Tonight's show comes to you from the 2025 NWA Annual Meeting in Huntsville at the Von Braun Civic Center.

Janice Bunting is the Executive Director of the NWA stops by first to talk to the panel. She's pulled off an amazing event this year under trying circumstances. Throughout the evening, other notable leaders in the weather industry will also stop by to chat with our panel about this year’s meeting — sharing their insights, highlights, and what it all means for the future of meteorology.

Our email officer Jen is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners. Reach us here: email@weatherbrains.com.

• Bob Baron and other sponsors of the Annual Meeting (04:20)
• Roadmap for the NWA going forward (07:30)
• Louis Uccellini talks about the initial NWA in the early days of the organization (27:00)
• Force multiplier nature of social media (45:00)
• Panel discussion with industry's leading digital meteorologists (59:00)
• Hand-drawn animations for the conference (01:06:00)
• Goals for the upcoming year in NWA (01:10:00)
• Cooperation with AMS (01:14:00)
• Nate Johnson discusses student support within the organization (01:26:00)
• Nate's IWT (Integrated Warning Team) takeaways (01:30:30)
• Dr. Chuck Graves stops by to chat with the panel (01:48:00)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:54:55)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:57:05)
• E-Mail Segment (No segment this week - STAY TUNED!)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 1025:

Alabama Weather Network

Picks of the Week:

James Aydelott - James Aydelott photographed in back of patrol car

Jen Narramore - Foghorn

Rick Smith - Out

Troy Kimmel - Foghorn

Kim Klockow-McClain - Foghorn

John Gordon - A New Spin On Waterspout Forecasting (Published August 2014)

John Gordon - A Waterspout Forecasting Technique

Bill Murray - Foghorn

James Spann - FCC Proposes Modernization of the Nation's Alerting Systems

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like Troy Kimmel, Bill Murray, Rick Smith, James Aydelott, Jen Narramore, John Gordon, and Dr. Kim Klockow-McClain. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating podcast about weather.

WeatherBrains Episode 1023B is a deep dive into 2005's Hurricane Katrina. It's hard to believe, but the tragedy is approaching its 20th anniversary.

Tonight's Guest WeatherBrain for this somber episode is the Curator of the Ground Zero Museum in Waveland, Mississippi. She's a retired RN and was a former Nurse Administrator in New Orleans, LA. Bernie Cullen, thanks for joining us.

Guest Panelist and show veteran Mark Sudduth "The Hurricane Tracker" joins the panel's discussion by looking back at such a significant historical event, the technological challenges of twenty years ago, and looking ahead to the future. He's a well known storm chaser and weather documentarian. Thanks for your valuable insight on tonight's episode, Mark!

Our email officer Jen is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners. Reach us here: email@weatherbrains.com.

• Robert Ricks and his pre-landfall Katrina doomsday forecast (04:00)
• Tropical Storm Katrina forms on August 23rd, 2005 (08:30)
• 2005 tech available to hurricane chasers vs today (08:45)
• Katrina's Fort Lauderdale, Florida landfall (11:00)
• Early Katrina prep in New Orleans (17:00)
• 1992's Hurricane Andrew and it's forgotten second landfall in Louisiana (29:30)
• Lack of accurate storm surge forecasting 20 years ago (40:00)
• Parallels with 1969's Hurricane Camille and its change of forecasted landfall point (53:00)
• Katrina vs Camille wind fields (58:30)
• Ground Zero Museum - contents, purpose and history (01:20:00)
• More TikTok nonsense (01:47:30)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:48:50)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:50:35)
• E-Mail Segment (No segment this week - stay tuned!)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 1023B:

Waveland's Ground Zero Museum

Alabama Weather Network

Picks of the Week:

James Aydelott - Ray Caldwell, pitching for Cleveland Indians, struck by lightning on pitchers mound - 1919

Jen Narramore - Alabama Weather Network Daily Briefing!

Rick Smith - Out

Troy Kimmel - Foghorn

Kim Klockow-McClain - "Children of Katrina (The Katrina Bookshelf)" by Alice Fothergill and Lori Peek

John Gordon - Michelle Cowbourne on X

Bill Murray - Katrina: South Mississippi's Story (Full Documentary on YouTube)

James Spann - Robert Ricks - On The Ground During Katrina (YouTube)

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like Troy Kimmel, Bill Murray, Rick Smith, James Aydelott, Jen Narramore, John Gordon, and Dr. Kim Klockow-McClain. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating podcast about weather.

WeatherBrains Episode 1023A is a preview of the upcoming 2025 NWA Annual Meeting in Huntsville, AL. The meeting is only two weeks away from the date of recording (August 25th, 2025).

Show veteran Kevin Laws joins us to dive into the upcoming NWA Annual Meeting in Huntsville. He currently serves as the SOO (Science and Operations Officer) of the Birmingham, AL NWS office. Kevin, it's great to see you again.

David from the Texas Storm Chasers also drops in to chat with the panel about what to expect at the meeting.

Our email officer Jen is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners. Reach us here: email@weatherbrains.com.

