This week’s guest WeatherBrain is Joe D’Aleo… the first Director of Meteorology at the cable TV Weather Channel. He has over 30 years experience in professional meteorology. Mr. D’Aleo was Chief Meteorologist at Weather Services International Corporation and Senior Editor of “Dr. Dewpoint” for WSI’s popular Intellicast.com web site. He is a former college professor of Meteorology at Lyndon State College. Mr. D’Aleo is a Certified Consultant Meteorologist and was elected a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). He has served as a member and then chairman of the American Meteorological Society’ Committee on Weather Analysis and Forecasting, and has co-chaired national conferences for both the American Meteorological Society and the National Weather Association. Mr. D’Aleo was elected a Councilor for the AMS.

Also joining us again is meteorologist Joan Van Ahn… remember by many as the host of the PBS show “AM Weather” back in the 1980s. Joan is now with the NWS HQ in the Washington, DC area.

Other discussions in this weekly podcast include topics like:

Picks of the Week:

Dr. Tim Coleman – HORN!

JB Elliott – HORN!

Bill Murray – NOAA Natural Hazard Stats

James Spann – The Sleeping Giant – From Digital Meteorologist

Joan Van Ahn: (NWS) database system used to catalog and display NWS Products and Product Enhancements

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like JB Elliott, Dr. Tim Coleman, and Bill Murray. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating netcast about weather.

This week’s WeatherBrain is Karen Trahan Leathem, Ph.D., the lead historian for the Louisiana State Museum exhibition Living with Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond. A native of Kaplan, Louisiana, she earned her B.A. at Louisiana State University and M.A. and Ph.D. in American History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has worked at the Louisiana State Museum for nine years, researching and writing a broad range of exhibitions on Louisiana history and culture, including Mardi Gras: It’s Carnival Time in Louisiana. Her recent publications include essays in New Orleans Cuisine: Fourteen Signature Dishes and Their Histories (2009) and Louisiana Women: Their Lives and Times (2009).

Other discussions in this weekly podcast include topics like:

Our mail bag has been getting some attention and Kevin puts it in perspective.

From The Weather Center:

WeatherBrains 101: .

TWIWH: Bill Murray looks back at the week of August 23 .

Listener Surveys: Okay, we continue to drive this topic into the ground, but we really do like to hear from you. Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to fill out the Listener Survey. The survey takes just a minute or two to complete and provides us with an opportunity to learn where you are and hear your thoughts and comments on the show. Click here to take the survey.

Picks of the Week:

JB Elliott – Gets the HORN!

Bill Murray – Louisiana’s Hurricane History

Kevin Selle – Walk To The Cure – Fund Rasier for Juvenile Diabetes

James Spann – This Week In Radio Tech podcast (on the TWIT network)

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like JB Elliott, Kevin Selle, and Bill Murray. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating netcast about weather.

We love to hear from you! To leave a recorded message, call 1-888-247-8627. Some calls may be used in future episodes. Also, feel free to post comments to the site and drop us an email at email at (at symbol) weatherbrains dot com.

It’s a two guest night on WeatherBrains.

Tonight’s Guest WeatherBrain loves weather, especially extreme weather. She can be seen weekdays giving the National and International weather on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s network news show NewsWorld. She studied at the University of Western Ontario and York University. She also spent some time at Environment Canada, where she held the position of storm chaser.
She joined CBC News in the spring of 2007 as a research meteorologist. The powers that be quickly recognizaed that she should be on air and the rest is history. Tonight, we welcome Canada’s favorite meteorologist to the show, Johanna Wagstaffe.

Our second guest is National Weather Service CIO, Craig Hegermann.

Back as a panelist with us for this show is Rob Dale, EMA Planner with Eaton County Emergency Services, and former weathercaster at WLNS.

Our mail bag has been getting some attention and Kevin puts it in perspective.

From The Weather Center:

WeatherBrains 101: Some weather events have strange names not to mention some spectacular folklore to go along with those events. This week the professor explores one of those events called a chinook – not the helicopter but the wind.

TWIWH: Bill Murray looks back at the week of August 16.

Listener Surveys: Okay, we continue to drive this topic into the ground, but we really do like to hear from you. Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to fill out the Listener Survey. The survey takes just a minute or two to complete and provides us with an opportunity to learn where you are and hear your thoughts and comments on the show. Click here to take the survey.

