene from Colorado Avalanche Center. He’s also served as the Director of the NW Pacific Avalanche Center. We will cover a basic understanding of avalanches, the geographic responsibility of the Colorado Avalanche Center, launch of forecasting avalanches and how they try to prevent avalanches during the off-season. We will examine how they prepared in this work with the citizens of Colorado and who they collaborate with make this happen. Dr. Greene joined CAIC as the Director in 2005. He grew up in Boulder and learned to ski when he was three. He has worked with snow and avalanches since 1990. He worked as a ski patroller (Big Sky Ski Resort) and as a backcountry avalanche forecaster (Utah Avalanche Forecast Center). He studied meteorology (B.S., University of Utah), mountain weather and snow-drift formation (M.S., Colorado State University), and snow metamorphism and microstructure (Ph.D., CSU). In 2016, he received the Bernie Kingery Award and a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Utah. Ethan has published a variety of articles and has been a member of national and international working groups on snow, weather, and avalanche topics. Ethan lives in Leadville with his wife and two children. Thanks for joining us tonight, Dr. Greene!
Also joining us as Guest Panelist is Mark Staples. He is Director and Avalanche Forecaster at the Gallatin National Forecast Avalanche Center in Boseman. Mark, welcome to WeatherBrains!
Our email officer Jen is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners. Reach us here: email@weatherbrains.com.
- Upcoming AMS Annual Meeting in Houston (03:30)
- Basic definition of an avalanche (08:00)
- What do their field technicians do and what instrumentation do they use? (18:30)
- How the avalanche watch/warning process works (24:00)
- Biggest clients in avalanche forecasting (37:00)
- How does the public get avalanche forecast information? (42:00)
- Canadian collaboration on risk communication (47:00)
- Communicating to young people about avalanche dangers (53:30)
- Smaller avalanche outbreaks vs major events (01:17:00)
- FAR and POD metrics vs avalanche warning metrics (01:19:00)
- The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:27:20)
- This Week in Tornado History With Jen (No segment this week)
- E-Mail Segment (No segment this week)
- and more!
Web Sites from Episode 1044:
Picks of the Week:
Dr. Ethan Greene – Avalanche Explorer
James Aydelott – Impactful snow ahead for Oklahoma and southern Kansas this upcoming weekend
Jen Narramore – Out
Rick Smith – Out
Troy Kimmel – 9 rules for using Forecast Models
Kim Klockow-McClain – Out
John Gordon – Avalanche search and rescue training in Tahoe
Bill Murray – Out
James Spann – NOAA/NWS Space Weather Prediction Center Radio Communications Dashboard
The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like Troy Kimmel, Bill Murray, Rick Smith, James Aydelott, Jen Narramore, John Gordon, and Dr. Kim Klockow-McClain. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating podcast about weather.