WeatherBrains 220: WB Goes Hollywood
WeatherBrains Episode 220 is now online (Apr. 13, 2010). If you are crazy about weather, this is THE netcast audio program for you!
WeatherBrains - April 13, 2010Tonight’s Guest Panelist is the morning meteorologist for WSFA in Montgomery, AL, and an Alabama native, Josh Johnson. Josh graduated from the Broadcast Meteorology Program at Mississippi State and worked for WTOK in Meridian as the Chief there. He went to Atlanta and was on the NBC affiliate before returning home to Alabama. All that work outside of Alabama didn’t make him any better looking, but it is nice to have Josh back on the show.
Our Guest WeatherBrain tonight is really a brain. Dr. Randy Cerveny is a professor of geographical sciences at Arizona State University where he has taught since 1986. He is a President’s Professor and is in charge of the Meteorology Department. He serves as Rapporteur on Extreme Records for the United Nations/World Meteorological Organization, and in this connection, he is responsible for researching and verifying global weather records (http://wmo.asu.edu/about-weather-archive). At ASU, he directs the meteorology program and was awarded the title of President’s Professor in recognition of his contributions to undergraduate education. He is contributing editor for the magazine Weatherwise and has authored numerous journal articles as well as two books, Freaks of the Storm, Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2006, and Weather’s Greatest Mysteries Solved!, Prometheus Books, 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: Radar is a wonderful tool, and like many scientific breakthroughs, was discovered in part by accident during its application for one job which uncovered its usefulness for another. This episode begins a multi-part look at some of the aspects of weather surveillance radar.
TWIWH: Bill Murray looks back at the week of April 13th. Politics and weather were in the news.
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 220:
Rapporteur (derived from French) is used in international and European legal and political contexts to refer to a person appointed by a deliberative body to investigate an issue or a situation and report to that body.
Weather’s Greatest Mysteries Solved
Picks of the Week:
JB Elliott – Get’s the Fog Horn
Josh Johnson – Twisterdata.com
Bill Murray – NPR Science Program Forecasting Tornadoes
Brian Peters – Pirates versus the Weather
Kevin Selle – Digital Meteorologist
James Spann – Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Contour Maps
The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable 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.
Our WeatherBrains guest panelist for episode 219 is Dr. John Knox. He is an assistant Professor of Geography at the University of Georgia. He went to the same high school that Bill Murray did, just three years behind him. He has been published numerous times. Both Bill and John had the same mentor in JB Elliott. One of John’s topics interests Dr. Tim, too, since John has published some work on waves.
Our first Guest WeatherBrain is Gina Eosco. She has a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science and Policy from the University of Maryland and an Master of Science in Communication from Cornell University. She is pursuing her Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma. Her thesis is about how hurricane track graphics are used by forecasters to prioritize and convey weather information visually. She is a Communication Research Associate for the American Meteorological Society’s Policy Program where she puts her research to work studying the effectiveness of hazard and weather messages. In her free time, she enjoys playing the flute.
Jeff Lazo is our second Guest WeatherBrain. He received a BA in economics and philosophy from the University of Denver and his Masters and PhD in environmental and natural resource economics from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He is an economist with extensive experience in nonmarket valuation of environmental and natural resource commodities. He is the Director of the Collaborative Program on the Societal Impacts and Economic Benefits of Weather Information at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. Jeff has been at NCAR since 2004. 
