Archive for March, 2011

WeatherBrains 267: Pizza in the Cold

WeatherBrains Episode 267 is now online (March 7, 2011). If you are crazy about weather, this is THE netcast audio program for you!

Joining the WeatherBrains gang for this episode is Carolyn Glenn Brewer, author of Caught in the Path: A Tornado’s Fury, A Community’s Rebirth. Carolyn Glenn Brewer is a writer, historian, teacher and lecturer. Her book has been featured on local and national television and radio programs, and adapted into a one-act play. She will join us from her home in Kansas City.

Before storm sirens, before the Weather Channel, before Doppler Radar, a tornado “dropped out of a troubled May sky and twisted its way into our lives forever.” On the evening of May 20,1957 three communities south of Kansas City, Missouri, were destroyed by a seventy-one mile, F-5 twister. This monstrous storm left in its path five hundred injured, forty-four dead and over a million dollars worth of property damage. Nothing defines a community more than its reaction to disaster. Caught In The Path is a story of fear and courage, suffering and resiliency. The hardest hit area, four year old Ruskin Heights, was the first post-war tract housing development in the Kansas City area. Like so many of their generation, its residents, mostly first time home buyers in their twenties and thirties, came to Ruskin to raise their baby-boom families with the optimism of the fifties. When the tornado scattered their dreams along its path, they came back, and changed a housing development into a community. Author Carolyn Glenn Brewer’s family was among those caught off guard by the tornado. Most of the houses on her block were leveled to the foundation. She combines her story with extensive interviews from nearly one hundred survivors and period media coverage. The narrative flow of this book reads like fiction, but makes the tornado, and the summer that followed, pulse with reality.

Carolyn’s books (including new one) can be gotten by sending an email to citpcea at gmail dot com.

Other discussions in this weekly podcast include topics like:

Kevin jumps into show with early email music AND breaking news. And you won’t believe his rant!

From The Weather Center:

WeatherBrains 101: Weather is a global phenomena. So for this episode of WeatherBrains our illustrious instructor takes a look at teleconnections. Did you know that there are at least ten of those identified around the northern hemisphere?

TWIWH: Bill Murray looks back at the week of March 8th. The week has included a wide variety of weather including tornadoes, brown snow, rain changing to a full blown blizzard with drifts up to 20 feet, the blizzard of 1993, and a tornado at an SEC basketball tournament.

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 267:

Caught in the Path

SPC Mesoscale Analysis and Convective Parameters

Picks of the Week:

Dr. Tim Coleman – Antarctic Temperatures

JB Elliott – Tornado Questions

Bill Murray – METAR Speak App

Brian Peters – Ice Castle

Kevin Selle – Gets the Horn

James Spann – Short Term Prediction Research and Transition Center

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.