• Tropics remain quiet (02:45)
• Starting the dialogue of a changing business model (07:55)
• Baby steps toward progress in the field starting over 15 years ago (11:00)
• Gatekeeping and resentment among various sectors in meteorology (12:00)
• Objectives of the upcoming Annual Meeting (23:00)
• The outdated concept of TV market boundaries (36:00)
• NWA registration procedures (44:00)
• How do we define expertise in 2025? (48:30)
• What will the broadcast transition look like moving forward? (50:45)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (No segment for this episode)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (No segment for this episode)
• E-Mail Segment (No segment for this episode)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 1023A:

2025 NWA Annual Meeting September 6-10th, 2025 Huntsville AL

Alabama Weather Network

Alabama Weather Network on Facebook

Picks of the Week:

James Aydelott - Cool noon temperatures in Oklahoma

Jen Narramore - Out

Rick Smith - The OCS/Mesonet Ticker

Troy Kimmel - Foghorn

Kim Klockow-McClain - Foghorn

John Gordon - Out

Bill Murray - Out

James Spann - Foghorn

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like Troy Kimmel, Bill Murray, Rick Smith, James Aydelott, Jen Narramore, John Gordon, and Dr. Kim Klockow-McClain. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating podcast about weather.

Tonight's Guest WeatherBrain is a professor of mechanical engineering and applied mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania. He previously served as a principal scientist at Microsoft Research, where he led the development of Aurora. This was the groundbreaking AI foundation model for earth system forecasting. Dr. Paris Perdikaris, welcome to WeatherBrains!

Our email officer Jen is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners. Reach us here: email@weatherbrains.com.

• What is Aurora and the motivation for the program? (08:15)
• Practical experience and forecasting with tropical forecasting with Aurora (12:30)
• Success stories with Aurora (14:00)
• Convection-allowing models (CAMS) (17:15)
• Convective feedback problems with models (18:45)
• Emergence of the Google DeepMind ensemble and other AI models (20:00)
• Aurora's hardware architecture and its importance (23:30)
• Continuing need of physics-based models in the age of AI (28:00)
• Ethical considerations and biases in model training data (33:30)
• Role of US agencies and potential loss of funding (37:55)
• Communicating AI forecasts to the public and the ensuing ethical issues (42:30)
• Broad risks of using AI (44:30)
• Aurora business model (58:45)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:05:25)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:07:25)
• E-Mail Segment (01:09:30)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 1022:

Penn's Predictive Intelligence Lab

Alabama Weather Network on Facebook

Picks of the Week:

James Aydelott - Dr. Cameron Nixon on YouTube: Cell Mergers and Nudgers

Jen Narramore - "Significant Tornadoes 1680-1991" by Thomas Grazulis

Rick Smith - USA Jobs

Troy Kimmel - Foghorn

Kim Klockow-McClain - Out

John Gordon - Live Recon in the Atlantic Basin

Bill Murray - Foghorn

James Spann - Weather Lab: Cyclones

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like Troy Kimmel, Bill Murray, Rick Smith, James Aydelott, Jen Narramore, John Gordon, and Dr. Kim Klockow-McClain. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating podcast about weather.

Tonight's special Guest WeatherBrain is Evan Fryberger, who is an independent content creator and a weather communicator who has built a loyal following online. He's a calm and informed voice in the ever-noisy world of weather streaming. His no-hype approach stands out in an age of rising anxiety and clickbait. Evan, welcome to WeatherBrains!

Our email officer Jen is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners. Reach us here: email@weatherbrains.com.

• New record low maximum for Birmingham, AL on August 4th at 77 (02:00)
• One week away from launch of Alabama Weather Network (05:30)
• Looking back at 9/11/2001 and Hurricane Gabrielle (19:30)
• Fighting clickbait and hype online (26:00)
• 2025 Mental health crisis (33:00)
• Storm chasing overcrowding and dangers on the road (43:30)
• Blurring lines and reaching saturation in the weather entertainment/streaming world (46:30)
• Approaching urgency and calmness during severe weather streams (53:30)
• National Integrated Warning Team meeting (01:04:00)
• Preparing for an active severe weather day as a streamer/content creator (01:09:15)
• When does Evan bring his dog on stream? (01:19:00)
• Experiences with demonetization and copyright issues as a streamer (01:24:30)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:27:50)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:29:50)
• E-Mail Segment (01:31:45)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 1020:

Alabama Weather Network on Facebook

Evan Fryberger on YouTube

Evan Fryberger on X

Picks of the Week:

Evan Fryberger - SPC Mesoscale Analysis Pages

Evan Fryberger - NASA Worldview Satellite Data

James Aydelott - SPC Average Number of Tornadoes Per State By Month (All tornadoes 2000-2024)

Jen Narramore - Out

Rick Smith - Tropical Storm Dexter

Troy Kimmel - Out

Kim Klockow-McClain - Foghorn

John Gordon - Coral Reef Watch Eastern Persian Gulf Regional Products

Bill Murray - Foghorn

James Spann - Alabama Weather Network main site

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like Troy Kimmel, Bill Murray, Rick Smith, James Aydelott, Jen Narramore, John Gordon, and Dr. Kim Klockow-McClain. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating podcast about weather.