Web Sites from Episode 238:

Picks of the Week:

JB Elliott – Gets the VUVUZELA! No pick.

Johanna Wagstaffe – CBC Twitter Account

Rob Dale – BUFKIT 10.7

Bill Murray – Cloud Spotters Guide

Kevin Selle – Digital Meteorologist

James Spann – No pick… he was across the hall on TV when the “Pick Of The Week” segment hit.

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like JB Elliott, Kevin Selle, and Bill Murray. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating netcast about weather.

Back on February 14th, Micah Maziar dropped us a line and in it he said: One of my coworkers at Toledo Air Traffic Control Tower in Northwest Ohio is an absolute weather geek. And I mean an extreme weather geek! So with that kind of advance billing, we had to get him on the show as tonight’s Guest WeatherBrain!

He is originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana. He attended Purdue University where he received a degree in Aviation Technology. He was hired by the FAA in 2003 and has worked in the tower at Toledo since then. Jeff Hormann, welcome to WeatherBrains!

Joining us as our guest panelist is Dr. John Scala who appeared on Episode 224 on May 11, 2010.

Dr. Scala began his professional career at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center where he focused on the observation and numerical modeling of storms. Dr. Scala holds a BS degree in Biology and Geology from the University of Rochester, and MS and PhD degrees in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia.

Dr. Scala is often asked to address insurance underwriters and claims adjusters, first responders, emergency managers and coordinators at the municipal and county level, as well as public schools and community service organizations on disaster preparedness, severe weather awareness and hazard mitigation. He maintains a close working relationship with the National Weather Service by collaborating on research projects designed to improve operational forecasting as well as assisting in site surveys of tornado and severe storm damage. Dr. Scala consulted with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Association where he developed curricular-based materials for integrating service learning, scientific knowledge, and emergency response and preparedness activities.

Our mail bag has been getting some attention and Kevin puts it in perspective.

From The Weather Center:

WeatherBrains 101: Measuring the elements is of great fascination to professional meteorologists and weather enthusiasts alike. This week 101 looks at measuring air movement with an anemometer. Do you believe the anemometer has been around since the 1400s? Well it has, so listen in to a rundown on one of the most common measurements in weather.

TWIWH: Bill Murray looks back at one of the greatest hurricanes of the 20th century, that occurred during This Week in Weather History.

Web Sites from Episode 237:

Picks of the Week:

Dr. Tim Coleman – Hot summer for the Deep South

JB Elliott – Gets the HORN!

Bill Murray – Live ATC Air Radio

James Spann – Retired Hurricane Names

Jeff Hormann – NOAA Aviation Weather Center as well as the Toledo Local of the National Association of Air Traffic Controllers and the FAA opportunities page for air traffic controllers.

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like JB Elliott, Dr. Tim Coleman, and Bill Murray. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating netcast about weather.

Guest panelist for this episode of WeatherBrains is Brenda Phillips. Brenda Philips is the leader of the End User Integration research at the Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA), an NSF Engineering Research Center headquartered at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. CASA is creating innovative weather radar systems. The End User Integration research thrust is a multidisciplinary group that interacts with users of weather data – such as the National Weather Service, emergency managers, academic researchers, the media, and the public – studying social, policy, behavioral and technical interface issues around the use of CASA systems in weather impacted decision making. She is also working with NOAA’s Hazardous Weather Test Bed where CASA data is being evaluated by National Weather Service forecasters in real time. She is a relative new comer to the weather scene (only 7 years or so), but enjoys spending hours and hours with weather weenies (mostly forecasters and emergency managers) learning about how CASA data might help. She has a BA and MBA from the Yale University and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Economics at University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Our guest WeatherBrain for this show is Mike Smith. Mike Smith is the Founder and President of Weather Data, Inc., based in Wichita, KS. Weather Data provides weather forecasting, consulting, and weather risk management to companies and organizations around the US, Canada, and Mexico. The company was acquired by Accu Weather in 2006.

Mike founded the company in 1981. He is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and had a television career in Kansas City, St. Louis, and Wichita. Like many meteorologists, his interest in weather was sparked by a major weather event on May 20, 1957, when an F5 tore through Kansas City.

WeatherData just moved into new headquarters in Wichita. His approach is that the warning system isn’t broken, it’s the best in the world. In fact, he has a book coming out in May, 2010, about the warning system.

