Our Guest WeatherBrain for this episode is Bill Read, former director of the National Hurricane Center and the KPRC Local 2 Hurricane Expert.

In spite of over 40 years living on the Gulf or Florida coasts, the strongest winds he personally experienced was 1954’s Hurricane Hazel as it passed through Delaware, where he grew up. Hazel and the big Nor’easters that happen on the east coast spurred Bill to pursue an education in the science of weather. After earning a BS in Meteorology from Texas A&M in 1971, Bill served in the U.S. Navy, where once again he came face to face with hurricanes – flying into the storms with the Navy Hurricane Hunters out of Jacksonville, Fla. After four years in the Navy, Bill attended graduate school, earning the MS in Meteorology at A&M in 1976.

Bill then pursued a 35-year career with the National Weather Service, starting out forecasting weather in San Antonio and Fort Worth before making the leap into management. Bill’s longest tenure was right here in the Houston area, where he was in charge of the National Weather Service Forecast Office located in League City for over 15 years. In addition to the tornadoes, floods and tropical storms, we saw a lot of changes during that 15 year period, from Doppler radar to the Internet. In 2007, he was given the awesome opportunity to serve at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, and became director of the center in January 2008, retiring there in June 2012.

While he worked over 130 tropical storms during his NWS career, Bill says a few will always stand out as most memorable. Folks here in Houston can relate to Allison, Rita and Ike. Bill adds Katrina, when he was assigned to the Hurricane Center to assist in the warning process; Allen (1980), Claudette (1979) and Amelia (1978). While at the National Hurricane Center, he had the opportunity to personally brief President George W. Bush during Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, and President Barack Obama during Hurricane Irene.

Bill serves on the Texas A&M College of Geosciences Dean’s Advisory Council and as a Leadership Partner with the Federal Alliance for Safe Homes (FLASH). He is also involved with professional societies, having served as president of the National Weather Association in 2003 and as councilor with the American Meteorological Society. He was elected fellow by the Society in 2011. Among the many awards he has received, a Special Award for Public Education from the National Hurricane Conference fits Bill’s passion the best.

Bill has been married to his wife, Donna, since 1976 and they have a son, Jonathan, who also calls the Houston area home.

Also joining us as Guest Panelist is Matt Ernst from Lubbock, TX. Matt has been on the show a number of times, and it is always nice to have his West Texas perspective on things. He is the morning meteorologist for FOX 34 in Lubbock, TX. He is a graduate of Texas Tech University and holds his certificate in Broadcast Meteorology from Mississippi State University.

Other discussions in this weekly podcast include topics like:

• Modernization of the NWS
• Decision-making in the government
• Doing away with all caps!
• WeatherBrains t-shirts may be available – drop an email to us to express interest
• 7 Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in effect in northern Indiana
• Extremes: 116 in Death Valley, CA, plus numerous other 100 degree readings
• Slight risk for much of Southeast US for next day
• and more!

Our email bag officer is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners.

From The Weather Center:

WeatherBrains 101: This episode of WeatherBrains 101 continues a look at some out of this world lightning kinds as well as one of the most dangerous types of lightning.

TWIWH: Bill Murray looks back at the week of June 17th.

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 386:

KPRC Houston

Picks of the Week:

JB Elliott – Guide to Alabama Weather

Matt Ernst – Statement on tornado sirens

Bill Murray – Central Alabama NWA Chapter

Bill Read – Tropical Atlantic Headquarters

Tony Rice – Super Moon

Kevin Selle – WeatherInsiders

James Spann – No Pick

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

A very impressive group on this week’s show… our guest panelist is Justin Gehrts, a WB Alum… the weekend morning meteorologist at KCRG-TV 9 in Cedar Rapids. He is a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist, WAS*ISer, & Iowa State alum.

GUEST WEATHERBRAINS
Harold Brooks
Esteemed Severe Weather Researcher and WB Alum

Dan Robinson, WB Alum, Storm chaser lives in East St. Louis
Dan’s account is harrowing and significant because he was in front of the Twistex team right before they were engulfed by the massive tornado. Dan, welcome to the show.

