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Show Guests

"High Instability" for February 27th, 2008

Our Guest for the February 27th show will be DeWayne Mitchell. He is a Senior Meteorologist for Weather decision Technologies in Norman Oklahoma.

DeWayne develops and enhances severe weather algorithms and manages WDT's forensic weather team, producing custom reports on severe weather events for insurance and other clients. DeWayne earned his M.S. in Meteorology from the University of Oklahoma and spent 10 years at the National Severe Storms Laboratory before coming to WDT.

"High Instability" for February 20th, 2008

Our guest for the February 20th show will be Dr. Kevin Kloesel. Below is a brief bio:

In 1984, Kevin earned a Bachelor of Engineering Science Degree at the University of Texas - Austin. His 'Eyes of Texas' then went to Penn State University for a Master's (1987) and Ph.D. (1990) in Meteorology.

Kevin began his career in meteorology at Florida State University where he was hired as an Associate Professor. He spent 8 1/2 years as a faculty member with teaching and research interests ranging from boundary layer meteorology to synoptic and tropical meteorology. After receiving tenure, Kevin became Director of the Florida Climate Center. He also served as a Research Fellow with the Cooperative Institute for Tropical Meteorology, and co-directed an outreach project (EXPLORES!) which provides satellite data ingest capabilities to over 200 schools throughout the state of Florida. Kevin also 'moonlights' as an elementary school teacher, teaching an integrated curriculum using weather as the focal point.

Kevin traded hurricanes for tornadoes in January of 1999 when he arrived at OU to become Distance Education Director and NOAA Liaison with OCS. "I thoroughly enjoyed working with the students and teachers in classrooms all over Florida, and look forward to doing the same thing here in Oklahoma."

Kevin has created dozens of web-based modules on weather satellites and satellite imagery interpretation, and welcomes the "What is that?" or "How does that happen?" question from students and teachers alike regarding all aspects of weather. Kevin is also an active mentor in the Kids as Global Scientists program and the GLOBE Project.

On a typical day (after reading the sports section), Kevin will answer a full mailbox of email questions from teachers and students, assess the local weather conditions for storm chase planning, give weather briefings to students, research boundary layer atmospheric processes using Mesonet data, and develop course materials for both classroom and world wide web use. He is also involved in developing distance learning courses, and the training of emergency managers (OK-FIRST) to use weather data effectively. Kevin will be working with NOAA employees in Oklahoma on collaborative research and teaching projects, and is looking forward to being an active participant in developing activities for the EarthStorm Project.

Kevin is a sports addict, bleeds Texas Burnt Orange, and is miserable when the Cowboys lose! "The only thing that's better than a Longhorn victory over the Sooners is watching my family enjoy all the new things the Norman area has to offer. Oh, and going to Dallas on the second Saturday in October!"

"High Instability" for January 23rd, 2007

Our guest for the January 23rd show will be Dan Dawson, Ph.D. candidate at the OU School of Meteorology. A brief bio can be found below:

Dan Dawson is a Ph.D. student in the School of Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma. He is studying the influences of model microphysical parameterizations on high-resolution numerical simulations of supercell thunderstorms and associated tornadoes. He is particularly interested in the apparent disconnect between model simulations of supercell downdraft, which tend to produce overly cold and dry outflow, and observed supercell downdrafts, which have a much broader spectrum of outflow thermodynamics ranging from warm and moist, to cold and dry. His research advisor is Dr. Ming Xue, the director of the Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms.

Dan has been interested in the weather since he was a child and was often woken up in the middle of the night by terrifying dreams of tornadoes. Thus, at an early age he became interested in actual tornadoes, reading every book he could find on them, which led him to an intense fascination of the very phenomenon that haunted his early nightmares, as well as developing a fascination with the weather as a whole. He grew up most of his late childhood life in Plainfield, IN, but lived at times in places as disparate as Marion, OH, and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He attended Purdue University from 1998-2002, and received his B.S. in Atmospheric Dynamics, before moving on to the University of Oklahoma. He completed his M.S. in Meteorology in Summer 2004.

During his time at OU, in addition to his normal research activities, Dan has participated as a volunteer in several field projects, both with Dr. Howie Bluestein’s radar field observations of thunderstorms and tornadoes, and with two hurricane landfall intercept missions (Isabel 2003; Frances 2004) with Dr. Josh Wurman’s Doppler on Wheels research group. He is an avid stormchaser, and enjoys both formal and informal storm intercept missions with his friends and colleagues. He particularly enjoys taking colleagues on stormchases who have never before had the experience, with the hopes that they will gain (along with him) a better appreciation for the storms that they study.

When not stormchasing or working on research, Dan enjoys taking care of his tropical aquariums, indulging in amateur astronomy with his telescope, and computer gaming. He is active in his church, and has a deep interest in theology and science/faith issues.

"High Instability" for January 16th, 2007

Our guest for the January 16th show will be Robin Tanamachi, Ph.D candidate at the OU School of Meteorology. A brief bio of Robin is found below:

Robin Tanamachi is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Oklahoma (OU) School of Meteorology in Norman, Oklahoma. Her specialties include tornado vortex structure, radar data analysis, and atmospheric radiation. Born and raised in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, Robin has been a weather weenie for as long as she can remember. Robin received her B.S. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 2001, and her M.S. in Meteorology from OU in 2004.

In NSF-supported field operations with Dr. Howard Bluestein, Robin has coordinated and operated a mobile W-band and X-band Doppler radar from the University of Massachusetts (UMass) and a mobile phased array radar (MWR-05XP) from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). The goal of these missions is to collect polarimetric and/or volumetric data during tornadogenesis. She has also imaged tornadic thunderstorms using an infrared camera. She has authored multiple peer-reviewed publications, and recently taught the sophomore-level course “Severe and Unusual Weather” at OU.

When not participating in field operations with Dr. Bluestein, Robin frequently storm chases with other OU students. She has videotaped at least 25 tornadoes, and contributed her video and/or production skills to the last three installments of the Storms of 20XX DVD series. She even did a two-month stint in Japan as a “typhoon chaser” for Weathernews, Inc. Robin holds a General class amateur radio license and is a Skywarn spotter. Outside of meteorology, Robin’s interests include advancement of women and minorities in the geosciences, cycling, animal advocacy, computer gaming, and painting.

"High Instability" for January 9th, 2007

Our guest for the January 9th show will be John Hart, Lead Forecaster at SPC .

John was born and raised in Mt. Vernon, IL. After high school, John attended Parks College of St. Louis University (1986-89). While in college he worked in the weather lab and did occasional on-air radio forecasting. John also spent one summer as an intern at KTVI Channel 2 in St. Louis under the wing of Miles Muzio.

After graduation, John began his National Weather Service career at the Forecast Office in Charleston, WV as a Meteorologist Intern. 2 1/2 years of valuable experience and friends were gained at this location. Also while at Charleston, John developed the SHARP Workstation (Skew-t Hodograph Analysis and Research Program) along with Josh Korotky. This program was released throughout the NWS and became the standard sounding analysis method. SHARP has since been used by the Air Force AWS, numerous universities, and by several countries abroad. John was awarded the 1991 NWA Research Achievement Award for his work on the SHARP Workstation.

In February, 1992, John and his family moved to Kansas City to work at the National Severe Storms Forecast Center (now known as the Storm Prediction Center). He began as an Assistant forecaster, and in 1994 was promoted to Mesoscale forecaster. John moved with the unit to Norman, Oklahoma in 1996, and has been involved in several memorable severe weather events including the April 8, 1998 F5 tornado that struck Birmingham, AL. He was awarded the 1998 NWA Operational Achievement Award for a "High Risk" outlook prior to those storms.

John remains happily employed at the SPC and continues to promote development of new software tools for forecasters. He also dabbles in web development including the "SPC Hourly Analysis" page. During his tenure in the NWS, John has presented numerous talks and training seminars at national meetings and at local offices regarding severe weather forecasting.

John lives with his wife and three children on a tract of land east of Norman. Outside of the office, John enjoys spending time playing softball, tracing his family history, gold prospecting, and occasionally taking his family storm chasing.

"High Instability" for December 12th, 2007

Our guest for the December 12th show will be Mr. Tim Marshall. This will be our "Insurance Fiesta" show. Tune in to find out all about what has happened regarding litigation involving the May 3rd, 1999 Oklahoma Tornadoes and Hurricane Katrina's water vs. wind arguments. Below is a brief bio:

Tim Marshall was born in Evergreen Park, IL in 1956 near Chicago, Illinois and raised in Oak Lawn, then in Oak Brook. Oak Lawn was heavily damaged during the historic Belvidere - Oak Lawn Tornado Outbreak of April 21, 1967 when he was 10 years old. The F4 "Oak Lawn tornado" touched down about four miles (6.4 km) west of his family's home and killed 33 in town, including some of his classmates. Already developed an interest in meteorology, this experience only strengthened that, and focused it on tornadoes.

Tim attended Northern Illinois University at DeKalb, attaining a B.S. degree majoring in meteorology in 1978. As an undergraduate student there, he and classmates surveyed some tornado damage paths of the 1974 Super Outbreak during informal travels to the National Climatic Data Center to collect severe weather data.

Marshall went to Texas for graduate school, seeing his first tornado a few hours after entering the state for the first time and he began storm chasing in 1978, meeting his future wife, Kay, at a concert. In 1980, he earned a M.S. in atmospheric sciences from Texas Tech University in Lubbock then went on to earn an M.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the same university. There, Tim worked part time at the Institute for Disaster Research where he began surveying tornado and hurricane damage. His first official tornado damage survey was in Grand Island, NE in 1980 and his first hurricane damage survey was Hurricane Allen in south Texas later that same year.

In 1983, he was hired by the leading Texas firm Haag Engineering. At Haag, Marshall travels a great deal surveying storm damage across the United States. He has conducted more than 100 damage surveys since 1983 of hailstorms, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Some of the famous tornadoes he has surveyed included the F5's at Jarrell, TX (1997), Bridge Creek, OK (1999), and Greensburg, KS (2007). Some of the famous hurricanes he has surveyed include Alicia in TX (1983), Hugo in South Carolina (1989), Andrew in Florida (1992), Elena in Mississippi (1995), and Katrina also in Mississippi (2005). Tim became a professional engineer in 1989.

Tim still finds time to pursue his hobby as a storm chaser. During the past 30 years, Tim has filmed more than 200 tornadoes and experienced 15 hurricanes. In 2004, Tim rode out Hurricane Ivan in Pensacola, FL and in 2005, Tim rode our Hurricane Katrina in Slidell, LA. Tim has appeared on dozens of television programs including those on the Discovery Channel, Learning Channel, National Geographic, and the History Channel. He has been on the Oprah Winfrey show twice.

Tim Marshall was selected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to serve on their Quick Response Team where he has surveyed tornado damage in Alabama and Georgia in 1994, Nashville, TN in 1998, and LaPlata, MD in 2002. Tim was also on the development team of the Fujita Scale Enhancement Project which produced an Enhanced Fujita Scale to update the original Fujita scale of tornado intensity. He also has been a principle trainer in damage surveys for the National Weather Service. In 2006, Tim was elected to serve on the Severe Local Storms committee for the American Meteorological Society.

"High Instability" for December 5th, 2007

Our guest for the December 5th show will be Les Lemon, renowned severe storm and radar meteorologist.

Mr. Lemon has 37 years of industry experience with a focus on thunderstorm research, radar meteorology, storm-damage evaluation, thunderstorm and radar meteorology training, weather forecasting, and operational radar technique and signature development. Additionally, he has been an expert witness and a forensic meteorologist. Mr. Lemon conducts Doppler radar applications and interpretation research and has developed and presented Doppler radar data application and interpretation training seminars nationally and internationally. Since 1978, techniques and criteria developed by Mr. Lemon for radar identification and warning on severe local storms (known as "The Lemon Technique") have been used nationally and internationally by the National Weather Service, the Air Weather Service, and the meteorological weather radar community as a whole. His research and discoveries along with that of two colleagues led to the NEXRAD (WSR-88D) program.