Other discussions in this weekly podcast include topics like:

Our email bag has been getting some input but Kevin is AWOL.

From The Weather Center:

WeatherBrains 101: An anvil can be something from a blacksmith shop or something in the clouds. In this case, the internationally renowned professor takes a look at one of the most interesting cloud formations that comes with cumulonimbus formations.

TWIWH: Bill Murray looks back at the week of August 3rd.

Listener Surveys: Okay, we continue to drive this topic into the ground, but we really do like to hear from you. Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to fill out the Listener Survey. The survey takes just a minute or two to complete and provides us with an opportunity to learn where you are and hear your thoughts and comments on the show. Click here to take the survey.

Web Sites from Episode 236:

WeatherData

Mike Smith Enterprises

CASA Web Site

Survey on point and click forecasts

Picks of the Week:

JB Elliott – Gets the Horn

Brian Peters – Gets the Horn

Brenda Phillips – New York City Hot July Stats

James Spann – Coverage of Delta 191 Crash

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like JB Elliott and Brian Peters. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating netcast about weather.

Tonight’s Guest Panelist has been in the television weather business since 1994. Patrick Hammer is the morning meteorologist at the ABC affiliate in Minneapolis /St. Paul – KSTP. He was born in San Francisco, worked in Albuquerque, Seattle, and San Francisco but moved to the Twin Cities for the weather extremes there. “Fog at the coast, sunny inland” gets a little old!! according to Patrick.

Bernie Rayno is our guest Weather Brain and an Expert Senior Meteorologist and Afternoon Forecast Manager for AccuWeather, Inc. Bernie was born in Beaver Meadows, PA, a town 45 minutes south-southwest of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. His interest in meteorology was sparked early – he was bitten by the weather bug in kindergarten and soon developed an interest in snowstorms.

While growing up, Bernie kept a log of current weather maps that he copied from A.M. Weather, a PBS show he watched religiously. His devotion to the weather soon gave him the reputation among friends and family as someone to turn to for the latest weather forecasts. Bernie graduated from Hazleton Senior High School in 1985, and from Penn State University in 1990 with a B.S. in Meteorology. While at Penn State , he achieved first place in the junior forecasting contest, first place in the senior forecasting contest, and in the top ten percent of the 1989-1990 National Collegiate Forecasting Contest.

Later in 1990, Bernie began his career at AccuWeather as a severe weather monitor. He was promoted to morning lead Western weather forecaster in December 1991, then transferred to AccuWeather’s International Department in September, 1994. Bernie’s role in AccuWeather’s radio and television broadcasts steadily increased through the 1990s. Based on his skills and experience, he was promoted to Afternoon Manager of Forecasting Operations in January, 2000. He then took over responsibility of video broadcasting a few months later and in late 2005, moved to his current position, Executive Producer of Video Broadcasting. Bernie’s broadcast duties have ranged from numerous appearances on national Networks such as NBC, CBS, ABC, FOX NEWS, CBN and MSNBC to performing radio interviews to appearing on streaming video on AccuWeather.com.

Throughout his AccuWeather career, Bernie has established himself as an integral part of the company. He has received six AccuWeather yearly awards, been named forecaster of the month seven times, and has achieved the title of Expert Senior Meteorologist, the highest title within the Forecasting Department.

When away from AccuWeather, Bernie is an avid television watcher; History Channel, Discovery Channel and of course, ESPN are examples of his favorite channels. Bernie relaxes by working out 5-6 times of week and participating in sports. However, his sport activity has decreased dramatically since reaching the age of 35!!! Bernie’s love of his life, his golden retriever, Packer, was named after his favorite football team, The Green Bay Packers. Bernie considers himself one of the few experts in men’s tennis and makes the annual trip to New York City for the U.S. Open. He is a huge Andre Agassi fan and claims to know everything about him, well almost everything!

Bernie’s family includes an older sister, Dierdre, and a twin brother Steve. Luckily, Steve and Bernie are fraternal, not identical twins. Bernie attributes his success to his mother, Mary, who inspired him to always follow his passion.

Other discussions in this weekly podcast include topics like:

Our mail bag has been getting some attention and Kevin puts it in perspective.

From The Weather Center:

WeatherBrains 101: Summer time and the Bermuda High is strong. So what does Bermuda have to do with a high? Listen in to the latest WeatherBrains 101 for the answer to an interesting question!