Rich Thompson
Rich needs no introduction to most of our audience with an interest in severe weather. He is a Lead Forecaster at the Storm Prediction Center.

Kory Hartman
Kory has owned Severe Studios for six years and is a respected voice in the chaser community.

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:

Bill Murray – Joplin Tornado Engineering Study Article

James Spann – Hurricane Model Output/University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

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

This week we have a candid discussion of the May 31 Oklahoma City tornado; the death of three veteran storm chasers, and how the warning process worked along with the communication progress. Thanks to…

Dr. Marshall Shepherd, American Meteorological Society President
Rick Smith, Warning Coordination Meteorologist (WCM), NWS in Norman, OK
Jeff Piotrowski, Storm chaser
John Brown, Storm chaser
Dan McCarthy, NWS Indianapolis, IN (former WCM of the Storm Prediction Center)
Matt Mahler, KWTV Meteorologist (Oklahoma City)

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.

We will be back next week with “WeatherBrains 101″, “Fog Bank”, “Picks Of The Week”, and the “EMail Inbox”… we wanted to devote two hours to this urgent topic tonight.

We can guarantee tonight’s show will be out of this world. We can guarantee that because tonight’s Guest WeatherBrain is a Solar System Ambassador with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA. Tony Rice speaks frequently at science museums, planetaria, and schools along the mid Atlantic coast about space exploration and astronomy. Based in Raleigh, NC, he also supports educational and public outreach efforts of other NASA centers including the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX, and Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. He earned a degree in Computer Science from Virginia Tech in 1992. His 20+ year career in aerospace and telecommunications spans research and development in software engineering, data center operations, test automation, and cloud computing with patents pending. He is responsible for the @MarsWxTwitter account which tweets weather data from the Mars rover Curiosity.

Our guest WeatherBrain for this show knows Nate Johnson, but we’re still allowing him on the show.

Timothy Ballisty is our guest WeatherBrains panelist.

Other discussions in this weekly podcast include topics like:

Our email bag officer, who constantly puts personal work like school stuff ahead of his WeatherBrains duties, gets back to it with a long list of notes from listeners.

From The Weather Center:

WeatherBrains 101: The summer lightning season is rapidly approaching so this segment of 101 continues a look at lightning. In this installment, it’s a look at several types of lightning including crawlers and one non-existant type.

TWIWH: Bill Murray looks back at the week of May 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 383:

Digital Meteorologist

Mars Rover Curiosity Tweets

Marvin the Martian (James favorite cartoon!)

Picks of the Week:

Timothy Ballisty – Eurpoean Radar Network

JB Elliott – Red Sprite Lightning with Aurora

Nate Johnson – North Carolina Near Space Research

Bill Murray – NWS Social Media Feeds

Brian Peters – NWS Portland, ME, forecasting for northern New Hampshire

Tony Rice – Robot with laser

Kevin Selle – Tornadoes Wreak Havoc

James Spann – Tropical Cyclone Guidance Project (NCAR)

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

No WeatherBrains guest tonight as the show takes on a more somber note in light of the tragic news coming out of Moore, OK, where a tornado today was responsible for over 50 fatalities (at the time of the posting of the show notes). The discussion focuses on some of the issues that come out of events like this.

The winner of the contest for the bobblehead doll will be announced next week.

Other discussions in this weekly podcast include topics like:

Our email bag officer will have the email bag in total next week.

From The Weather Center:

WeatherBrains 101 and This Week in Weather History will be back next week.

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 382:

Moore, OK, Tracks from 1999 and 2013

Picks of the Week:

With the major weather events of today in Central Oklahoma, the picks of the week will also return next week.

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

Submit screen captures of your smart phone’s home screen, and weather folder (if you have one). Send the images an an attachment to…

myapps@weatherbrains.com

We will announce the winner on next week’s show!

We might have found a guest WeatherBrain who does more in less time than James Spann!