Mr. Lemon is a recognized authority in severe thunderstorm and mesocyclone structure and evolution and speaks extensively on these topics. He is known internationally because of his discoveries, "The Lemon Technique,” his supercell model, and his weather radar and severe storm applications and interpretation training, as well as design and development of NEXRAD for which he received an AMS award.

"High Instability" for November 28th, 2007

Our guest for the November 28th show will be Greg Carbin, newly appointed Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the Storm Prediction Center here in Norman.

"High Instability" for November 14th, 2007

Jim Ladue has been on HI before ....now he's back in the saddle ....but with an addition to the family. We'll hear all about it and more! For a refresher, here's Jim's bio:

Jim Ladue loves all sorts of interesting weather, except maybe droughts. He is currently employed by the National Weather Service (NWS) at the Warning Decision Training Branch (WDTB) in Norman, Oklahoma. His job is to develop training materials for forecasters relating to NWS warning operations. He works as a bridge between research (e.g., NSSL) and the operational community. Jim has enjoyed working at WDTB for almost 10 years, however, he as also worked at the National Environmental Satellite and Data Information Service (NESDIS) in Washington DC right after graduating with a MS degree in Meteorology from the University of Oklahoma. In his 16 year career, he has chased all sorts of weather including hurricanes, tornadoes, and winter storms. He's probably just as home on a pair of skis in a blizzard as chasing a supercell. Part of his chasing and work life has included participation in various field projects including VORTEX, IHOP, and STEPS as well as presenting lectures in the US and elsewhere. He can often be found playing with digital imagery just as often as being outside hiking, skiing, kayaking and traveling. He often shares his activities with his wife, Daphne Zaras, a respected chaser herself and an OU employee.

"High Instability" for October 31st, 2007

Dr. Renee McPherson received her B.S. degree in both Meteorology and Mathematics from the University of Wisconsin - Madison in 1987. From 1987 to 1991, she worked on her M.S. in Meteorology at the University of Oklahoma (OU), taking time out to create a lab for the junior-level atmospheric dynamics course and to teach both Introduction to Meteorology (to 120 students) and Atmospheric Dynamics I. In addition, she initiated the Student Affairs Committee in the School of Meteorology, which still exists today as a bridge between meteorology students and faculty. Recently, Renee worked part-time on her Ph.D. in Meteorology at OU, and completed the degree in 2003.

McPherson began her career in 1992 at the Oklahoma Climatological Survey (OCS) where she and Director Ken Crawford initiated the EARTHSTORM Project. EARTHSTORM was a National Science Foundation-funded project designed to provide data, education, and materials to K-12 Oklahoma teachers who desired to use near-real-time Oklahoma Mesonet data in their classroom. She became Assistant Director of OCS in 1995 and Associate Director in 2001. In 1999, McPherson finished two three-year terms as a member of the American Meteorological Society's (AMS) Board on School and Popular Meteorological and Oceanographic Education. She served a term as President of the Norman Chapter of the AMS and National Weather Association (NWA) in 1998-99. She currently serves as a member of the OU school of Meteorology's Undergraduate Studies Committee, the Federal Highway Administration's Clarus Initiative Coordinating Committee, and the Diversity Council for the Center for Collaborative Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere.

"I rarely have two days that are the same at work, which is just how I like it. The only constants I seem to have are that I answer 10-20 email messages each day and I work on my computer about one-third of my day. Other than that, I spend time doing all of the following activities: attend or lead meetings, edit OCS materials, tour visiting scientists around OCS, supervise students and full-time employees, help OCS run more smoothly, help to direct OCS's vision for the future, teach at workshops, visit with legislators at the State Capitol, take care of OCS administrative tasks, write grants, create case studies, and many other assorted tasks."