TWIWH: Bill Murray looks back at the week of July 27th.

Listener Surveys: Okay, we continue to drive this topic into the ground, but we really do like to hear from you. Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to fill out the Listener Survey. The survey takes just a minute or two to complete and provides us with an opportunity to learn where you are and hear your thoughts and comments on the show. Click here to take the survey.

Web Sites from Episode 235:

Accu-Weather

Picks of the Week:

Dr. Tim Coleman – Micro Data Logger

JB Elliott – Gets the Horn without a Pick

Bill Murray – Vermont Public Radio “Eye on the Night Sky”

Brian Peters – Wind Shear Analysis for the Atlantic

Kevin Selle – Stormy Skies, Big Picture from Boston.com

James Spann – iPad app – Flipboard

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like JB Elliott, Kevin Selle, Dr. Tim Coleman, Bill Murray, and Brian Peters. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating netcast about weather.

This week’s Guest WeatherBrain #1 needs no introduction to fans of The Weather Channel. She started her career in broadcast meteorology at WMUR in NH in 1990. She began her career in Boston with WHDH (NBC) back in 1992 working as weekend meteorologist. She worked for The Weather Channel (TWC) as co-host of Atmospheres along with Jim Cantore. She worked for WBZ (CBS) from 2001 to 2009. She has written articles for Weatherwise Magazine. She has a Master’s degree in Technology in Education from Harvard University. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology from Cornell University in New York.

Our second guest… Towns cringe when they see him coming cause they know that a hurricane or tornado outbreak or winter storm can’t be far behind. Like seeing the crew from 60 Minutes in your office lobby on a Monday morning. But everyone loves him…he is the number one personality on The Weather Channel, Jim Cantore.

Great having Jim and Mish together this week talking about their times together on the Weather Channel, and looking ahead to the future of broadcast meteorology.

Other discussions in this weekly podcast include topics like:

Listener Surveys: Okay, we continue to drive this topic into the ground, but we really do like to hear from you. Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to fill out the Listener Survey. The survey takes just a minute or two to complete and provides us with an opportunity to learn where you are and hear your thoughts and comments on the show. Click here to take the survey.

Web Sites from Episode 23?:

Picks of the Week:

Dr. Tim Coleman – Hurricane Elena… 1985

JB Elliott – Gets the HORN this week!

Bill Murray – Lightning on Mars

James Spann – Plymouth State Tropical Weather

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like JB Elliott, Kevin Selle, Dr. Tim Coleman, Bill Murray, and Brian Peters. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating netcast about weather.

We love to hear from you! To leave a recorded message, call 1-888-247-8627. Some calls may be used in future episodes. Also, feel free to post comments to the site and drop us an email at email at (at symbol) weatherbrains dot com.

This week’s guest is Dr. Pam Heinselman, a research meteorologist at the NOAA National Severe Storms Laboratory. She is part of the Doppler Radar and Remote Sensing Group. She is a graduate of St. Louis University. She also got her Masters there and her PhD from the University of Oklahoma. Her research interests are warning and forecast applications of weather radars, with an emphasis on phased array radar.

Our guest panelist is Owen Shieh, a graduate of Cornell University. He will be attending the University of Hawaii in the fall, where he will be working on his doctorate in meteorology. He recently had a paper published in BAMS about the local minima of tropical cyclones in the eastern Caribbean.

From The Weather Center:

WeatherBrains 101: So who really flies on the Hurricane Hunter aircraft? This week we take a look at each of the positions necessary to handle the work required to get the WC-130J into, through, and out of a hurricane or tropical system. You might be surprised to find out that the crew is not really that large.

TWIWH: Bill Murray looks back at the week of July 13th.

Listener Surveys: Okay, we continue to drive this topic into the ground, but we really do like to hear from you. Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to fill out the Listener Survey. The survey takes just a minute or two to complete and provides us with an opportunity to learn where you are and hear your thoughts and comments on the show. Click here to take the survey.

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like JB Elliott, Kevin Selle, Dr. Tim Coleman, and Bill Murray. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating netcast about weather.

This week’s Guest Panelist is author Ken Bass. Ken developed a lifetime love of disaster stories from the moment he read Disaster at Johnstown: The Great Flood as a fourth grader growing up in Columbia, SC. After attending Yale and Georgetown Law School, Ken practiced law for over 20 years before deciding to pursue his passion for writing.