Dr. Kim Elmore is a research scientist with CIMMS, Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, and adjunct associate professor of Meteorology at OU. He was part of the VORTEX2 project on the SR2 mobile radar team. Prior to that, he was an associate scientist with the RAP at NCAR. His current project is known by its very onomatopoeic name, “mPING” – the mobile Precipitation Identification Near the Ground project. They’ve just released a new mobile app. When he’s not at work, he’s a husband, father, runner, a single/multiple-engine and glider-rated pilot, an extra-class amateur radio operator, and – as if that wasn’t enough – violinist with the National Weather Center’s new performing ensemble, “Helical Flow.”

Other discussions in this weekly podcast include topics like:

Our email bag officer is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners.

From The Weather Center:

WeatherBrains 101: As we approach the summer season which includes an uptick in lightning occurrences, the 101 segment takes a look at a little of the history of lightning research. Did you know that lightning research actually netted one person a Nobel prize? All the details in this episode.

TWIWH: Bill Murray looks back at the week of May 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.

Web Sites from Episode 381:

Contest: Send your home screen capture to myapps at weatherbrains dot com. The prize is a James Spann Bobblehead Doll 2.0.

The Drink of Nate Johnson, Cheerwine!

NOAA Release on mPing app

Ping Project

NSSL Web Page

Picks of the Week:

JB Elliott – Lightning pic from the rim of the Grand Canyon

Nate Johnson – Time Lapse of World Change

Bill Murray – Rarity: Tornado Drought or Tornado Surplus

Brian Peters – Gets the Fog Horn!!

Kevin Selle – Mount Washington Observatory

James Spann – Forecast for the Future

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

Our guest WeatherBrain was supposed to be Tim Ballisty, Editorial Meteorologist for The Weather Channel. However, due to technical difficulties, we were unable to connect with Tim via Google+.

The result is an open show with lots of banter among the WeatherBrains gang! And on a variety of topics in the field of meteorology.

Other discussions in this weekly podcast include topics like:

Our email bag officer is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners.

From The Weather Center:

WeatherBrains 101: We’re coming up on the start of a couple of different weather season. June first is the start of the hurricane season for the Atlantic Basin. And with the start of the summer months, we also enter the primary lightning season. So this week we take a look at an often studied, fascinating aspect of nature – lightning.

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 380:

National Weather Service Employees Organization release about furloughs in NWS

Picks of the Week:

Nate Johnson – Precipitable Water Plots

Brian Peters – National Lightning Safety Institute

Kevin Selle – Italian tornado video

James Spann – Spann’s pictures

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

Listener Mike Toliver of Harrisonburg, VA, recommended tonight’s guest WeatherBrain. Aubrey Urbanowicz is the 5 pm meteorologist at the ABC affiliate in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, WHSV-TV Channel 3 in Harrisonburg, VA. Aubrey is from Wallingford, CT, and she attended East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN. She received a Bachelors of Geosciences degree from Mississippi State with a concentration in Broadcast Meteorology. She worked for Chili’s for nearly 12 years where she had the opportunity to travel the country training employees and opening restaurants. It was after being caught in all four Florida hurricanes of 2004 and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita of 2005 working for Chili’s that Aubrey found her calling into weather. She pursued her degree while living in Johnson City, TN, and eventually interned at WJHL in the Tri-Cities.

Aubrey loves to travel, hike, run, and just about anything outside or in the mountains, as well visit friends and her youngest brother Andrew in Johnson City, TN.

Other discussions in this weekly podcast include topics like:

Our email bag officer is AWOL again, but this time we hear from him using the magic of pre-recorded segment. And Kevin plans to sue for non-payment of the rights to “He’s Out.”

From The Weather Center:

WeatherBrains 101: Unraveling the mysteries of the near-time environment of tornadoes. A daunting task to say the least. So why not use some stick figures to do it? Well, a project at Texas Tech has done just that, but they call the instruments “stick-nets.” This segment of 101 has the low down on just what stick-nets are.

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 379:

WHSV-TV Channel 3

Hurricane Francis 2004

Local Weather Data on WHSV

Picks of the Week:

Brian Peters – Video of Hailstorm

Kevin Selle – Environmental Visualization Lab Flooding Image
WxSat app

James Spann – Hurricane on Saturn

Aubrey Urbanowicz – picture of smoke funnel below

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

Picture of smoke funnel: