Podcasts about National Weather Service

A Red Flag warning remains in effect  through 10 tonight. The National Weather Service is asking all southern Coloradans to help reduce the risk of fires over the next few days. 

Shamus Toomey, Editor in Chief and co-founder of Block Club Chicago, joined Bob Sirott to share the latest Chicago neighborhood stories. Shamus had details on: Meet Chicago's ‘Mr. Sunshine,' The Only Man Who Tracks Sunlight In The City — Even Though He's Been Retired 28 Years: Seven years ago, the National Weather Service switched to a […]

Yet another round of severe thunderstorms is on the way for Friday afternoon and night. This event could be worse than the other severe storms this week. A cold front moving into the near-summery air mass that we have in place across North Carolina and South Carolina will be the trigger for the storms. As a result, the National Weather SErvice's Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has put most of the state at a level 2 of 5 'slight' risk for severe thunderstorms Friday. All modes of severe weather are possible including tornadoes, large hail, damaging winds, and isolated flash flooding. Join the Carolina Weather Group as we break down the threats and timing across the Carolinas. LEAVE A TIP: https://streamelements.com/carolinawxgroup/tip SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST: https://anchor.fm/carolinaweather SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://patreon.com/carolinaweathergroup VISIT OUR WEBSITE: https://carolinaweathergroup.com The Carolina Weather Group operates a weekly talk show of the same name. Broadcasting each week from the Carolinas, the show is dedicated to covering weather, science, technology, and more with newsmakers from the field of atmospheric science. With co-hosts across both North Carolina and South Carolina, the show may closely feature both NC weather and SC weather, but the topics are universally enjoyable for any weather fan. Join us as we talk about weather, environment, the atmosphere, space travel, and all the technology that makes it possible. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/carolinaweather/message

Carlos F. Gaitan Ospina is the Founder and CEO of Benchmark Labs, which provides IoT-based weather forecasting solutions for the agriculture, energy, and insurance sectors worldwide using proprietary machine-learning software. Chad talks with Carlos about creating the company, the hardware they're producing and what it is doing, and where the machine learning comes into play. Benchmark Labs (https://www.benchmarklabs.com/) Follow Benchmark Labs on Twitter (https://twitter.com/labsbenchmark), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/benchmarklabs/), or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/benchmark-labs-inc/). Follow Carlos on Twitter (https://twitter.com/cfgaitan) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlos-felipe-gaitan-ospina-3765808/). Follow thoughtbot on Twitter (https://twitter.com/thoughtbot) or LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/). Become a Sponsor (https://thoughtbot.com/sponsorship) of Giant Robots! Transcript: CHAD: This is the Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots Podcast, where we explore the design, development, and business of great products. I'm your host, Chad Pytel. And with me today is Carlos Gaitan, the Founder and CEO of Benchmark Labs, which provides IoT-based weather forecasting solutions for the agriculture, energy, and insurance sectors worldwide using proprietary machine-learning software. Carlos, thank you very much for joining me. CARLOS: Thank you for the invitation, Chad. It's a pleasure to join you here. CHAD: You work in a variety of different industries with weather forecasting solutions using machine learning. I'm really curious, at a high level, how did you get to where you created Benchmark Labs today? CARLOS: Oh, thank you, Chad. That's a great question. I think that in many ways, it's a combination of life experiences and lots of user feedback. As a background, my mum worked for 28 years in the National Federation of Coffee Growers in my native Columbia. And we experience basically the effects of weather, La Niña, El Niño, local conditions, pests on the coffee growers. I remember growing up looking at the price in The New York Stock Exchange if the pound of coffee was going to be more than $1 or not [laughs] and so on. So, you know, we had a very severe drought in Colombia, and Colombia was heavily dependent in hydropower at that time. And I remember that we even had to study with candlelight and move to a spring savings time for the first time in the country. The country is in the equator, so you can imagine moving the clock was unheard of. So since then, I was always passionate about hydrology, the water cycle, why this happened, how weather can affect the economy at that level that people have to change their working habits. I did civil engineering hydrology, then studied these new applications of machine learning technologies, hydroinformatics, did my studies there in Columbia, my bachelor's, my master's. Then I was fortunate to go to The University of British Columbia to study my Ph.D. in Atmospheric Sciences. And then, after I finished, I moved to The United States to work at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory in Princeton with close collaboration with the NOAA, the USGS. And that gave that perspective also of understanding how weather climate models were done at the Department of Commerce level but also to understand the users on how they interact with weather data or climate data and what were the needs that they were expecting from the National Weather Service and the Department of Commerce and NOAA that not necessarily were fulfilled with the current information. So then I moved to the private sector, joined a hardware company, and met my co-founder of Benchmark Labs there then moved to California to work on consultancy of climate change assessments. But since the time at the Department of Commerce, it became very clear that what farmers and what users wanted was weather information that was more actionable, that was tailored to their specific location, especially for specialty crops. Think about wineries, or coffee growers, orchids, stone fruits; they depend heavily on weather, and the information from the National Weather Services was just too coarse for them. And sometimes, there are huge errors in terms of temperatures that were recorded from their farm versus what the National Weather Service was doing. And that's why we decided to create Benchmark Labs to basically solve that problem, correct those errors, and give the information that the users needed when they needed it. CHAD: Did you ever just consider becoming a TV weather person? CARLOS: [laughs] CHAD: It seems it may be easier. CARLOS: [laughs] Nah. That's a very good point. CHAD: [laughs] CARLOS: And I have great respect with my colleagues that went into forecast meteorology and TV persons. I remember some of my lab mates practicing in front of a green screen when we were doing the Ph.D. CHAD: [laughs] CARLOS: That was an interesting scenario. [laughs] However, growing up in Colombia, the weather forecasts were not very, let's say, accurate to a certain extent, and we did the opposite than the weatherman suggested. CHAD: [laughs] CARLOS: So I guess that steered me towards following that path. [laughs] CHAD: So it totally resonates with me this idea that, you know, especially for...I've been on the West Coast before where you go over a hill and the weather it's like 20 degrees hotter and sunny and on one side of the hill, it was cold and foggy. We went on a great company trip many years ago to visit some Napa vineyards, and I was surprised by that. So I can imagine how that local information just doesn't match the global information that farmers might be getting. So what is the hardware that you're actually producing, and what is it doing? What does it look like? CARLOS: [laughs] Great question. So I will go back to your story about Napa and Sonoma, and the reality is that's exactly a problem that growers face; national weather agencies give averages over a big region. They divide the world in boxes, and everybody inside of a box receives exactly the same forecast. And if you are especially in the coast or you're in specialty agriculture, you understand that weather changes with elevation. Depending on which side of the mountain you are, you could receive all the rain or no rain at all. If you are near the shores, you could also get more wind, different types of clouds, all of those situations affect the conditions at the farm. And going back to the situation of Napa and Sonoma, Burgundy or the Mediterranean Basin, they all believe in the value of what they call the terroir, that is what makes also unique their products. They're indigenous, and they understand at a very fundamental point how the local conditions from the soil, from the vegetation, makes their farm unique. So what we do is we use IoT sensors, basically hardware sensors that monitor environmental variables. We refer to them in the atmospheric science world as weather stations. I had a talk with some users when I said the term weather station. They imagined a big construction or a building with a TV station on a radar or something. But in this case, there are IoT devices that are totally portable, the size of a Wi-Fi modem in some cases. And we use those sensors as ground truth that will basically tell us the local conditions. We use the information from the National Weather Services and the information from those IoT sensors and correct the forecast as they come. CHAD: And is that where the machine learning comes in because it's actually correcting the forecast being received? CARLOS: Exactly, our machine learning aspect of it is fully operational, non-linear correction of weather data as it comes in from the National Weather Services to correct it to the conditions that are experienced at the farm level, at the sensor level. And a farm could be also an agricultural farm, or it could be a solar farm, a wind farm. Or, as we talk with some users in ski resorts that actually they consider as snow farmers, it's also affected by microclimates. So at the end, it is about providing value to all these areas affected by microclimates that are not being resolved correctly by the current generation of forecast from the National Weather Services. CHAD: Are most customers able to get the coverage that they need with one weather station, or are they deploying multiple ones? CARLOS: So that's a great question, and the answer probably is it depends. Our customers, original customers, have thousands of stations over multiple fields under management. For specialty crops, it's common to have multiple IoT sensors in one acre. For other scenarios, they might have only one station or one sensor every 10 acres or so on, so it depends on the condition. It depends on how technologically inclined are the users if they already invested in these IoT sensors or if they are looking into buying IoT sensors and then scaling up the number of sensors in their farms. CHAD: How do all the sensors report their data back? CARLOS: That is a very interesting question because they are, let's say, tens of hardware manufacturers globally. We also created kind of a Rosetta Stone that puts all the sensors to communicate to our back-end systems. We integrate different languages of each hardware manufacturer. It has its own ways of naming the variables. So we do the translation in our end. We receive the data via an API. These IoT devices are Internet of Things in many ways because they transmit data via Wi-Fi, satellite internet, you know, cellular. CHAD: Cell, yeah. So different manufacturers might have different ways of actual communication, not just the protocol, but one box might be using Wi-Fi, and another one might be using a satellite. CARLOS: Exactly. And sometimes, many manufacturers give you the options of connecting even using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth for IoT sensors that are near, let's say, a farm that has internet connectivity. If they are on the field farther away, they might need to get access to a data plan from a cellular carrier, 3G usually or 5G. In some areas, there is limited coverage so far. And if it's a very remote area, there are options to get satellite coverage. CHAD: Now, I'm asking somewhat naive questions based on my understanding. And so if I start butting up against proprietary information, just tell me, "No." That's totally fine. CARLOS: [laughs] CHAD: So when we're thinking about the amount of data coming in from all of these different weather stations that your customers have, is it a lot of data? Is it a lot of data points? CARLOS: [laughs] It's a great question. So in many ways, yeah, each weather station communicates at different frequency. Sometimes what we are offering now is hourly transmission rates, but we also have access to government stations that sometimes only refresh once per day. So yes, it's a lot of data coming in, most of the data from the weather stations. Fortunately, it can be transmitted as a txt file, or it's only for one location. So the files are not big, but they are many per day. And so, we have probably done millions of operations already to assimilate data and provide the forecast. While on the other hand, The National Weather Service provides one forecast for the globe, let's say every...some models are every hour, other models are every six hours, and so on. So that is more, let's say, a bigger data set because it's a global data set that then you have to query to extract the information locally that is relevant for your servers, for your users. CHAD: Yeah. And I think it's neat how this is all happening centrally from all the data coming in, right? CARLOS: Yeah, exactly. We get data coming in for each specific location. We do the corrections, and we provide the forecasts. So there are lots of operations involved in the data handling activities, pre-processing, post-processing, but it's very rewarding at the end to provide the forecasts that are tailored to specific locations. And we had seen users that they basically told us, "Okay, we are using provider B or C; can you beat them? Show us that you can beat them, and the contract will be yours." So we showed them, and then they are like, "Yeah, that's fantastic. This is exactly what we have been looking for, information that is more accurate for our farms," so yeah. CHAD: Now, does your system correct itself based on what actually happened in an area after the modified forecast goes out? CARLOS: That's not a very relevant question because some of the models are static. I used my experience when I did an internship in Environment Canada, and I found that they were adjusting their models, let's say four times per, at least the operational models they had, four times per year. They kind of tweaked them to the local, let's say, spring, summer, fall, winter conditions. In our case, we make our models to correct themselves as more data comes in so they can adjust to weather events and have short-term memory, let's say, of what they will wait heavily on and forget the distant past. CHAD: I mean, it seems obvious, not necessarily easy but obvious, that you've made a prediction about what the weather is going to be, and you have all the data coming in from the stations to confirm whether your prediction was correct or not. So I'm sure it's not easy to adjust the model based on that. CARLOS: [laughs] CHAD: That seems obvious to me. CARLOS: Yeah, it's just a different approach in many ways. As you said, it's obvious because the users usually care about a specific location, at least our users. We understand that for national security or aviation, they require a model that provides coverage over a wider area, like sometimes continents. But for agricultural users, they care about their farms, and the farms will not move in space. So -- CHAD: Well, technically, they are moving in space; it's just the weather goes along with it. CARLOS: [laughs] So yeah, I guess that it's just a different way of tackling the problem. We focus on doing these forecasts to each specific location instead of having a forecast done for the whole globe that could be used in many different locations or for many different industries, but it's not necessarily tailored to any industry-specific or location-specific. CHAD: Yeah, that's great. Mid-Roll Ad I wanted to tell you all about something I've been working on quietly for the past year or so, and that's AgencyU. AgencyU is a membership-based program where I work one-on-one with a small group of agency founders and leaders toward their business goals. We do one-on-one coaching sessions and also monthly group meetings. We start with goal setting, advice, and problem-solving based on my experiences over the last 18 years of running thoughtbot. As we progress as a group, we all get to know each other more. And many of the AgencyU members are now working on client projects together and even referring work to each other. Whether you're struggling to grow an agency, taking it to the next level and having growing pains, or a solo founder who just needs someone to talk to, in my 18 years of leading and growing thoughtbot, I've seen and learned from a lot of different situations, and I'd be happy to work with you. Learn more and sign up today at thoughtbot.com/agencyu. That's A-G-E-N-C-Y, the letter U. CHAD: So have you managed to bring it full circle now, and are there coffee growers in Colombia that are using your solution? CARLOS: [laughs] I hope so. We have talked with coffee growers for sure. They care about temperature gradients. And I really think that going to Colombia as we scale will make the whole platform easier to use. I think that we can go full circle soon, sooner rather than later, into Colombia. We got support from the World Trade Center here in San Diego to do commercialization assistance to translate our solution from English to other languages. So we will be tackling Spanish, French, Italian in the very near future because it's important to offer the forecast also in a way that they could interact natively without having to have the limitation of using an English language platform into their day-to-day life. But yeah, full circle probably we'll be going full circle soon. CHAD: So language is one barrier to scaling and to adoption. Are there other ones that are typical barriers of adoption for your customers? CARLOS: We are very competitive here in the North American market, the European markets. Our prices are in dollars. But that by itself is a problem for emerging economies; for example, you know, $100 here is not the same thing as $100 in other countries. We have to take into consideration exchange rates or the amount of disposable income that they will have for their operations. CHAD: And I'm not super educated about it, but I know that there are certain industries in agriculture where the growers are particularly pressed for margins, and coffee is one of them, right? CARLOS: Exactly. So, fortunately, in many ways, for the bigger crops, specialty crops they are traded, and the prices are linked to U.S. dollars so that can be translated, our services can be absorbed, let's say. For the smaller crops that are not traded or that just stay locally, the price is not linked to the U.S. exchange; then it's definitely a bigger barrier for them. But hopefully, we will get to a point if we have a sufficiently large adoption in North America and the developed world; these technologies could be subsidized or made more accessible in other economies. CHAD: What are some of the concerns that growers have? Take the specialty crops, for example, is it a matter of are they doing this because they want to make the best product possible, or is it because they want to prevent crop loss? CARLOS: It is both, actually. The uses of weather information in agriculture varies, as you said. There are many different applications; one is to get more actionable alerts. For example, we saw what happened in Burgundy last year where a substantial part of their region lost their crops, close to 80% maybe. I don't remember the number, but it was definitely substantial. And so, having more accurate forecasts and alerts gives them an opportunity to adapt better, to get cover, protect their fields to a certain extent. Weather information affects also pests and disease models, so application of fertilizer with spraying is also affected by local conditions. In many ways, for the operations that are very, let's say, sophisticated, some of them even link the sugar content on the fruit to weather conditions. And understanding how these weather conditions affect sugars could tell them when is the optimal time for them to, let's say, harvest? And the difference in the sugar content might determine the difference between higher margins or so-so margins [laughs] for their yield. So yeah, it's a combination of quality of the product. It's a combination of preventing loss of the product. And it's also labor scheduling and activities, for example, that are regulated by OSHA that prevent farm operations to maybe don't, let's say if they are like temperatures above 95 Fahrenheit or 100 Fahrenheit. So having that extra information in alerts will also help them with farm management operations. CHAD: So can you give me a sense of the stage you're at or the scale you're at now with the business and where you see your next stages of growth being? CARLOS: Thank you. Yeah, great. So we are fortunate to have scaled this solution beyond California. We are now a global platform. We are providing forecast to Spain. Recently, we got contacted by some growers in South America, so we are testing for avocado growers in Brazil and Colombia, for example. So I'm not serving yet coffee growers in Colombia, but the avocado growers in Colombia, it seems that they got a hold on what we do, [laughs] so it is getting there. And now we have the resources, the ability to go global and offer this anywhere in the world that is connected with an IoT device. So it's fully operational. And we are now in the midst of fundraising to scale the team, provide the customer success operations, and to support growers in different geographies, to support growers of different crops. And I think that if we are going to be successful globally, it starts with customer support, customer success, and understanding your users' needs, so they don't feel that, again, they will receive a one size fits all vanilla-like solution and that we really care about why specialty crops are special. CHAD: So when you were just starting out, who was the first team member that you added to the team? CARLOS: Oh, it was great. So in many ways, I thank the Economic Development Council of San Diego for funding a set of interns in data science, weather analytics, and business development. So our first hires, in many ways, were supported thanks to the Economic Development Council. We were the two founders, and then we got support in business development to understand which, for example, specialty crops really care about weather. Then some data science interns, data scientists that helped us with grants that we did for the National Science Foundation, and NASA that we got...we supported one of the grants. During COVID times, we participated in a very interesting opportunity to know the effect of COVID on forest fires, for example, and that was in collaboration with NASA. So first hires were interns, entry-level positions in data science, in back-end engineering, and then front-end business development. Now we are very excited to be expanding the team. We recently hired a Chief Product Officer with ten years of experience in Bloomberg, experience with visualizations, and talking to customers and users. So I think that for us, it's very important to, again, I reiterate, to have the ability to provide a great user experience, to provide meaningful information for specialty crops so they feel that they are special. CHAD: You mentioned that you got some business development help using those grants. But right now, is the actual sales work being done by the founding team? CARLOS: Yeah, at the beginning, as a founding team in a small startup, you have to wear multiple hats. So yeah, it's very common, and in many ways, I appreciate that we didn't rush to hire in terms of sales too early because it's important that the founding team understands the user perspectives, their needs, what they call the pain points to understand how to steer product into that direction. And then sales will follow once you have a solution that is highly needed, that users really like and that it can be shown that it can be scaled globally. So we are working on scaling, on accuracy of the forecasts. And yeah, next hires will be to get somebody that will help us in sales and can bring us to the next level. CHAD: What does the sales cycle look like for the kinds of customers you have now? Do they tend to be smaller, or do they tend to be larger enterprise customers? CARLOS: So, in the beginning, we worked with smaller enterprises to understand how to use the data, for example, connect the data from one or five sensors transmitted online. So dealing with smaller enterprises, farmers was optimal at that point as a company. And now, we are focusing more on businesses, farm managers, or management companies that have hundreds, sometimes thousands of sensors on their management. So we deal with more like business to business instead of going direct to grower at this stage because, as we were mentioning earlier, we're a small company, and going direct to grower requires lots of support and dedication in terms of dedicated agents and sales teams. CHAD: Do those companies tend to have long sales cycles? CARLOS: The bigger ones, yes. If you are talking about publicly traded companies, they will want to start with pilots then validate them. And you can move at different timescales with them that are not necessarily aligned with the startups at this stage. But there are some farm managers that have a way higher frequency of decision making. So their sale cycle could be one month, two months instead of having to build a relationship for years. CHAD: You mentioned the pilots, and you mentioned earlier telling the story about a customer that said, you know, "If you can provide us with better data," but I think companies as they scale or as they talk to potential customers, you also don't want to take on too much work that you should be charging for to be able to do that pilot. How do you strike that balance? CARLOS: It's a fascinating question. And I think that from a founding member perspective, let's say, it goes as a function of the stage of the company and what other, not necessarily monetary, benefits you can get from these pilots. We have been even recommended to not have unpaid pilots anymore, for example. I think that it's important at the beginning to get access to the information that you need to validate the technology with users that really care about what you're building. And sometimes, there are different ways that these pilots can be structured in a way that the final user might give you a reference or might spend time with you doing the quality control, quality check, saying what kind of features they like, so that's also very important as a young startup. As you grow, probably once you have that validation, there is no need necessarily to take into endeavors that will lead to unpaid pilots that you don't know if there's a clear end to that. And you can move to a more structured pilot program that has clear deliverables, and at the end of window, a decision will be made depending on the set of topics that were agreed between the companies. CHAD: You might even be able to get away without pilots if you can make a strong case by showing other case studies that are relevant to that potential customer or where you explain, oh, you know, these people had a similar situation to you and here's how it's solved, and here's the success that they had. CARLOS: Totally. You nailed it. It's in many ways to sometimes build credibility, find analogues in the sector, or a use case that can be comparable to the pain point that another user might have. And it could be, let's start with the avocado growers in Brazil, and they have probably the same pain points that they have with avocado growers in Colombia. Once we have that sorted out, then we probably can go and talk with avocado growers here in California or Mexico, Central America and tell them, "Hey, this is the value that we've unlocked in Brazil. Do you have a similar problem?" CHAD: What I have found is that this is one of the important reasons why you have to have a good product which is part of what you've been saying all along, you know, you really wanted to focus on making sure the product was working and that it was good. Because when you do, then you can also use referrals, you know, not referrals, but like, hey, you want to talk to this avocado grower, and they'll be happy to talk with another potential customer because they're excited about what you've done for them and been able to do with them. CARLOS: Totally, totally. And agriculture is always open to new technologies, but they are traditional in many ways. And it's a small circle, and I think that it is very important to build products right and really care about what you're doing and your end-users. Build together. Don't come necessarily with assumptions saying, "Hey, here agricultural grower A, I have a solution that will change your life," without knowing necessarily where are they coming from and their life experiences, and how they interact with products before. So yeah, I totally see the benefit of referrals. Word of mouth is very big, going to conferences with agricultural growers. There are big networking events that could help us more than just going and doing a Google ad campaign, for example, at this stage. CHAD: I think that's probably an important lesson that not only applies in agriculture but in a lot of industries. And I really appreciate you stopping by to share with us. And I really wish you the best of luck as you progress in your journey at Benchmark. CARLOS: Oh, thank you very much. I really appreciate it, and I hope that we can continue the conversation here. Just count with us anytime that you need to talk about weather, agriculture, IoT sensors. Happy to help the audience too, and always discuss what's out there to help the Giant Robots community. [laughs] CHAD: Carlos, if people want to get in touch with you or find out more about the company, where are the best places for them to do that? CARLOS: Go to benchmarklabs.com and then fill out a form there. And we will definitely be in touch with all of you. I will personally answer all the queries. I'm very, very happy to share our technology, share what we are building. And we are so excited because by having this technology, you can help save water, energy, and even pesticide use, and that's a huge contribution to the environment as we move forward. So yeah, thank you very much again for the invitation, and I'm here; count with me as a future resource. CHAD: Wonderful. And you can subscribe to the show and find notes and links along with an entire transcript for this episode at giantrobots.fm. If you have questions or comments, email us at hosts@giantrobots.fm. And you can find me on Twitter at @cpytel. This podcast is brought to you by thoughtbot and produced and edited by Mandy Moore. Thanks for listening, and see you next time. ANNOUNCER: This podcast was brought to you by thoughtbot. thoughtbot is your expert design and development partner. Let's make your product and team a success. Special Guest: Carlos F. Gaitan Ospina.