Renee enjoys spending time with her husband, Billy, playing with her dog, Culzean (named after a castle in Scotland), and hanging out with friends. She is an amateur photographer and artist, although she does not find enough time for the later anymore. She helps out with the music at her church, investigates her family genealogy, and "chases" storms. Renee visited Scotland (the "homeland") in 1996 and cannot wait until she and Billy can get back to see more.

"High Instability" for October 24th, 2007

Our guest for Wednesday, October 24th will be CIMMS research meteorologist Dr. Pam Heinselman. Pam is a multi-faceted meteorologist who enjoys leading both research and education activities. Current research projects include convective boundary layer height estimation, high temporal resolution studies of severe storms using Phased-array radar (PAR), and application of PAR data and refractivity fields during WFO operations.

"High Instability" for October 10th, 2007

Dr. Suzanne Van Cooten works as a hydrometeorologist for NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) in Norman, Oklahoma. Her research focuses on “historical precipitation patterns and how these climatological patterns, coupled with improved rainfall estimation techniques, can improve streamflow predictions for water management applications.” According to Van Cooten, “Weather affects everything we do and every decision we make, so I thrive on my interesting and diverse career and the wide circle of friends my experiences have given me. I can talk intelligently to an amazing spectrum of people, as weather is a critical factor in commodity trading, agriculture, energy production, sporting events, tourism and public policy. I am a social person and I rely on these skills and networking abilities to get people excited and motivated about the science behind meteorology, hydrology and engineering. What is even more exciting is that many aspects of these fields remain unexplored. The best thing about my job as a research scientist is that I am now in a position to build teams of outstanding professionals with seemingly unrelated areas of expertise to discover the answers to our most complicated issues in water resources and how we will manage these resources in the future.”

"High Instability" for October 3rd, 2007

Chris Novy is the Asst. Chief Engineer for Fox25 in Oklahoma City. As a boy
growing up in Evanston, IL he used to stand on the roof of his house
(upsetting his parents) to watch storms move out over Lake Michigan. He attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale where he earned his master's degree in law enforcement/public safety in 1987. He eventually went on to work for the university as an IT Systems Analyst. While in Carbondale he earned his commercial pilot's license and worked part-time as a certified weather observer for Southern Illinois Airport and Ozark Airlines. He also volunteered with Carbondale Emergency Management from 1980 thru 1999 where he held the titles of Training Officer and Warning Officer. Chris holds an Amateur Extra ham radio license (WA9V). In 1995 he began working part-time for WSIL TV as a reporter/director and in 1999 he left university life behind for a new career in television.
He has worked worked in Illinois, Texas, and Ohio and presently
lives/works in Oklahoma City.

Although Chris is a storm chaser he prefers storm spotting due to its public service aspect and less stressful atmosphere. In 1985 he developed his his own advanced spotter training program and has been giving talks across the Midwest each year. His presentation "How Not to See a Tornado" focuses on the reduction of false alarms by teaching spotters to safely work closer to the action and not jumping to conclusions. As an outspoken critic of stupidity Chris' talks often raise eyebrows from folks not familiar with his work. Chris is the founder of the WX-TALK/WX-CHASE weather discussion groups and continues to serve as one of the moderators.

"High Instability" for August 8th, 2007

Daniel McCarthy is the Warning Coordination Meteorologist for the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) serving as the liaison between the center and the users of SPC products and services. He has been with SPC since 1987 when it was the National Severe Storms Forecast Center, serving as a meteorologist for the National Public Service Unit, an Outlook Meteorologist and Mesoscale Meteorologist, as well as an Aviation Meteorologist for the National Aviation Weather Advisory Unit.

Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Dan earned a Bachelor of Science Degree from St. Louis University in 1978. He then worked for the State of Ohio as a computer programmer before returning to St. Louis University to obtain a Master’s Degree in Meteorology in1984 specializing in severe storm structure and forecasting. He then took a job with Great Lakes Weather, Inc. in Wausau, Wis., providing detailed weather forecasts to clients around the Great Lakes region and the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys. He also was a television meteorologist with the CBS affiliate WSAW-TV. In 1985, he was invited to join the firm of WeatherData, Inc. in Wichita, Kansas, serving as a broadcast meteorologist for the KSN Network and providing detailed forecasts to clients throughout the central United States.