Having read every disaster book available, the first book he decided to write is the compelling story of the devastation New York City might suffer at the hands of a major hurricane. It is called Landstrike. When he’ s not writing, he coaches his sons’ soccer teams and closely follows the weather.

And our guest WeatherBrain is Dr. Tim Spangler. Are you interested in distance learning in the atmospheric sciences? Are you a meteorologist wanting to keep up with the latest techniques and developments in the science? Could I interest you in one of the following courses: How about a primer in mesoscale meteorology? Forecasting Rip Currents? Or Ensemble Forecasting Explained?

Dr. Spangler is the Director of the COMET Program at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. Under his leadership, COMET has won five national awards. He is a Fellow of the AMS, active in many initiatives for the society. His research interests focus on complex terrain and include investigating complex terrain dispersion, and winter weather modification projects in the western United States. He currently is Chair of the AMS Board on Enterprise Planning, and a member of the WMO EC Panel of Experts on Education and Training. Dr. Spangler is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist. He has a B.S. degree in meteorology from the University of Wisconsin, an M.S. degree in atmospheric science from the University of Wyoming, and a Ph.D. degree in biometeorology from Utah State University. He also worked 13 years in private industry.

Other discussions in this weekly podcast include topics like:

Our mail bag office, the illustrious Kevin Selle, brings us up-to-date on the email bag.

From The Weather Center:

WeatherBrains 101: Sticking with the theme of Hurricane Hunters, WeatherBrains 101 looks at some of the systems on board the aircraft, a WC-130J, and how they work to get the best measurements on tropical systems.

TWIWH: Bill Murray looks back at the week of July 7th.

Listener Surveys: Okay, we continue to drive this topic into the ground, but we really do like to hear from you. Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to fill out the Listener Survey. The survey takes just a minute or two to complete and provides us with an opportunity to learn where you are and hear your thoughts and comments on the show. Click here to take the survey.

Web Sites from Episode 232:

Landstrike, the book

COMET Web Site

Picks of the Week:

Ken Bass – 1938 New England Hurricane

JB Elliott – World Weather Information

Bill Murray – Gary England Drinking Game

Brian Peters – Shooting for a Supersonic Skydive (with pictures)

Kevin Selle – National Hurricane Center Q & A

James Spann – Tropical Cyclone Model Guidance

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable weather geeks like JB Elliott, Kevin Selle, Bill Murray, and Brian Peters. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating netcast about weather.

This week’s guest WeatherBrain is Bill Proenza, the Regional Director of the National Weather Service (NWS) Southern Region, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. A meteorology graduate of Florida State University, Proenza began his career at the National Hurricane Center in Miami and as a flight meteorologist on “hurricane hunter” aircraft (1963-1967). During his lengthy career with the National Weather Service, he received numerous performance commendations and awards, including recognition from the NWS Employees Organization as the NWS Manager of the Year for his collaborative leadership (1998).

Our guest panelist is Ginger Zee of WMAQ-TV in Chicago. She was always fascinated with math and science as a child, and went on to study Meteorology at Valparaiso University. Ginger’s B.S. in Meteorology (along with minors in Math and Spanish in tow, plus internships and experience in storm chasing), helped her move from WLAV (Grand Rapids, MI) to WEYI (Flint, MI) to WOOD TV (Grand Rapids, MI) and now NBC5 in Chicago. We should also mention that Ginger interned with James Spann at ABC 33/40 in Birmingham while still in college.

Other discussions in this weekly podcast include topics like:

Our mail bag has been getting some attention and Kevin puts it in perspective.

Picks of the Week:

Dr. Tim Coleman – Gets the AGW BUZZER!

JB Elliott – Gets the HORN!

Bill Murray – Ensemble Tropical Rainfall Potential (eTRaP)

Kevin Selle – AeroWeather for iPhone/iPod Touch

James Spann – Florida State tropical model page

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like JB Elliott, Kevin Selle, Dr. Tim Coleman, and Bill Murray. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating netcast about weather.

We love to hear from you! To leave a recorded message, call 1-888-247-8627. Some calls may be used in future episodes. Also, feel free to post comments to the site and drop us an email at email at (at symbol) weatherbrains dot com.