Guest Peter Greenberg joins the program to talk about travel as we enter the spring and summer months. Street racing is a problem in Aurora and Denver and we wonder what can be done about it. We hear from the National Weather Service for updates on the rainfall throughout the weekend. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Host: Grace Guests: Megan Stackhouse and Brianna Beale Date: 4/11/22

Amanda Lee, Hydrologist with the National Weather Service, talks about the flash flooding that our region dealt with last weekend after an unusual April weather wise. Amanda talks about the flooding in the Red River, tributaries and overland flooding.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

An Amazon warehouse collapsed and six workers died after a tornado struck the facility in Edwardsville, Illinois on Dec. 10. The company is still facing repercussions from decisions that were made that day. In a press statement, attorneys filed two lawsuits on behalf of victims involved in the deadly disaster. Plaintiffs include four Amazon drivers: Jamarco Hickman, Evan Jensen, Jada Williams and Deontae Yancey. The mother of DeAndre Morrow, a warehouse worker who died in the collapse, is also a plaintiff in the lawsuit. The other four drivers survived the collapse, but their lawyers say they suffered physical or mental harm.The statement said the plaintiffs and Morrow delivered packages the day the tornado hit. It also claims the company received warning from the National Weather Service of possible tornadoes in the area as much as 36 hours before the collapse of the warehouse. 

USDA meteorologist, Brad Rippey, has the National Weather Service's Outlook through the beginning of May. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Good evening, everyone. It is April 20, Wednesday evening, we have a couple of storm systems that are in the process of developing one real main one that's going to be impacting the upper Midwest and the upper plains for this weekend. Actually, it's going to be impacting much larger area than that. But for many locations, it's going to be bringing in really warm air. Lansing, Michigan will be getting warm perhaps for the first time this year. Actually, temperatures may even get warm enough. It's it's going to feel like summer for them. Temperatures going probably maybe even 80 degrees for this weekend, probably Chavez and Sunday, Saturday and Sunday temperatures upper 70s to near 80 degrees that summer, like temperatures for them. You know, in the olden days, a forecast just consisted of today will be sunny and cold, tomorrow will be warm. There wasn't much emphasis given to the thermometer, the temperature a lot of times, and today. A lot of times when you hear a forecast especially like from the National Weather Service for certain cities, all you really hear is the temperature unless there's something historical going on or unless it really is intense. But this weekend, this is when describing the situation is really important for temperatures. The situation that's happening this Friday for many locations in the Midwest like Missouri, especially places in Iowa and Minnesota when you go into Schabas. And because temperatures in many locations might only be in the 70s. But the point is it's going to feel like summer. You know when temperatures go into the 70s in August in places like Missouri it doesn't feel like summer it feels like fall. It has to do with the dewpoint. You know some of the forecasts are going out of their way to say it will be warm and humid. In St. Louis, Missouri warm and humid conditions are expected temperatures going into the low to mid 80s. Dew points aren't going to be like July type dew points but pretty close to it dew points will be going into the lower maybe even mid 60s, dew points slightly lower for Shabbos. Maybe not even 64 shots, but those dew points, those really high dew points are making it really far north. And these are locations that may not have experienced any type of summer field whatsoever this year. So it's going to really feel amazing for these places. Up in Michigan, Minnesota, Northwest Wisconsin, dew points going into the 60s for Shabbos afternoon, temperatures, maybe only 70s. Maybe the temperatures will be in the 60s too. But regardless of what those temperatures are, it's going to feel like summer there's going to be a summer feel in the air in places even in northern Minnesota. In Northwest Wisconsin. I don't think it's going to be for the entire northern Minnesota. But for many parts of northern Minnesota, Northwest Wisconsin, it's going to feel like summer much different than what was happening today.

Unknown 0:00Okay good morning everyone. It is very early Wednesday morning here in the Midwest and we have really such active weather and especially if you're in North Dakota places like North Dakota it's really amazing what the state has just gone through it considering last week that three they Blizzard, which was a historic Blizzard have broke many records across the state. For snowfall accumulations. We had one area that got 36 inches of snow. That town didn't break a record Believe it or not because the official amount was only 20 inches of snow it was but the 36 inches of snow was considered valid. And we had many places which were anywhere between 24 and 36 inches. Some areas got several feet of snow drifts. The pictures are just unbelievable. There's pictures of doors which you open up the door the whole thing is snow you can't even get out. Now, that area so they got a massive blizzard last week with 60 mile per hour wind gusts. Another major snowstorm moved through Sunday night Sunday Sunday night in some areas got about eight inches of snow in North Dakota again places like Leeds North Dakota they got eight inches of snow this place kavaler North Dakota, eight inches of snow. Grand Morales Minnesota, 7.3 inches of snow Devils Lake North Dakota, six inches of snow Duluth, Minnesota, 5.8 inches of snow we're holding in April, they already broke a record. Bismarck North Dakota broke a record for the snowiest April on record. I think it's the previous record was 21.8 inches. Currently they're holding a 21.9 inches, with still 13 days left to go for April at the time this record was broke. Now, there is a major major snowstormUnknown 2:02a major storm system and impactful storm system, which will be pushing up the Dakotas this weekend. This will have major impacts for all over the country really. But for North Dakota, another winter weather event is possible in North Dakota in the northern half of North Dakota. The European computer model has just brought the strong track further north than what it was saying earlier tells us the National Weather Service for Bismarck. And you know the rain, it's gonna be a tricky call for at least the first half probably rain snow, probably mostly rain really. But when you get into Sunday, so when you're already on the backside of the storm, that's really when there's very high potential for death. Certainly the western parts in the Northwest parts of North Dakota to be seeing snow, perhaps even all snow. Now before we get in, that's going to be a significant storm as well. It's a solid at least six inches. There might be a lot more than that. We already have a winter storm warning which goes into effect this morning at 7am. For places in Minnesota, not Duluth, Minnesota but very close to Duluth, Minnesota, six to 10 inches of snow expected in areas over there. That's a low pressure system which is pushing off to the northeast. You know the Northeast also. They got also areas got 18 inches of snow. That was on Tuesday between Monday. That was on Monday actually, by Tuesday morning already. There are places which were getting a foot even more of snow there were places which have there's videos of Thundersnow just very beautiful stuff going on. You have places this is a rarity to see places with the flowers blooming. But the snows coming down hard also there was lots of power outages some of the counties up there report that they've never seen so many trees down ever. So there's really a lot going on up there. The cold air Believe it or not, it's not we're not done with it. We're really not done with it. And it's I can't believe it. The National Weather Service here in Chicago says that there's a chance for snow a little bit beyond the seven day forecast cycle. This is really something phenomenal sub we have another record breaking cold air aloft coming in to the Dakotas for the weekend. That's on top of an unprecedented snowpack, which not only is it very deep snow, but also the moisture content is very high. And regardless of what type of precipitation falls this weekend, there's a risk of flooding. You know areas which are getting rain two inches of rain is expected to fall over in North Dakota. Two inches of water equivalent. Some of that falling as snow some of it falling is rain. You know temperatures Believe it or not you know you go into South Dakota, Nebraska on Friday highs going into the mid 90s. In Nebraska and North Platte Nebraska is expecting a record high the previous records 92 degrees, forecasts high Friday 93 degrees.Unknown 5:13This is a strong storm system. It's bringing in summer heat summer heat ahead of the system on Friday and you know those 90s Go up South Dakota, South Dakota areas in the 80s. If temperatures in the 80s for South Dakota, it wouldn't be so surprising to get a 90 degree reading over there. When you see how far north those 80s are going. But North Platte, Nebraska it's not and it's going well into the 90s over there. You have it North Dakota Of course it's just south it's just north of South Dakota. Camera is getting pretty mild there for this in the south east parts of North Dakota and not the 80s maybe the 60s or something like that. But when you get to the northwest part of North Dakota, you have temperatures in the 30s maybe even colder than that. We're going to you know last week it's something similar to what happened last week, perhaps not quite as extreme maybe when you had a temperature in Omaha, Nebraska, 91 degrees, five o'clock pm then you had a temperatures somewhere in the Dakotas of 19 degrees in Spearfish spirit Spearfish. I think it was, I think that's the city Spearfish. 19 degrees at five o'clock pm the teens in one area that 90s in another area. You know, the Fahrenheit system allows is a much media friendly system. The Fahrenheit system is very media friendly. And you can have a headline 90s and the Braska teens in the Dakotas. Also the North Dakota South Dakota thing is very media friendly because teens in the Dakotas 90s. In Nebraska, they border each other once North Dakota once South Dakota, it's 1991. You know, it's like, but either even without those headlines, even with even if you go to the Celsius system, you're still looking 32 degrees Celsius, maybe even 33 degrees Celsius 33 degrees Celsius in Omaha, Nebraska, and then you go into that town in North Dakota. So if you're looking at a temperature of 90 degrees Fahrenheit, that's about nine eight, that's about 918.Unknown 7:17Celsius that's colder than 14 degrees Celsius, that's probably 13 or 12 degrees Celsius, no colder than 14 billows. That's probably what would it be to 1112 degrees below zero Celsius. It's really cold. That's really cold at 19 degrees over there. So even without the media friendly Fahrenheit system, and even without the jumbling up North Dakota and South Dakota into one big word, the decoders, even just looking at the facts, It's so unbelievable. It's really amazing. When you have teens and 90s coming together, in this weekend storm system, we're gonna see something pretty similar. I don't know about the blizzard. I don't know about the blizzard, the Blizzard has the first half might be falling as rain, but there still could be some very significant stuff happening in the second half. We also have to deal with this time of the year as the solar insolation solar insulation. It's i n s o l a t IO n. That's the amount of solar the amount of the sun's rays it's hitting the ground. It's It's really high this time of the year. We have an ultra violent index on Thursday here in Chicago forecast to be the seventh, you go out into the Dakotas where you have snow covered ground, that ultraviolet index is going to be higher than a seven. You have the clouds that lowers it. Even on a cloudy day. Still here in Chicago, we're getting an ultraviolet index of three that's equivalent to what it is on a sunny day in South Padre Island, Texas in December, might even get more ultraviolet rays than that. We're talking about strong sun this time of the year the National Weather Service in Bismarck, North Dakota informs us or this might be in Duluth, Minnesota informs us. It's Duluth, Minnesota for tomorrow, that even though temperatures will be below 32 in the area of the winter storm warning, and it's cloudy and it's snowing, there still could be some melting. And there could even It could even affect the precipitation type. Some of the precipitation might start to fall over. As far as rain, it might fall as rain even though the temperatures are below 32. Only just because of the solar installation. It's really an you know, when you get the heavier precipitation rates, that's when you get the dynamic cooling. That pretty much guarantees when you have temperatures that cold. You're pretty much guaranteed with the heavier precipitation make the presentation with falling as snow. That's what's been going on in the East Coast whenever it was Monday, Tuesday, Sunday night even that's what's been going on heavier precipitation rates is when the precipitation changes the snow Oh, in some areas forecasted only rain. But if the precipitation falls down heavily enough, you can start to get snow even though temperatures are well above 32. It's more common this time of the year to see stuff like that, to see temperatures well above 32 and precipitation falling and snow, I have noticed in the month of April, it is a lot more common when you go back into November and December, the precipitation falls as rain usually when temperatures are in the upper 30s, sometimes even mid 30s. But this time of the year, mid and upper 30s, when the cold enough for the precipitation to fall snow, if you're in the backside of the storm system. The area's on the major cities on the East Coast got pretty much a cold rain, there could have been some thunder and lightning, often the probably Cape Cod or so in the Massachusetts area, we have a severe weather risk........

Russia hurled its military might against Ukrainian cities and towns and poured more troops into the war, seeking to slice the country in two in a potentially pivotal battle for control of the eastern industrial heartland of coal mines and factories. Clayton Neville reports on that for us. A new U.S. government center aims to become the National Weather Service for infectious diseases — an early warning system to help guide the response to COVID-19 and future pandemics. John Stolnis has the details on that. The Justice Department said Tuesday it will not appeal a federal district judge's ruling that ended the nation's federal mask mandate on public transit unless the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believes the requirement is still necessary. Pamela Furr has that story. We'll find out more about how safe we can expect to be aboard public transportation without masks required with Dr. William Schaffner, medical director for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases. And we'll turn an eye towards the midterm elections with Steve Shepard of Politico. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When it rains in North Texas from March through June, there's often a chance for thunderstorms, hail, and even some tornadoes. But what makes this part of the country susceptible to those threats? And how should we prepare for them? In a roundtable format KRLD Chief Meteorologist Dan Brounoff, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Fort Worth office Jennifer Dunn, and Tarrant County Emergency Management Coordinator David McCurdy explain why North Texas gets those storms and what to do when they arrive.

Every day, personnel at the FAA's Air Traffic Control System Command Center in Warrenton, VA work to keep aircraft flying safely across the National Airspace System and far away from the worst of what has already been a very active thunderstorm season.

Spring weather in the Copper Country can be turbulent. Matt Zika from the National Weather Service talks with host Todd VanDyke about what to watch for, and how to stay safe. Copper Country Today airs throughout Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula Sunday mornings at 7:00 on WOLV 97.7 FM, 8:00 WCCY 99.3 FM and 1400 AM, and 9:00 on WHKB 102.3 FM. The program is sponsored by the Portage Health Foundation.

Texting etiquette with Tatum Hunter:  1)Think of group texts like a dinner party 2)We're done fighting over capital letters and punctuation  3)Responses aren't mandatory, but acknowledgments are nice  4)Don't be a texting wet blanket  5)No scary mysteries  6)It's okay to get serious  7) Respect workplace texting boundaries  8) Don't text during important real-world moments Jason Tharp wants to write books for weird kids — because he was one. On April 6, as Tharp prepared to read “It's Okay to Be a Unicorn!” to students the next day at an elementary school in the Buckeye Valley Local School District, north of Columbus, he got a call from the principal saying higher-ups didn't want him reading the book. “I just straight up asked him, ‘Does somebody think I made a gay book?' ” Tharp said. “And he said, ‘Yes. … The concern is that you're coming with an agenda to recruit kids to become gay.' ” Brayden Murdoch with the National Weather Service.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Texting etiquette with Tatum Hunter:  1)Think of group texts like a dinner party 2)We're done fighting over capital letters and punctuation  3)Responses aren't mandatory, but acknowledgments are nice  4)Don't be a texting wet blanket  5)No scary mysteries  6)It's okay to get serious  7) Respect workplace texting boundaries  8) Don't text during important real-world moments Jason Tharp wants to write books for weird kids — because he was one. On April 6, as Tharp prepared to read “It's Okay to Be a Unicorn!” to students the next day at an elementary school in the Buckeye Valley Local School District, north of Columbus, he got a call from the principal saying higher-ups didn't want him reading the book. “I just straight up asked him, ‘Does somebody think I made a gay book?' ” Tharp said. “And he said, ‘Yes. … The concern is that you're coming with an agenda to recruit kids to become gay.' ” Brayden Murdoch with the National Weather Service.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Drought is taking a toll on the U.S. wheat crop. Farmers on the Texas High Plains face a number of issues, including drought, as they prepare to plant this year. The National Weather Service offers some advice to stay safe during spring storms. We'll have those stories and more on this episode of Texas Ag Today.

It was widespread and it was deadly, the Easter weekend tornado outbreak that brutalized the Southeast US. Several tornadoes were ultimately responsible for triggering tornado emergency declarations, including the very first of its kind to be issued by the National Weather Service in Charleston, South Carolina.  Throughout the two-day outbreak, a total of 140 tornadoes touched down across 10 states, causing  widespread and locally catastrophic damage.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The National Weather Service has completed extensive storm surveys detailing the 10 tornadoes confirmed in South Carolina on April 5 and 6. Their investigation found evidence from the historic storms, including an EF-3 tornado in Allendale, Orangeburg, and Bamberg counties that was on the ground for over 35 miles. Amazingly no one was killed in the Carolinas by these tornadoes. The storm surveys were a joint collaboration between the National Weather Service office in Columbia, and the National Weather Service in Charleston. LEAVE A TIP: https://streamelements.com/carolinawxgroup/tip SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST: https://anchor.fm/carolinaweather SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://patreon.com/carolinaweathergroup VISIT OUR WEBSITE: https://carolinaweathergroup.com The Carolina Weather Group operates a weekly talk show of the same name. Broadcasting each week from the Carolinas, the show is dedicated to covering weather, science, technology, and more with newsmakers from the field of atmospheric science. With co-hosts across both North Carolina and South Carolina, the show may closely feature both NC weather and SC weather, but the topics are universally enjoyable for any weather fan. Join us as we talk about weather, environment, the atmosphere, space travel, and all the technology that makes it possible. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/carolinaweather/message

Jesse Allen gets the latest weather impacts of this major winter storm from Timothy Lynch at the National Weather Service office in Grand Forks.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We hear about wildfires all the time out West in California and Colorado. But the State of Florida has a significant amount of undeveloped land thick with trees and underbrush that routinely sees a risk of wildfire. Given that long-ago understood reality, how could the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services authorize a controlled burn in an area under a Fire Weather Warning from the National Weather Service?...Sign-up for our mostly daily mail out here:https://www.undergroundusa.comSupport Underground USA (BTC)https://commerce.coinbase.com/checkout/7b2d8c35-55b9-49ed-9918-f7cc6f2a488dSupport Underground USA (USD)https://checkout.square.site/merchant/SW8KGEWAS2A22/checkout/SXG24XFCOWMROX3D5IN42TB2RELATED ARTICLE(S):https://www.undergroundusa.com/p/one-florida-democrat-burns-when-she

USDA meteorologist, Brad Rippey, has the National Weather Service's outlook through the middle of April. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This Green Earth airs on KPCW at 9am following NPR news and the Local News Hour. Today, Nell and Chris's guests include: (02:23) Professor Emeritus William Lowry, who discusses Requiem for America's Best Idea: National Parks in the Era of Climate Change; a book about our National Parks written by Michael Yochim. Yochim worked as a park ranger for 22 years at Yellowstone National Park, as well as Yosemite, Grand Canyon and Sequoia before he was diagnosed with ALS. While Yochim wrote this book, he used just his eyes and an eye-tracking machine. The book establishes a parallel between the author's terminal illness and the state of the National Parks, and Lowry wrote the forward to the book. (20:59) Jordan Clayton from Utah Snow Survey then joins This Green Earth to speak about the March water report and projections as we head into our warmer months.Nell and Chris end the hour discussing (44:24) Charles Darwin's missing notebooks, taken from Cambridge Library, have been returned more than 20 years later, (46:30) one of their favorite interviews of the past about stolen feathers from the British Natural History Museum, (47:14) the National Weather Service cutting back weather balloon launches, and (48:22) Swaner Ecocenter's event tonight from 7-9pm called Lights Out.

USDA meteorologist, Brad Rippey, has the National Weather Service's outlook for early April. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former Jesuit Prep Dallas president protected abusive priest; Parents of 3-year-old boy fatally shot in the head in Dallas arrested; Dallas County closing several COVID vaccine, testing sites; North Texas pharmacies preparing to give extra COVID booster doses; National Weather Service missed Rockwall County tornado, didn't issue warning

A small house in the yard behind the larger and older Cammack House, where John and Mary Sue Moore live on Highway 84 just west of Gosport was destroyed by strong winds Tuesday night, March 22 as a storm system moved through the area. Clarke County EMA Director Roy Waite said the National Weather Service investigated and said the winds appeared to have been straight-line winds, that nothing indicated a tornado. The Cammack House sustained minor damage but there was no other damage in the area. In Choctaw County, two EF-1 tornadoes with winds of up to 110 mph did...Article Link

As we begin our stream this week, there is a major severe weather event occurring across portions of the Deep South, including Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama. Thunderstorms are producing life-threatening tornadoes in addition to dangerous hail and winds. We're analyzing the unfolding situation. We're forecasting ahead to Thursday. This is when the same cold front currently producing storms off to our west arrives in the Carolinas. While we expect the storm threat to be less severe than seen Wednesday, there is still a chance for some severe thunderstorms Thursday. Some of these storms could be strong enough to produce damaging winds, flash flooding, or an isolated tornado. We're also revisiting last week's severe weather in the Carolinas, including analyzing the multiple tornadoes the National Weather Service confirmed touchdown in portions of both North Carolina and South Carolina. One of the strongest tornadoes to occur on March 23 was an EF-2 in Pickens, South Carolina. Plus late-breaking developments on the fire threat across the region, including fires burning near Wears Valley along the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee, and in Cumberland County, North Carolina near Fayetteville. LEAVE A TIP: https://streamelements.com/carolinawxgroup/tip SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST: https://anchor.fm/carolinaweather SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://patreon.com/carolinaweathergroup VISIT OUR WEBSITE: https://carolinaweathergroup.com The Carolina Weather Group operates a weekly talk show of the same name. Broadcasting each week from the Carolinas, the show is dedicated to covering weather, science, technology, and more with newsmakers from the field of atmospheric science. With co-hosts across both North Carolina and South Carolina, the show may closely feature both NC weather and SC weather, but the topics are universally enjoyable for any weather fan. Join us as we talk about weather, environment, the atmosphere, space travel, and all the technology that makes it possible. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/carolinaweather/message

Learn about storm development and radar interpretation during Tuesday night's free advanced SKYWARN training class in conjunction with the National Weather Service office in Columbia,  South Carolina the Carolina Weather Group. Register: https://t.co/ysRUfAX5Oq  And we're back Wednesday with another episode dedicated to severe weather: looking back at last week's tornadoes, and looking ahead to a severe threat Thursday.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/carolinaweather/message

The body of water known as Sabine Lake is actually a bay on the Gulf coast of Louisiana and Texas, about 90 miles east of Houston. Funds were first appropriated for a lighthouse at Sabine Pass, an outlet of the bay into the Gulf of Mexico, in 1849, but the project was shelved for a few years. It was first lighted in 1856. The appearance of the tower is unique, with eight buttresses supporting it near its base. Sabine Pass Lighthouse, Louisiana. USLHS photo. A marsh fire destroyed the keeper's house and other buildings in September 1976, leaving just the lighthouse and an oil house standing. The property passed through several hands, and in 2001 it came into the possession of the nonprofit Cameron Preservation Alliance. The organization is working toward a full restoration of the lighthouse. Andrew Tingler Andrew Tingler is the president of the Cameron Preservation Alliance. He's also a meteorologist for the National Weather Service. He started his career in Duluth, Minnesota, but grew up near the Sabine Pass Lighthouse. Andrew Tingler working on the repointing of Sabine Pass Lighthouse

Severe storms in Pickens County, South Carolina caused damage to homes Wednesday night. Gerald Mengel, a storm chaser, details the preliminary reports of storm damage from the potential tornado and severe thunderstorms in Upstate South Carolina Wednesday. The National Weather Service from Greenville-Spartanburg will visit Pickens County Thursday to conduct a formal storm survey. LEAVE A TIP: https://streamelements.com/carolinawxgroup/tip SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST: https://anchor.fm/carolinaweather SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://patreon.com/carolinaweathergroup VISIT OUR WEBSITE: https://carolinaweathergroup.com The Carolina Weather Group operates a weekly talk show of the same name. Broadcasting each week from the Carolinas, the show is dedicated to covering weather, science, technology, and more with newsmakers from the field of atmospheric science. With co-hosts across both North Carolina and South Carolina, the show may closely feature both NC weather and SC weather, but the topics are universally enjoyable for any weather fan. Join us as we talk about weather, environment, the atmosphere, space travel, and all the technology that makes it possible. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/carolinaweather/message

Guest: Kevin CooleyWhen life-threatening weather is occurring, the National Weather Service not only monitors the threat, but also puts out products through a variety of sources in order to convey the severity and timing of the threat. But how exactly do they accomplish this? In the age of technology where a tweet can be seen just as widely as a bulletin on television, how does the NWS balance the juggling act of ensuring their message is seen by as many people as possible but also staying on top of the threat as it's unfolding? Joining us today is Kevin Cooley, the Director of Office of Planning & Programming for Service Delivery for the N-W-S, and that's exactly what his job handles. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

KFOR's Dale Johnson talks with National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist, Brian Smith, about Severe Weather Awareness Week March 21 thru 25

Weather is an important part of the daily lives and commerce of the U.S. In charge of keeping us apprised and safe is the National Weather Service. Dave talks to Meteorologist in Charge Michelle Mead and Warning Coordination Meteorologist Courtney Carpenter from the National Weather Service's Sacramento, CA office.

Dr. Caitlin Rivers returns to the podcast to talk about her work with the CDC's new Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics. Funded through the American Rescue Plan, the Center works with academic and government partners to model potential health threats and monitor outbreaks. Rivers talks with Dr. Josh Sharfstein about standing up the new center, how omicron gave them an initial test run of analyzing data to brief government leaders on what was to come, and their hopes for eventually creating localized COVID forecasts to help prevent transmission during outbreaks.

Severe weather season is here, so Episode 9 pivots in that direction. Jarod and Walker discuss tornado warning trends from each National Weather Service office over the last fifteen years. Which area do you think issued the most warnings? The answer may surprise you. Plus, Walker covered his first on-air tornado warning in late February. Jarod and Walker reflect on how severe weather coverage works, the emotions behind it, and the team effort that is involved. 1:35 - Discussing the data we're using 3:00 - Who is #1? 3:25 - Tornado warnings don't necessarily translate to tornadoes 4:25 - Discussing the rest of the top offices 6:45 - Traditional "Tornado Alley" 7:20 - Storm chasing in the Southeastern U.S. 9:30 - Coastal states stay busy 10:00 - Remembering the Hattiesburg tornado 11:10 - Areas prone for violent tornadoes 12:40 - Zero tornado warnings in fifteen years 15:15 - Tornadoes in landfalling tropical systems 20:00 - Walker's first tornado warning 20:20 - The best kind of tornadoes 21:05 - Walker's initial reactions, jumping into the pool 22:35 - Furious viewers 26:30 - Jarod can't recall his first tornado warning 27:50 - The television tightrope 28:30 - Severe weather can produce severe anxiety 31:15 - Treat all tornado warnings the same 34:10 - The steps of severe weather coverage 37:50 - Production Appreciation Time

South Carolina Assistant State Climatologist Melissa Griffin shows how to record, measure, and report rainfall totals observed in your backyard through a volunteer program called CoCoRaHS. CoCoRaHS (pronounced KO-ko-rozz) is a grassroots volunteer network of backyard weather observers of all ages and backgrounds working together to measure and map precipitation (rain, hail and snow) in their local communities. Here is how to join the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network: https://www.cocorahs.org/application.aspx Want to take your weather observation skills to the next level? Join the Carolina Weather Group and the National Weather Service on Tuesday, March 29 at 7 p.m. for an advanced SKYWARN storm spotter training class: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/986395392279449358 LEAVE A TIP: https://streamelements.com/carolinawxgroup/tip SUBSCRIBE TO OUR PODCAST: https://anchor.fm/carolinaweather SUPPORT US ON PATREON: https://patreon.com/carolinaweathergroup VISIT OUR WEBSITE: https://carolinaweathergroup.com The Carolina Weather Group operates a weekly talk show of the same name. Broadcasting each week from the Carolinas, the show is dedicated to covering weather, science, technology, and more with newsmakers from the field of atmospheric science. With co-hosts across both North Carolina and South Carolina, the show may closely feature both NC weather and SC weather, but the topics are universally enjoyable for any weather fan. Join us as we talk about weather, environment, the atmosphere, space travel, and all the technology that makes it possible. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/carolinaweather/message

Host: Grace Guest: Meghan Stackhouse Date: 3/9/22

The National Weather Service had issued a tornado warning for the Atlanta area at 9:26 p.m. that night after radar showed the signatures of a storm capable of producing tornadoes.  And this was registering on the map about six miles west of Atlanta. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello Interactors,Wars, gas prices, eventual food and mineral shortages, inflation, a nagging pandemic, homelessness, immigration, migration, social and economic inequities, rising health prices, home prices, climate change, and natural disasters. What am I missing? Global society needs a hug but we’re all afraid to offer one. We need fixed, I believe, but we are fixed in what we believe.As interactors, you’re special individuals self-selected to be a part of an evolutionary journey. You’re also members of an attentive community so I welcome your participation.Please leave your comments below or email me directly.Now let’s go…TWISTED UP AND HOG TIEDAs bombs dropped across Kyiv and surrounding areas last Saturday causing destruction in their path, large missiles were also descending on portions of the state Iowa. These were trees and debris launched by a series of tornados moving at a groundspeed of 45 miles an hour generating winds upwards of 170 miles per hour. They swept across a swath of land 117 miles wide. The storm was rated at a level 4 on a five point scale. Level 4 tornados create devastating damage. Well-constructed houses are leveled; structures with weak foundations are blown some distance away; cars are thrown; large missiles are generated.This storm swept through the town where I grew up, Norwalk. None of my friends or family were impacted, but seven people died just south of Norwalk in neighboring Lucas County. Another nearby county, Madison – made famous by the book and movie The Bridges of Madison County – was also hit. The National Weather Service said, “This is second longest tornado in Iowa since 1980.”March is a little early for tornados in Iowa and July is a little late. But last July twelve swept through the state with top wind speeds of 145 miles an hour. And on July 18th of 2018 they had 21 twisters hitting 144 miles per hour.In 2020 the state was hit with a derecho – a long-lasting wide-spread blast of tornado-level winds that destroyed tens of millions of bushels of corn. Together with the stresses of the pandemic, this event pushed many farmers over the edge. It was enough to prompt Iowa State University to create a program called, “I Worry All the Time: Resources for Life in a Pandemic.” It offers steps to help people answer the question posed by the university’s outreach director, David Brown: “How do we maintain our resilience in the face of these challenges?”These natural events and human adaptation programs signal what the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) confirms worldwide, “Globally, climate change is increasingly causing injuries, illness, malnutrition, threats to physical and mental health and well-being, and even deaths.” The panel of climate experts warn, “The extent and magnitude of climate change impacts are larger than estimated in previous assessments. They are causing severe and widespread disruption in nature and in society; reducing our ability to grow nutritious food or provide enough clean drinking water, thus affecting people's health and well-being and damaging livelihoods. In summary, the impacts of climate change are affecting billions of people in many different ways.”You would think existential threat would be a top concern. Especially among citizens of the United States given our outsized per capita-consumption of energy, goods, and resources. Nope. After President Biden’s recent State of the Union Address, Pew Research reported on a poll taken in January examining American’s views on major national issues.Seventy-one percent of those surveyed said ‘strengthening the economy’ should be the top priority for the president and Congress to address this year. Second was ‘reducing healthcare costs’ at 61 percent. ‘Dealing with climate change’ came in 14th out of 18 topics with 41 percent believing it is something government should address.Survey participants who lean both politically Left and Right believe the economy is most important. Though, Republicans believe it more than Democrats. But not my much – 82% versus 62%. A 20 point difference. But on climate change the differential is the largest of all 18 issues surveyed. Only 11% of Republicans surveyed believe the government should prioritize reducing effects of climate change versus 65% of Democrats. That’s a 54 point difference in opinion. This suggests that of all the things Americans are divided on, the one that poses the biggest threat is the one with which we differ the most.This survey targets adults age 18 living in the United States. I’ve been thinking about those youngest and oldest surveyed. I try to imagine what effects climate change will have on them in 20 years. The IPCC paints a grim picture. They created three periods of time that reflect what life will be like on planet earth given where we are today.The three periods are near-term (up to 2040), mid-term (2041-2060), and long-term (2061-2100). By 2040, the near term, a good chunk of the upper end of baby-boomers (who dominate federal government) will be dead or nearing death. Those ages 18 today will be 36 in 2040. The year 2100 seems far off, but if that 18 year old is lucky they’ll be 96 in 2100. A child born today will be 78 years old.They’ll read about those suffering Iowa farmers devastated by natural disasters, economic hardship, and a pandemic with envy. The IPCC says “children aged ten or younger in the year 2020 are projected to experience a nearly four-fold increase in extreme events under 1.5°C of global warming by 2100, and a five-fold increase under 3°C warming. Such increases in exposure would not be experienced by a person aged 55 in the year 2020 in their remaining lifetime under any warming scenario.”We are most likely too late to avoid this reality. The focus now is on adaptation. Our multi-legged, winged, and gilled friends are already trying. There is ample evidence of species climbing to higher land, shifting to cooler regions, or diving to greater depths in the ocean. This will have ripple effects throughout the ecosystem on which every living being relies – including humans. We have the mental capacity to do more than other animals than just adapt, but appear unable to do so.The IPCC says, “Adapting successfully requires an analysis of risks caused by climate change and the implementation of measures in time to reduce these risks.” They ask these five questions:Is there an awareness that climate change is causing risks?Are the current and future extent of climate risks being assessed?Have adaptation measures to reduce these risks been developed and included in planning?Are those adaptation measures being implemented?Are their implementation and effectiveness in reducing risks monitored and evaluated?On the first they claim there is increased awareness that climate change is causing these risks. Anecdotally, I see historically climate denying institutions, companies, and individuals calling for adaptation and mitigation strategies and technologies. It’s hard to say how many of them are acknowledging climate change out of fear or just seeking financial gain. Like our healthcare industry, many see opportunity in human suffering as a result of climate change.But the IPCC also says “given the rate and scope of climate change impacts, actions on assessing and communicating risks, as well as on implementing adaptation are insufficient.” These IPCC reports can’t get any more direct. They conclude, “The scientific evidence is unequivocal: climate change is a threat to human well-being and the health of the planet. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a livable future.”GET ALONG LITTLE DOGGIENorwalk, Iowa is home to two movie star super-heroes, the lead in “Aquaman” Jason Momoa and Brandon Routh who played Superman in “Superman Returns”. Another famous actor was born in nearby Winterset, Iowa in Madison County – home of the covered bridges. His name is John Wayne. Or Marion Morrison, as he would have been known back in Winterset. His family moved to California when he was nine. He got the nickname ‘Duke’ when a local fireman started calling him ‘Little Duke’ after frequently seeing him walking his dog, Duke. ‘Duke’ sounded better than Marion and soon everyone was calling him by his nickname, Duke. His stage name, John Wayne, came with his first leading role in the 1930 film The Big Trail.John Wayne claims to have been a socialist while attending USC pre-law, voted for FDR in 1936 and supported Woodrow Wilson. But by 1944 he became concerned with communism and helped create the politically conservative organization Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals. He and its members believed the motion picture industry, and the country, was being infiltrated by communists.But critics said the organization sympathized with fascists, was anti-Semitic, against unionization, and endorsed the Jim Crow laws of the South. It broke up in 1975, but by then John Wayne’s views were well publicized. He told Playboy magazine in 1971 that “I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility.” And it’s fitting he often played a cowboy because he believed America was not “wrong in taking this great country away from the Indians. Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.”Playing leading roles as both cowboy and war hero, John Wayne became the symbol of American exceptionalism, individualism, strength, and masculinity. When Kirk Douglas played the role of Vincent van Gogh in a 1957 film Wayne told him, “Christ, Kirk, how can you play a part like that? There's so goddamn few of us left. We got to play strong, tough characters. Not these weak queers." On welfare John Wayne said, “I'd like to know why well-educated idiots keep apologizing for lazy and complaining people who think the world owes them a living.”Ronald Reagan was a close friend of John Wayne. They were both actors, shared conservative worldviews, and had a shared vision for the American ideal that each of them personified. They remain idols of the Republican party to this very day. I’m guessing roughly one-third of the country still align to their worldview. It’s a view that holds hierarchy and authority, usually male authority, in high regard. They believe individuals control their destiny, government should not hold them back, and are skeptical of what John Wayne called ‘well-educated idiots.’This would likely include the scientists who authored that IPCC report I keep quoting. By extension, they are largely skeptical of the risks of climate change. And they see attempts by the UN, EU, or any governmental agency to enact mitigation measures as impeding individual, industry, and economic progress.But those who favor a more egalitarian and communitarian worldview see many of these strict social hierarchies and entrenched capitalistic traditions as the sources of social, economic, and environmental inequities and destruction. They seek restrictions on individual gluttony, corporate excesses, and industry exploitation.This group, often characterized as ‘The Left’, tend to believe that if they could just ‘educate’ the public, especially their counterparts, ‘The Right’, they’d come to realize the threat that we face. They’re convinced education is the answer. Clearly this isn’t working.  In 2012 a group of scientists decided to test this education theory. What they found is that not only is the theory wrong, but that“Members of the public with the highest degrees of science literacy and technical reasoning capacity were not the most concerned about climate change. Rather, they were the ones among whom cultural polarization was greatest.” We believe what we want to believe based largely on which crowd we want to be affiliated with and experts are not immune. And ordinary people on both ‘The Left’ and ‘The Right’ use the best available science to justify their beliefs. And the more knowledge we accumulate the more entrenched we become.This study confirms what others have shown which is we are polarized in our beliefs about climate change. But it also reveals that those who claim to be politically ‘moderate’ or ‘centrist’ don’t necessarily share worldviews despite be co-located on the political spectrum. Those who ‘lean Republican’ or are ‘slightly conservative’ and those who are ‘Independent’, ‘lean Democrat’, or are ‘slightly liberal’ showed their respective opinions on climate risk were exceedingly different than those claiming to be decidedly ‘conservative Republicans’ and ‘liberal Democrats.’In other words, their study suggests polarization isn’t just about Republicans and Democrats, Liberals and Conservatives, or the Far Right and Far Left, it’s about our individual worldviews and the communities we pick. And, importantly, what opinions members of those communities deem acceptable to believe and communicate. The risk of be ostracized by your in-group is so great that we resist admitting we may agree with some of what the out-group believes – even if deep down we believe it to be truthful.Here’s an extreme example inspired by the study. Imagine a diehard Republican Iowa farmer, Scott, who lost a family member in one of those tornados. Perhaps he heard of a farmer friend of a friend who had crops damaged by those storms in 2020 and became bankrupt. Scott may have become so troubled and anxious that he even attended one of those therapy sessions Iowa State University holds.Somehow these unfortunate life events eventually convinced him climate change is real, but he largely keeps his opinion to himself for fear of not fitting in. Then one day he gets invited to go on a hunting trip in North Dakota by an old high school friend who works on a fracking rig. There he is surrounded by his buddy’s work pals, oil guys, talking s**t about liberals who get riled up over climate change. How likely is Scott to admit to these guys that he believes in climate change? It makes no difference that he’s a Republican or they are, he knows it’s his clan and he knows the social cost of speaking his mind. He knows climate denial is part of what keeps him in the club.On the other side, the environmental science community and some activists, across the mostly liberal spectrum, are splintering over mixed worldviews on energy policy. Many environmental scientists weigh the risk of human lives due to climate change against accidents from nuclear energy reactors and are coming out in support of nuclear energy. They get skewered on Twitter for advocating in favor of nuclear power even though they’re doing it in the name of saving lives and the planet. The “No Nukes” movement of the 70s is so strong to this day among the environmentalist crew that anybody who dares to say “Yes to Nukes” is shamed, blamed, and defamed.It turns out that when we feel bounded in our rationality, we are really good at seeking knowledge to unbind it. Psychologists and sociologists called it ‘motivated cognition’. Our memory does it on our behalf. For example, we tend to remember our successes more than failures. And if a recollection of an event doesn’t match our current worldview, we’ll unknowingly reshape the memory to suit our current motives. We also tend to preference and ingest new and novel information when it suits our immediate interest and desires. We tend to want to believe a study even when we know the sample size is too small or is poorly designed. This makes bite sized social media fed by our social feeds perfect appetizers for the full meal deal found in a longer article, news report, podcast, or talk show.But this study – that my own motivated cognition led me to – points to an even more weighty form of cognition: ‘cultural cognition’. This theory is frequently used to better understand how we evaluate risk. It states that our personal values are what lead us to seek facts so we may conduct our own risk analysis. And we are more likely to believe what our in-group wants us to believe than what may actually be true.LOVE ‘EM UPWe live in a diverse society of conflicting opinions. For us to minimize the effects of climate change, to make kids born today not suffer more than they have to, we’re going to have to come together now. Yesterday. So what do we do? Sadly, there are more studies identifying these behaviors and theories explaining them then there are confirming solutions. But the authors of the study offer a clue. It has to do with minimizing the self-threat people feel when confronted with information they disagree with…or more specifically, with opinions and knowledge they deem representative of the out-group.When we are presented information that affirms our beliefs, we use that as evidence to bolster our position in our in-group. This is referred to as self-affirmation bias. It’s what keeps us polarized in our camps. It makes us feel good and raises our self-esteem. But there are many things that can raise our self-esteem that aren’t related to our consumption of self-affirming sound bites.When we’re presented with information that feeds our self-affirmation bias we have a choice to make. We can gobble it up as another self-esteem boost or we can interrogate, question, and evaluate it. We have agency to choose whether this is true or not or even worthy of consideration. And studies have shown that the best way to get ourselves in this frame of mind is to find another way to boost our self-esteem before consuming the information. Just by writing down one thing that we value about ourselves or others value in us is all it takes. That self-esteem boost is sufficient enough that we loose the craving for that self-affirming nugget of information being fed to us from members of our tribe.For example, in one study they found “a capital punishment proponent should feel more open to evidence challenging the death penalty’s effectiveness if he or she feels affirmed as a good friend or valued employee. Self-affirmations, [they] argue, trivialize the attitude as a source of self-worth and thus make it easier to give up.”This reminds me of the Seattle Seahawks head coach approach to coaching. Pete Carroll is known for signing players who excelled at one position in college or professionally and then convincing, converting, and committing them to become equally proficient, or more, in a different position. They are invariably resistant. After all, they have their ego, identity, and paycheck wrapped up in their history as a certain kind of player in a particular position. They’ve even created their own in-group fan club they don’t want to disappoint.Carroll’s solution is very easy and unorthodox for a football coach. Instead of focusing on what new skills they need to learn, an anxiety he knows they already possess, he reminds them of what they’re good at. He builds up their self-esteem by focusing on them as humans or on their athletic skills unrelated to the position. As Pete says, “I love ‘em up.”He finds that within a short time they are the ones that come to him saying, “Coach, I think I’m ready to try that position.” He barely has to mention it. By boosting their self-esteem Coach Carroll puts them in a frame of mind whereby they no longer need to rely on their ego boosting, self-affirming biased past to feel good about themselves. And, by in large, they’re better for it.This demonstrates that we need not wait for others to find alternative ways to build self-esteem. When confronted with people who you find resistant to your position on issues to do with the environment, economy, or equity try offering them a compliment. Maybe ask them what makes them feel good in the world. Ask them what they like doing, what they’re good at. Maybe even ask them what they fear.You’ll be triggering pangs of self-esteem in them. You’ll be reminding them of how special they are. And let’s face it, we’re all special and we’re all afraid of something. My experience is that when I do, I may not win them over right there and then – or ever – but I just might find what we have in common. You may find, as I have, that just by this act you’ve boosted your own self-esteem such that you may be open to their opinions.I wonder what would happen if our friend Scott, the right-wing farmer in Iowa, reminded a couple of those North Dakota frackers what makes them special. Maybe it’s a hidden talent, hobby, or award they earned at work. And I wonder if in doing so he would have found an opening to ask them about what they really felt about fracking, fossil fuel, and the impact it was having on the land they were walking on and the animals they were hunting. For all we know, they’re all afraid of the effects of climate change but fear the backlash from their peers more than the world ending.The latest IPCC report emphasizes the complexities surrounding the interaction of people and place and the role these interdependent interactions play in the cause and effects of climate change. They write, “This report has a strong focus on the interactions among the coupled systems climate, ecosystems (including their biodiversity) and human society. These interactions are the basis of emerging risks from climate change, ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss and, at the same time, offer opportunities for the future.”They go on to state that “Human society causes climate change…impacts ecosystems and can restore and conserve them.” [my emphasis] They also remind us that “Meeting the objectives of climate resilient development thereby supporting human, ecosystem and planetary health, as well as human well-being, requires society and ecosystems to move over (transition) to a more resilient state.”A sizable chunk of disadvantaged members of our global community have been forced into a perpetual and exhausting resilient state for centuries. All at the hands of generations of a relatively small advantaged few. The outreach director at Iowa State asked weary farmers, “How do we maintain our resilience in the face of these challenges?”Our increased polarization is taxing the resiliency of our respective out-groups. It’s time we restore and conserve them, embrace the diversity of opinion, recognize all worldviews are coupled systems that make up the messy but necessary human condition. Yes we have a climate crisis, but we also have an empathy crisis. Planetary health starts with mental well-being. Let’s boost our own self-esteem, the esteemed members of our clan, and even those you can’t stand. Those born today will appreciate it when they’re your age. Subscribe at interplace.io

USDA meteorologist, Brad Rippey, has the National Weather Service's outlook for the third week of March. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

USDA meteorologist, Brad Rippey, has the National Weather Service's outlook for the second week of March. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It has been two years since tornadoes touched down in Middle Tennessee on March 3, 2020. The tornadoes killed 25 people, destroyed more than 1,600 buildings — including more than 400 homes — and damaged some 2,700 others stretching from Benton County, through downtown and East Nashville, and into Cookeville. This episode examines what has changed since the deadly storms. Host Khalil Ekulona speaks to residents who were displaced by the storms about how their lives were changed that night. Later in the show, the conversation shifts to the steps you can take to stay safe during Nashville's next major weather event. Guests:  WPLN Special Projects Editor Tony Gonzalez Tamara Williams, a Cookville resident who is rebuilding her family's home after the storm Terry Warren, a Nashville resident who was displaced by the storm Krissy Hurley, warning coordination meteorologist with National Weather Service in Nashville Andrew Leeper of Nashville Severe Weather Lelan Statom, NewsChannel 5's senior meteorologist

Unknown 0:06Good evening, it is February 3, and welcome to a recap discussion of the storm. This storm is a dangerous storm right now it's an ice storm, lots of ice storm warnings, especially for places in Texas that had a very profound impact for those places going really highways, which cover from Texas all the way into the Northeast. And however, we're not going to be focusing so much on that we're going to be focusing more on the fun part of the storm.Unknown 0:35The fun part of this storm, right? The fun part of the storm is the snow part of the storm. And let's just go back to Monday, it was a complex storm. And that's why I wanted to just it's a unique storm, something that we don't usually get here in the Midwest, it happens but it's not the usual type of storm. So let me just explain the usual type of storm system that affects us the big storms that affect us here in the Midwest, the ones that produce more than six inches, and the ones which are forecasted to produce a widespread six inch plusUnknown 1:08are those low pressure systems that develop over let's say Oklahoma or so. And then they kind of dip a little bit south into Texas, this is called the Panhandle hook, it collides with lots of Gulf moisture, and then it also collides with an Arctic airmass. Low pressure generally a lot of times is under 1000 MB, which means it's about 29.5 or less, a lot of times 29.4. I remember in 2008, that winter, maybe 2009 29.4 Low pressure brought 14 or 15 inches of snow to Milwaukee. Now realize when you're trying to figure it out the storms intensity from just the barometric pressureUnknown 1:46to major forecaster for to the AccuWeather pointed out that for the East Coast, a good indicator to know whether a storm is going to produce a foot or more or not, is does the storm have a barometric pressure of 29.2 or lower. If it's not 29.2, then usually a foot will not be forecasted for the East Coast. Here in the Midwest, I would imagine we have different standards here because it's not so common to get a low pressure of 29.2. But you know, at the same time, the winter storms don't seem to be as big here in the Midwest. Anyways, we had a low pressure system, which was not really so much no Gaya, this it's not really so much connected to the snow. But I'm just going to mention it because it did have the barometric pressure at 29.2. And it actually did play a major role in getting this whole thing started. So that was the low pressure that was located just north of the Minnesota or North Dakota area in southern Canada. And if you looked on the map, it really looked intense. It had a lot of spin to it. 29.3 it was 29.3. On Monday, it moved northeast, they think now I think it intensified to 29.2. Tuesday as well. You might have actually was in just north of North Minnesota in Minnesota on Tuesday, and then it headed northeast. Now the way these low pressure systems work is that they were they were counter clockwise, the winds go counter clockwise around the low pressure. So areas to the east of the low pressure have Northwind of South winds and areas to the west of the low pressure have Northwind. So it brings in all the warm air to the east, which was many areas here in the Midwest, especially the southeast. A lot of times the warm air doesn't quite make it up in the Northeast because it tends to go over the colder air at the surface. But here in Chicago, we were on the warm in the warm sector of the system, in fact, much warmer or at least a little bit warmer than what was forecasted to happen. Temperatures in parts of Chicago area actually had 50 degrees on Tuesday, just amazing. 50 degrees in parts of the Chicago area on Tuesday, and precipitation moved in as well. That's because we had lots of golf moisture this was visible on any weather map you looked at from days ago days ago already was well advertised. The moisture available with the system was well advertised all over the place. You can look at a newspaper, weather map anywhere you could see even the precipitation it's precipitating in throughout the Gulf of Mexico. There's a front south of Miami that was on Tuesday and the precipitation around the Miami area. And you could see there's rain all over the place and the Flash Flood Watches for Texas, lots of moisture even without looking in a professional meteorological weather map even without that it was clear that there was lots of moisture available with the system. If you wanted to look at it with more depth you could look at the National Weather Service. The QP F which is the amount of water available with the system was approaching two inches or was two inches forecasted to be two inches in the St. Louis area and looks like that would be about the peak now. The general there is aUnknown 5:00A rumor or a rumor, and maybe it's true, we're going to talk about it that the general snow to water ratio is 10 to one. Now, meteorologist Tom Skilling set for here in Chicago on average, it's 12 to one. So in two inch or two inch of water equivalent, if that would fall as snow, you will have 24 inches of snow. Now with this system, phase number one was forecasted to be a 10 to one ratio, phase number two was forecast to be a 13 to one ratio, so you would average around 11 or 12. To one, if the whole thing would fall as snow, you would end up with about 20 inches in St. Louis, Missouri. Now, we're going to go ahead and talk about what exactly happened here. So this 29.2, low pressure system, this strong one in moves by 29.2 to 29.3, it drags a strong cold front, a cold front, all of these systems have a cold front associated with it. And this front was huge. This front went all the way from the Hudson Bay to Texas. Not only that, it's still doing it, the things still keeps moving this storm system up in Canada, it's still moving east. And the front just keeps getting longer and longer. It's like you haveUnknown 6:16the front isn't going away from Texas, it just keeps extending and extending like an extending rod, the front just keeps getting longer and longer. So the front just gets bigger, and the front is barely moving. That strong system up in Canada is moving, but the front is just getting longer and longer. So that's how is it possible for the storm system with an associated cold front, connected to it? How could the storm move east without the cold front moving is it's very simple. The front just keeps getting longer and longer. Now the front is moving a little bit towards the south east. Usually, this is the type of setup that I know I read about pretty frequently in the summertime you have a front that actually situates itself across the mid part of the country from the Southern Plains or even the central plains into the Midwest to the Mid Atlantic area. A lot of times it's just north of Baltimore, it separates New York City from Baltimore. It certainly separates. We don't use the word certainly anymore, actually. But we go from Baltimore to Providence, there were a lot of times be a front separating the two Chicago to St. Louis. There's a fun, it's the same front. So here we have a front now this front is it is winter. So we do have the Jetstream is further south. And this front is situated well to the south of St. Louis. It even goes south A Little Rock, Arkansas, and even the front is at this point already south of Texas. And you have the stationary front that became stationary north of New Orleans. They're still in the warm air. Miami, of course is just beautiful and warm. And that front front always have a very difficult time. Nothing's ever always but in. But they have a hard time in the winter. As I pointed out in the past fronts. Even in the winter, they do make it through Miami, but a lot of times you'll see they stall just north of Miami. Eventually it makes it through or they just vanish. So you can look at the map today.Unknown 8:13We have a series of maps that's y'all just come skilling does a great job in the Tribune and you could just see this front. You see the day to day progress of this fronto. Tomorrow the front is hasn't even made it into Florida yet. on Shabbos. The front is making it into northern Florida. On Sunday. The front it looks like it's right over Miami on Monday. The front is just to the south east of Miami. And on Tuesday, it is starting to possibly move back north as a warm front and on Wednesday. The front is still around Miami. So this is a fun that's moving very slowly and it will be becoming stationary either just south of Miami maybe along Miami it would be interesting to see what the weather forecast what those temperatures are forecast to be in Miami. That's the front that we have. Okay, so along this front we have we had two main waves of low pressure, different impulses, waves of low pressure that traveled along the front. There was no intense storm system and a normal situation here in the Midwest. meteorologist Dave Murray. He retired. He's expert channel two in St. Louis KTVA. He retired and moved to Hawaii but he continues to forecast the weather for St. Louis. But in any case, he's has always said that in order for the Midwest to have a major winter storm, certainly for the St. Louis area no more certainly. For the St. Louis area. There's three ingredients necessary. You need deep love. Deep, low pressure. You need copious amounts of moisture, more copious amounts of Gulf moisture. It could be any moisture bill in the Midwest. All of our moisture comes from the Gulf.Unknown 9:52Again, the word all is difficult in recent times, I've noticed we sometimes managed to get Pacific stuff over hereUnknown 10:00But the Gulf of Mexico is a primary is the main source of moisture around here. And the Arctic here, they collide this low pressure, I pretty sure it's deep, low pressure. But you know, in this case, we did not have the deep low pressure, and yet forecasts called for more than six inches of snow. And major winter storm is defined as more