Dan first became interested in weather as a child watching thunderstorms approach Cleveland. On July 4, 1969 a particularly interesting and surprising storm moved south off Lake Erie producing extensive damage to parts of the Cleveland area. In his senior year of high school, Dan would visit the Cleveland National Weather Service Office after school. He was there on April 3, 1974 watching radar from Dayton, OH as the Xenia, OH tornado moved through killing 35 people. That’s when Dan decided that severe storms was going to be his expertise.

Since joining the National Severe Storms Forecast Center, now the Storm Prediction Center, he has worked numerous events including March 13, 1990 (Hesston, KS tornado); April 26, 1991 (Andover, KS tornado) and May 3, 1999 (Oklahoma City, OK tornado).

Dan has conducted research on bow echoes across Kansas and New York State. Recently, he researched the Super Outbreak of April 3-4, 1974, studying how today’s models would forecast the event and comparing current severe weather tools with those used in 1974. He has been a member of the American Meteorological Society since 1974 and has served as vice president and president of the St. Louis University and Greater Kansas City Chapters. He is currently the past-chairperson of the Board of Operational Government Meteorologists and serves on the Committee of Weather Analysis and Forecasting. Dan was granted the AMS Seal of Approval in 1985. He has also been a member of the National Weather Association since 1980.

Dan is an active member and officer in the Knights of Columbus. His wife, Mary, is a director for Pampered Chef, Inc. They have three children: Daniel, Ailis and John.

"High Instability" for May 2nd, 2007

Our guest for Wednesday May 2nd, is storm chase veteran Dave Ewoldt . We will be speaking to Dave about his thoughts on this years tornado season and his special project involving tornado verification.

Below is a brief intro written by Dave:

"I am always amazed with the weather that is produced in the Great Plains. Cold or hot, wet or dry, snow or thunderstorms... there is always something to keep a weather enthusiast interested. For myself, the best shows of the year come each March, April, May and June. The days get longer and warmer... moisture returns and the stage becomes set for a few dozen days of severe thunderstorms.

My name is Dave Ewoldt and I have been storm chasing since 1982. I didn't know during the 80's that the storm chase passion was going to be something that would stick with me for a very long time. I now know it is something that will always be a part of me. The beauty in the storms that Mother Nature is able to build can't be duplicated. Every now and then, the perfect balance can be reached to allow a display of power like none other.

I'm out each year to document and video severe thunderstorms and tornadoes with an additional interest in lightning photography."

"High Instability" for April 25th, 2007

The High Instability show for Wednesday April 25th will be Mr. Hank Baker, owner of Baker Photo/Video in Yukon Oklahoma. Hank is an avid storm chaser and photographer who also makes a living at selling photographic equipment. His no nonsense style and upfront approach to photography and photographic equipment coupled with his knowledge of intercepting severe storms makes him a perfect guest to have on the show.

We will speak to Hank about digital SLRs and their application in storm and weather photography, what the best lenses are and where to find them and also discuss what the he thinks are the best models available and what the best way to deal with obsolescence is regarding this type of financially volatile electronic equipment. In addition, we will discuss the latest in prosumer video cameras and where the biggest bang for the buck can be found.

So tune in on Wednesday April 25th to listen to Hank Baker on High Instability.

"High Instability" for April 18th, 2007

Steve Corfidi is a lead forecaster at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma. His captivation with the natural splendors of the atmosphere began as a young child in his hometown of Baltimore, through his intense interest in the dichotomously synthetic world of electrical lines and insulators. Peering curiously at the colors of insulator glass, then at the contrasting sky beyond, planted the seed for his career in meteorology and a lifelong devotion to storm and cloud photography.

