Tonight's Guest WeatherBrain is a storm chaser, and is the driver and equipment technician for storm chaser Brett Adair. He has over twelve years of experience, and he's chased 22 tornadoes and 9 hurricanes across 39 states. He's a Pell City, AL native. Heath Lollar, welcome to the show!

Our Second Guest WeatherBrain is a WeatherBrains veteran and the founder of Girls Who Chase, a movement empowering women in storm chasing. A self taught chaser and forecaster, she has been chasing since 2018. Jen Walton, thanks for joining us!

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

• January snow on the beach (01:30)
• Close to 8 inches of snow fell on New Orleans on Jan 21st (05:30)
• Rating a tornado based on wind speed/Explaining EF-Scale (19:00)
• Learning lessons from getting too close when storm chasing (35:00)
• Dealing with devastating/violent scenes when storm chasing (36:30)
• Pets and other animals after destructive tornadoes (51:00)
• Psychological shock/Acute stress reaction for extended periods after a violent severe weather event (01:04:00)
• Girls Who Chase and what they stands for (01:07:50)
• Going through phases in storm chasing (01:30:45)
• Storm chasing ethics (01:45:10)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (No segment this week)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:35:43)
• E-Mail Segment (No segment this week)
• National Weather Round-Up
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 993:

Girls Who Chase

Picks of the Week:

Jen Walton - Fire tornadoes a risk under California extreme wildfire conditions

James Aydelott - James Aydelott on X: "It's an oldie, but a reminder...Spring is just around the corner"

Jen Narramore - Ohio Genealogical Society

Rick Smith - SPC Mesoscale Discussion 36/Western North Florida

Neil Jacobs - Foghorn

Troy Kimmel - Foghorn

Kim Klockow-McClain - Where Have the EF5s Gone? A Closer Look at the "Drought" of the Most Violent Tornadoes in the United States

Bill Murray - NOAA Snowfall Extremes

James Spann - Gulf Shores, Alabama 01/22/2025 Snow on the beach just before sunrise

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

It's a somber episode tonight as we look back on the life and legacy of a legend in the field of meteorology, Dr. Chuck Doswell. We look back at Dr. Doswell's career and his impact on the science today. Our Guest WeatherBrain is a Senior Scientist in the Forecast Research and Development Division at the National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) and a prior veteran of the show. Dr Harold Brooks, welcome to the show.

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

• Remembering Dr. Doswell (03:30)
• Multiple layoffs in TV meteorology and looking forward from here (09:27)
• Changing business model in modern radio (21:00)
• The Early Life of Dr. Doswell (30:00)
• How Dr. Doswell elevated the field of meteorology (42:00)
• Looking back at a 2009 WeatherBrains appearance (01:02:25)
• What is the role of a human being in forecasting? (01:09:00)
• Riding the coattails of past generations in this science (01:24:30)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (No Segment This Week)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:36:48)
• E-Mail Segment (01:38:15)
• National Weather Round-Up (01:40:30)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 992:

Dr. Harold Brooks on X

Picks of the Week:

Harold Brooks - Flash Flood Forecasting: An Ingredients-Based Methodology

Harold Brooks - Case Analysis of a Historic Killer Tornado Event in Kansas On 10 June 1938

James Aydelott - Pet Peeves of Chuck Doswell

Jen Narramore - Foghorn

Rick Smith - Out

Neil Jacobs - Out

Troy Kimmel - First-ever Meteorite Crash Caught On Camera With Sound In Canada

Kim Klockow-McClain - Dr. Doswell Remembrance (01:45:00)

Bill Murray - Chuck's Chatter

James Spann - WeatherBrains 509 - October 19th, 2015

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

Our First Guest WeatherBrain is the great grand-niece of Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley, the Vermont farmer who first photographed snowflakes. Sue Richardson, welcome to the show!

Wilson Bentley was born on February 9, 1865 in the town of Jericho, Vermont. A farmer by trade, he attracted worldwide attention with his pioneering work in the area of photomicrography. Most notable in his life long work with rain, dew and frost, was his extensive work with snowflakes. On January 15, 1885 he became the first person to photograph a single snow crystal. He would go on to photograph well over 5000 snow crystals (never finding two the same), and his documentation of this work advanced the study of meteorology in his time. His photomicrographs were acquired by institutes of higher learning all over the world and his writings on these subjects were published in many journals and magazines including Scientific American, National Geographic and The National Weather Service Research Journal. In November of 1931, his book “Snow Crystals” was published by McGraw/Hill and is still in print today. Shortly after, on December 23, 1931, Wilson Bentley died at the family farmhouse in Jericho where he lived his entire life. Because of his wonderful work with snow crystals, he became affectionately know as “Snowflake” Bentley.

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

• January 10th snowstorm totals (02:00)
• January 15, 1885: The world's first photograph of a snow crystal (10:30)
• Various shapes and sizes of snow dendrites (16:00)
• Comparisons/similarities to Dr. Ted Fujita (17:30)
• Snowflake Bentley's ice crystal analysis and perspective (41:00)
• Jericho Historical Society and exhibit (43:30)
• Collecting snowflakes and collecting "smiles" (50:30)
• Tricks of the trade in genealogy (53:30)
• AMS Annual Meeting in New Orleans (01:10:00)
• Los Angeles fires (01:11:30)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:00:55)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:04:08)
• E-Mail Segment (01:05:55)
• National Weather Round-Up (01:18:45)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 991:

Jericho Historical Society

"The Snowflake Man: A Biography of Wilson A. Bentley" by Duncan Blanchard

Picks of the Week:

James Aydelott - AIR7 maps out Altadena damage from Eaton Fire

James Aydelott - Eaton Fire Recovery Information

Jen Narramore - Snowflake Man Bio - Snowflake Bentley

Rick Smith - Out

Neil Jacobs - Out

Troy Kimmel - Out

Kim Klockow-McClain - Out

Bill Murray - Watch Duty Wildfire Maps and Alerts

James Spann - AMS 2025 Hashtag #AMS2025

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