Unknown 0:01Good afternoon, everybody. This Thursday afternoon. This is a quick recap : (several minutes later), the O'Hare Airport, the official recording session, we see it 5.6 inches. (Several minutes later 8:00?). Now I would like to read some of these snow totals that this comes from the National Weather Service. And this is from six o'clock pm Central Standard Time on Tuesday, February 1 through 8am today, so let me just read you the top. The top totals from various states Arkansas, Bella Vista, three miles northwest of Bella Vista. That's what the recording session is. They got nine inches of snow. That's an Arkansas, Colorado 14 Garland 13.3 miles east of Fort garland got 22.4 inches of snow. It looks like that is the top amount. I'm just going to tell you six miles northeast of Denver that's considered Denver. They got 13.6 inches of snow into Illinois. The top of Mount was Macomb, the Macomb County where the recording station is one mile south east of Macomb. 14.5 inches. Also Lewis town in Illinois. 14.4 inches. Peoria, Illinois.Unknown 9:43The recording session is three miles northwest of Peoria 12.1 inches Bloomington, Illinois. The weather station. There's 2.7 miles northeast of Bloomington. They got 12 inches Cantin 12 inches to another state. in Peoria, another Peoria one hour north of Peoria. 12 inches Quincy, one mile west of Quincy. 11.5 inches. I know he said one city per state but we have to put Illinois. I mean this is Illinois. I mean, Vermont, Illinois 11.3 Midway Airport. 11.0 inches. 11 inches. Normal Illinois also 11 inches in the Chicago Romeoville National Weather Service office 10 inches. Now we go into Indiana, Cedar Lake Indiana, 12.5 inches, the same for Miss Miss Shaohua aka Michelle Walker. I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing it right. They also got 12.5 inches. Akron, 12.0 Bowling prairie 4.0 Logan Port 11, Michigan City 11 Morocco 11. Well in 11, South Bend Indiana, the recording station is two miles east of South Bend. They got 10.3 as early this morning, and really there's not much more expected for today. In fact, the National Weather Service is saying just to trace you go into Iowa the highest amount Iowa was motor mo dar one mile south southwest of that city, five inches. Kansas the highest amount was climax. Climax Kansas Kansas nine inches. You go into Topeka, Kansas 4.6 Michigan, St. Joseph Michigan 13.8 inches and go into Missouri New London, Missouri. 12.2 inches Annabelle 11.5 inches. Columbia Missouri reporting stations six miles south east of Columbia 9.7. Springfield, Missouri seven inches St. Louis 6.5 Kansas City 3.8 New Mexico got bombarded with snow cannon Plaza 21 inches, Tahoe ski Valley 20 inches and Santa Fe 3.5 inches. The weather station there's 2.7 miles East northeast in Ohio so far, Ohio is much further east so we're probably still waiting for further snow totals over there but so far as of this morning, Montpelier, Ohio 6.5 inches and similar amounts for the other cities in Ohio mentioned Oklahoma highest amount 6.2 inches and Tulsa Oklahoma, Pennsylvania so far, you know there's not much there yet. The probably will be a lot more Erie, Pennsylvania. 2.7 inches. Texas. Turpin, Texas eight eight inches beaver six inches Groover six inches fritch 5.5 Amarillo Texas that's my favorite city so three miles north of Amarillo Texas 5.1 inches going into Wyoming Cheyenne Wyoming seven inches and I here we have selected preliminary oh so all of those all of those amounts that have so one second year selected preliminary storm total snowfall in inches. Selected pruners. Alright, continuing again. This is I don't know. Okay. I don't know the difference. Oh, total sleet This is the sleet accumulations Arkansas, Otter Creek two inches. Illinois. Carbondale 1.8 inches Kentucky in Henderson attempt of an inch Missouri Shrewsbury one inch Oklahoma. Sup Soper point eight inches. Texas Sweetwater 1.5 This is the sleet Okay, now we go to freezing rain. This is the real dangerous stuff.Unknown 13:48Mulberry Arkansas half an inch along with Pine Bluff. And then you have other areas got a quarter of an inch a quarter of an inch device or more is considered Winter Storm Warning criteria and Illinois have three tenths of an inch for outmanned Illinois, Indiana Floyds knobs and Newberg all received a quarter of an inch of ice Kentucky and Benton and Cadiz quarter of an inch or more Benton got point three eight Mississippi all the way down there Nesbitt four miles northwest of there. Three tenths of an inch Missouri pressed in a quarter of an inch St Charles point one five inches. Ohio strat there is a quarter of an inch Oklahoma tahina, half an inch hand no BIA point three eight Finley a quarter of an inch and same with Hugo, Texas, Texas. This is Texas got hit the hardest. It looks like Mason, Texas three quarters of an inch of freezing rain yula a quarter of an inch junction a quarter of an inch and then the other places are less than a quarter of an inch which falls a 10th of an inch. I'm just gonna read this paragraph here additional freezing sleet and snow accumulations are expected across the southern plains lower middle Mississippi Valley and into the Ohio and Tennessee Valley to tonight, with a few additional inches of snow and a swath of impact from potentially damaging freezing rain accumulations of a quarter of an inch to half an inch or locally higher forecast just to the south of the snow axis as the front continues to slowly track eastward snow and ice potential increase across the northern Mid Atlantic and northeast today and tonight before ending later tomorrow. snow totals for the interior northeast are likely to exceed a foot while freezing rain accumulations of over a 10th of an inch and locally exceeding a quarter of an inch should stretch from much of Pennsylvania and southern parts of New York and New England. The next storm summary will be issued by the Weather Prediction Center at nine o'clock pm tonight. And that's what it is written over here. So we have I wonder if there is any city again that was in the bullseye for both systems. It doesn't seem like there is or there was we'll find out more tomorrow. But despite the fact that there wasn't no such city, we still managed to get some areas that got more than a foot of snow. Even just from wave number one, as pointed out earlier, was in Illinois, Macomb 14.5 Lewiston, 14.4 Bluff springs 12.6, Peoria point okay 2.1. We mentioned all these things. I want to point out one other thing this was brought up actually a couple of days ago, that for some areas this is especially true in Indiana. The beginning part of the storm actually took place some temperatures were above freezing and grounds were also wet. Therefore some of the snow I think it was actually the St. Louis National Weather Service that pointed this out. Some of the snow actually melted by the time this warm liberals were taking some of that snow already melted. So even though you had recorded officially in the book, let's say for a place like South Bend, you have 10.3 inches. Okay. Someone Someone told me it looks more like eight inches. So it could be that there was a couple inches that have melted through the process. I don't think in Chicago we had any of that. I think all of it whatever was recorded stayed. By the time the morning came already temperatures were well below 32. And the snow is falling quite heavily. But when you go over into Indiana, those places where they were in the transition zone between rain and snow and I think the amount of snow that is actually seen and what people are actually experiencing are a couple inches less than what the official totals are. Everybody, I wish you a great day. Thank you for listening, stay safe and enjoy the snow for those places that are getting it and in regards to the ice. Ice is a serious Sakana and people just be careful. You know people down south are more familiar with these ice storms than up here. In Chicago. A lot of times the Mid Atlantic area gets these ice storms. I see that I've been talking for 18 minutes AndThis transcript was generated by https://otter.ai

Central Texas braces for freezing temperatures and icy conditions. Plus, Travis and Williamson counties search for more poll workers, citing a large shortage ahead of the March primaries.  The CI Morning Breakdown is a production of Community Impact Newspaper. It is produced by Olivia Aldridge with editing by Marie Leonard. Weather and allergy reports are sourced from the National Weather Service, www.weather.com and AccuWeather. Learn more at www.communityimpact.com/podcast/morning-breakdown.

Drive Idaho is back, kicking off our FOURTH season! Join Vince Trimboli as he discusses winter weather emergencies with special guests Greydon Wright, Operations Engineer and Timothy Axford, Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the National Weather Service. 

From heavy snowfall to flood warnings and landslides, this week's winter storms have wreaked havoc for motorists and transportation crews working around the clock to clear debris and make repairs to battered roads and highways. A landslide yesterday caused the closure of I-84 in both directions from Troutdale to Hood River in the Columbia River Gorge. But a buildup of high pressure may bring some relief as we head into the weekend, according to the National Weather Service. We hear from Don Hamilton, a spokesman from the Oregon Department of Transportation and Clinton Rockey, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Portland about the weather and its impacts on roads and highways.