We are excited to have retired National Hurricane Center (NHC) Bill Read on tonight's episode of WeatherBrains! Bill was the Director of the National Hurricane Center from 2008-2012, and focused on improving storm surge forecasting accuracy and strengthening collaborations with emergency managers to better communicate risks. He advanced the use of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter for real-time public outreach and feedback, notably during events such as Hurricane Irene in 2011, to refine messaging on inland flooding threats. Bill was the first Meteorologist in Charge (MIC) at NWS Houston and led the office for 15 years. He was also a Navy Hurricane Hunter on the P3 aircraft. Bill, welcome to WeatherBrains!

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

• National Tropical Weather Conference (06:00)
• Bill's entry in the NWS (22:45)
• Looking back at 1978's Tropical Storm Amelia (25:00)
• Who remembers teletypes? (30:15)
• Anniversary of 2010 Deepwater Horizon tragedy (38:30)
• Experiences as NHC Director working Hurricane Ike (44:30)
• Are there more landfalling US hurricanes at night or during the day? (53:00)
• 3 significant tools that have moved the meteorological industry forward (54:00)
• NHC Director off-season duties (58:00)
• Process of retiring a hurricane name (01:09:00)
• Dr. Robert Simpson's legacy (01:20:00)
• Issues with coordination between WFOs as NHC Director (01:21:00)
• Best and worst forecasts as NHC Director over the years (01:22:00)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (No segment this week - stay tuned!)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:28:30)
• E-Mail Segment (01:30:00)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 1057:

Alabama Weather Network

Picks of the Week:

Bill Read - Cade's Cast Weather on YouTube

James Aydelott - Reid Wiseman on X: Moon video

Jen Narramore - OTUS Project on X: Video INSIDE the Wyoming, IA tornado

Rick Smith - NIHHIS Heat Season Warm-Up Workshop

Troy Kimmel - Out

Kim Klockow-McClain - Iowa/Wisconsin tornado warnings 2026 vs 2025

John Gordon - Volcaholic on X: Video illustrating "Levante" phenomenon

Bill Murray - Out

James Spann - Roger Edwards on X: About Recent SPC Forecast Performance

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.

This week's episode of WeatherBrains is all about Colorado weather!

Tonight's show features Guest WeatherBrain and Colorado State Climatologist Dr. Russ Schumacher. He's also a Professor at Colorado State University and is Director of the Colorado Climate Center. He's been involved in extreme precipitation, weather prediction, and is the guru of Colorado weather. Dr. Schumaker, welcome to the show!

Second Guest WeatherBrain is the project manager of CoCoRaHS (Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network). He is the CoCoRaHS East Central Region Illinois State Coordinator and has been an active observer in Illinois for over 19 years. He retired as the director of the MRCC and is a big fan of winter weather. Steve Hilberg, thanks for joining us tonight!

Third Guest WeatherBrain Noah Newman is a Research Associate with the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University. He's been the Education Coordinator at CoCoRaHS since 2008, and has teaching experience from astronomy to rocketry to various Earth sciences. Noah, welcome to WeatherBrains!

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

• Upper Midwest severe weather event (03:00)
• What is it like to be a State Climatologist? (07:00)
• 2019 Colorado hail record (14:30)
• How did Noah get into meteorology? (24:30)
• Deep dive into CoCoRaHS (Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network) (27:00)
• Snowfall vs snow depth and the confusion between them (41:00)
• CoCoRaHS Significant Weather Reports (48:45)
• Moderate risk busts vs overachieving conditional systems (57:00)
• Dr. Schumacher's current research in Colorado (01:05:00)
• Process to get involved at CoCoRaHS (01:10:00)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:15:30)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:18:15)
• E-Mail Segment (01:20:00)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 1056:

CoCoRaHS

Alabama Weather Network

Picks of the Week:

Steve Hilberg - Ag Weather

Noah Newman - CoCoRaHS Data Explorer

Dr. Russ Schumacher - CoCoRaHS All About Hail

James Aydelott - NWS Norman Observed Sounding

Jen Narramore - County Road 69 Tornado April 15th, 2011

Rick Smith - Out

Troy Kimmel - Out

Kim Klockow-McClain - Reed Timmer tornado video

John Gordon - NWS Louisville Shareholders Report 2025

Bill Murray - Out

James Spann - James Spann on X: Emmetsburg, IA tornado video

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 show is all about Tampa Bay and the west central gulf coast of Florida. We are excited to have Chief Meteorologist Mike Clay from Spectrum Bay News 9 and Brian LaMarre former NWS MIC from Tampa Bay for many years!

This is second of many upcoming WeatherBrains episodes focusing on various media weather markets around the country. On Episode 1030 last October we focused on Kansas City with Bryan Busby and Joe Lauria. On June 15, we will have a show dedicated to the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex weather enterprise.

Mike and Brian will discuss forecasting sea breezes, marine weather, Tampa Bay tropical cyclone challenges and much more. Mike and Brian, welcome to WeatherBrains!

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

• Origins of Inspire Weather (11:30)
• Prolific Florida lightning shows (20:00)
• Magnetrons vs Klystrons explained (22:30)
• Relationship between media and NWS in various TV markets (25:00)
• Origins of NWS chat (29:30)
• Tampa's hurricane close calls (32:30)
• 1985's Hurricane Elena bizarre track (46:00)
• Non-tropical Florida tornado outbreaks (53:30)
• What is Florida red tide? (01:07:00)
• 1993 Storm of the Century and its impact on the State of Florida (01:11:00)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:32:00)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:35:30)
• E-Mail Segment (01:37:00)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 1055:

Inspire Weather

Tampa Bay Florida Local Weather Bay News 9

Alabama Weather Network

Picks of the Week:

Mike Clay - Florida Thunderstorm Season

Brian LaMarre - El Niño Modoki vs Traditional El Niño

James Aydelott - Artemis astronauts propose naming moon feature after Mission Commander Reid Wiseman's late wife

Jen Narramore - Nelson Tucker on X: Barrel white wall cloud and meson of Morton, TX EF2

Rick Smith - Out

Troy Kimmel - Foghorn

Kim Klockow-McClain - Highlights from Artemis II's History Journey Around the Moon

John Gordon - Jaden Pappenheim on X: Michigan flooding videos

Bill Murray - Out

James Spann - ENSO: Recent Evolution, Current Status and Predictions

James Spann - WeatherBrains 91: A Chat With Roy Leep

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.