WeatherBrains

By: Big Brains Media LLC
Listen for free

  • Summary

  • The world's oldest and greatest weather podcast. Join weather geeks James Spann, Bill Murray, Kim Klockow-McClain, Dr. Neil Jacobs, Rick Smith, Aubrey Urbanowicz, Jen Narramore, and Troy Kimmel along with some of the most brilliant minds in the weather enterprise every week!
    2022 Big Brains Media, LLC
    Show More Show Less
Earth Sciences Science
Show More Show Less
Episodes
  • WeatherBrains 1006: Farmer McNasty Pants

    WeatherBrains 1006: Farmer McNasty Pants
    Apr 29 2025
    Tonight's Guest WeatherBrain has a 25-year history in aviation. He is an experienced skydiver with over 700 jumps, a fixed-wing pilot with a seaplane rating, and a commercial hot air balloon pilot. His company, Champagne Sunrise, operates out of Meridian, Mississippi, and has safely taken hundreds of passengers on unforgettable balloon rides over the years. Beyond commercial operations, he uses Champagne Sunrise for community outreach, including delivering letters to the North Pole for Santa with local schools and donating tethered balloon rides to the local children’s museum. During the week, he serves as the General Manager of Peavey Electronics, one of the largest manufacturers of musical instruments and professional audio equipment in the world, with sales in over 136 countries. Additionally, he is a Board Member of the Balloon Federation of America (BFA). Fred Poole, welcome to WeatherBrains! Also, Bruce Jones joins us to discuss the importance of NOAA Weather Radio and its integration in order to save lives. Welcome back, Bruce! Our email officer Jen is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners. Reach us here: email@weatherbrains.com. Conditional severe weather threat in Nation's Heartland (01:00)Potential issues for severe thunderstorms on May 1st (04:30)Differences between base jumping vs sky diving (11:30)Base level weather knowledge needed for hot air balloon piloting (20:30)What it is like to ride in seaplanes (29:50)Utilizing Windy.com in aviation and hot air balloon piloting (34:30)Balloon chasing before the days of GPS (44:30)Hot air balloon designs/artwork/decorations (49:45)Fabric/materials used in hot air balloons (51:30)On-site weather operations/protocol for hot air balloon festivals (53:00)Hot air balloon safety precautions (58:15)Typical hot air balloon clientele and standard flight preparation (01:03:07)Hot air balloon instrumentation (01:06:30)Unique rides (01:15:00)Balloon Federation of America (01:17:30)Communication and radio equipment (01:21:45)Saint Louis University loses meteorology program (01:30:00)Importance of past analogs of severe weather events for assimilating public forecasts (01:31:00)Bruce Jones/Midland Weather Radio (01:33:25)The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (No segment this week)This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:26:15)E-Mail Segment (01:27:30)and more! Web Sites from Episode 1006: Midland Weather Radio Champagne Sunrise Hot Air Balloon Rides Picks of the Week: Fred Poole - Windy.com Bruce Jones - La Plata Maryland April 28, 2002 Tornado Outbreak paper by Tim Marshall James Aydelott - Image of QLCS TDS in western Wisconsin/a> Jen Narramore - OTUS Project on X: NE Tornado Photo Rick Smith - Out Troy Kimmel - Out Kim Klockow-McClain - Tom Petty - Free Fallin' John Gordon - VWP Display and Calculations - VMP Paper by Jared Guyer and John Hart John Gordon - Vertical Wind Profile SAT Bill Murray - Out James Spann - Using lightning to monitor the extreme impacts of landfalling hurricanes -NSSL News 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.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 50 mins
  • WeatherBrains 1005: Barking Up The Wrong Tree

    WeatherBrains 1005: Barking Up The Wrong Tree
    Apr 22 2025
    Tonight's Guest WeatherBrain is an Associate Professor at Villanova University, specializing in severe weather risks, societal impacts and hazard mitigation. His research focuses on tornado and lightning exposure at large outdoor gatherings. In addition, it focuses on urbanization effects on disasters and improving public safety strategies. Dr. Stephen Strader, welcome back to WeatherBrains. Brandon Skalniak is a senior emergency management major at Millersville University of Pennsylvania. He is passionate about all things weather, having gained an interest in the field when he stumbled upon the Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers in second grade. Brandon loves weather history, and cataloging the country's significant weather events on radar is his main hobby. Welcome to the show as tonight's Guest Panelist, Brandon! Also, Bruce Jones joins us to discuss the importance of NOAA Weather Radio and its integration in order to save lives. Welcome back, Bruce! Our email officer Jen is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners. Reach us here: email@weatherbrains.com. Manufactured housing safety rules situation (17:00)National Manufactured Housing Database under construction (28:20)Secondary confirmation when warned with impending severe weather (45:00)Generalities on gender reaction to severe weather threats (48:30)Stopping flash flooding deaths and mitigating risk (53:40)Risk ranking metric developed by Dr. Strader (59:40)NASCAR lightning strike protocol (01:06:00)Tradeoffs when considering weather safety and proper procedure when in a warning (01:18:30)Further observations on tornado-related fatalities in mobile homes (01:23:00)Continued FAR in the industry and the fallout of these problems (01:25:00)Average lead-time of severe weather warnings (0 1:25:30)Bruce Jones/Midland Weather Radio (01:45:00)The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:29:14)This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:30:40)E-Mail Segment (01:31:55)and more! Web Sites from Episode 1005: Midland Weather Radio Brandon Skalniak on X Picks of the Week: Brandon Skalniak - Millersville AMS on X Brandon Skalniak - Millersville AMS on Instagram Bruce Jones - William Abner Eddy background James Aydelott - Doppler radar view of Madill Oklahoma tornado Jen Narramore - Deep Dive into Florida's Largest Tornado Outbreak - Hurricane Milton Rick Smith - Pat Hyland, CCM: Durant radar view of Madill Oklahoma tornado Troy Kimmel - US Weather Analysis Sites Restored After Funding Lapse Kim Klockow-McClain - Trump Administration Restores Funding for Critical Weather Data Centers John Gordon - A methodology for forecasting, heavy convection precipitation and flash flooding John Gordon - Comparison of the meteorological aspects of the Big Thompson and the Rapid City Flash Floods Bill Murray - Foghorn James Spann - Storm Chase Archive 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.
    Show More Show Less
    2 hrs and 6 mins
  • WeatherBrains 1004: You’ll Never Be As Good As That Guy In The 80s

    WeatherBrains 1004: You’ll Never Be As Good As That Guy In The 80s
    Apr 15 2025

    Tonight's Guest WeatherBrain is an AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and Weather Communications Coach whose mission is to keep communities safe and help people live better lives through effective, viewer-focused weather communication. A four-time Emmy winner, Tim brings decades of major-market experience and was among the first in the nation to incorporate augmented reality into daily forecasts. Tim Heller, welcome back to WeatherBrains!

    Also, Bruce Jones joins us to discuss the importance of NOAA Weather Radio and its integration in order to save lives. Welcome back, Bruce!

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

    • Significant severe thunderstorm activity in West Virginia (01:10)
    • Lack of relevant online weather content by local TV stations (08:00)
    • Tech early adopters and its influence on the field (15:00)
    • Death of newspapers and other products of a bygone era (17:10)
    • Issues with corporate meddling in local meteorologist televised forecasts (25:50)
    • How technical should a TV meteorologist be when giving a public forecast? (31:00)
    • Emotional toll of weather-related trauma (44:15)
    • Four key lessons that broadcast meteorologists need to UNLEARN! (48:00)
    • Earning social media followers and how it has changed the business (50:30)
    • Difficulty communicating certainty and timing for winter weather events (01:06:15)
    • Emerging prevalence of AI in the weather community (01:10:00)
    • Bruce Jones/Midland Weather Radio (01:26:10)
    • The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:31:40)
    • This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:33:48)
    • E-Mail Segment (01:34:50)
    • and more!

    Web Sites from Episode 1004:

    Midland Weather Radio

    Picks of the Week:

    Tim Heller - TV Weather Talent Coaching and Training - HellerWeather

    Bruce Jones - Weather maps from the night the Titanic sank

    James Aydelott - James Aydlott on Facebook: Blinded by extreme glare this PM?

    Jen Narramore - Ryan Hoke on X: Inside an EF3 tornado in Jeffersontown, KY last week

    Jen Narramore - Carried by hurricane waves, these tortoises were swept to Florida’s Fort De Soto

    Rick Smith - Out

    Troy Kimmel - Weather station chief punished for drunk observations at Okinawa's Ishigaki airport

    Kim Klockow-McClain - Out

    John Gordon - NOAA National Water Prediction Service

    John Gordon - April 1-6, 2025 Severe Weather and Flooding

    Bill Murray - Brandon Skalniak's Tornado Radar Museum

    James Spann - Extended Range Severe Weather Environment Forecasts

    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.
    Show More Show Less
    2 hrs

What listeners say about WeatherBrains

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.co.uk reviews

Amazon reviews
No Reviews are Available