The lead forecaster serves as the "team leader," overseeing duties among other forecasters on shift and making sure each product issued is of the highest quality possible. This is so important that all products and bulletins from SPC are proofread by at least two pairs of eyes before they go out, one of which is usually the lead forecaster. The lead forecaster's job is very complex. He or she must be intimately familiar with every aspect of SPC operations, every type of forecast we issue, and a myriad of computers we use to do the job. The stress level of this job can be quite high on active severe weather days, with the lead forecaster having to closely monitor several areas of the country for impending thunderstorm development. A high level of situational awareness is required in this position.

The main operational duty of the lead forecaster is to issue Tornado and Severe Thunderstorm Watches as necessary. This involves a diligent national weather watch -- monitoring current and forecast weather all over the country for conditions that lead to violent thunderstorms. The lead forecaster must coordinate with numerous local NWS offices in the threat areas, and ensure that the watch process works smoothly. SPC watches alert the public, local NWS offices, emergency managers and storm spotters of the threat of severe thunderstorms and/or tornadoes during the next several hours, covering parts of one or more states. Besides alerting the general public to the threat for severe storms, these watches activate storm spotter networks that protect the public through their efforts.

The lead forecaster also composes Public Severe Weather Outlooks (PWOs) when major severe weather outbreaks threaten, and provides direct assistance and guidance in the preparation of all other forecasts at SPC.

"High Instability" for April 11th, 2007

Dr. Karoly joined the School of Meteorology faculty in January 2003 from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, were he was Professor of Meteorology and Head of the School of Mathematical Sciences. From August 1995, he was Director of the Cooperative Research Centre for Southern Hemisphere Meteorology at Monash University until it closed in June 2000.

He is active in research into the dynamics of the large-scale circulation of the atmosphere and its variability on time scales from days to decades. Specific research interests include greenhouse climate change, stratospheric ozone depletion and interannual climate variations due to the El Nino-Southern Oscillation. He is a member of a number of international and national committees, including the WMO Expert Team on Climate Change Detection, Data and Indices, the US National Research Council Climate Research Committee, and the Council of the American Meteorological Society. He was Coordinating Lead Author of the chapter "Detection of Climate Change and Attribution of Causes" in the scientific assessment of climate change prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2001.

In 1993, Professor Karoly received the Meisinger Award from the American Meteorological Society, with citation "for contributions to the understanding of the role of Rossby wave propagation in atmospheric teleconnections and to greenhouse climate change research". In 1998, he received the Norbert Gerbier-Mumm International Award from the World Meteorological Organization for a joint research paper with ten international collaborators. In 1999, he was elected a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society for outstanding contributions to the atmospheric sciences over a substantial period of years.

Chris is the Asst. Chief Engineer for Fox25 in Oklahoma City. As a boy
growing up in Evanston, IL he used to stand on the roof of his house
(upsetting his parents) to watch storms move out over Lake Michigan. He attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale where he earned his master's degree in law enforcement/public safety in 1987. He eventually went on to work for the university as an IT Systems Analyst. While in Carbondale he earned his commercial pilot's license and worked part-time as a certified weather observer for Southern Illinois Airport and Ozark Airlines. He also volunteered with Carbondale Emergency Management from 1980 thru 1999 where he held the titles of Training Officer and Warning Officer. Chris holds an Amateur Extra ham radio license (WA9V). In 1995 he began working part-time for WSIL TV as a reporter/director and in 1999 he left university life behind for a new career in television.
He has worked worked in Illinois, Texas, and Ohio and presently
lives/works in Oklahoma City.

Although Chris is a storm chaser he prefers storm spotting due to its public service aspect and less stressful atmosphere. In 1985 he developed his his own advanced spotter training program and has been giving talks across the Midwest each year. His presentation "How Not to See a Tornado" focuses on the reduction of false alarms by teaching spotters to safely work closer to the action and not jumping to conclusions. As an outspoken critic of stupidity Chris' talks often raise eyebrows from folks not familiar with his work. Chris is the founder of the WX-TALK/WX-CHASE weather discussion groups and continues to serve as one of the moderators.

"High Instability" for March 28th, 2007 (Show will be rescheduled due to weather)

Steve Corfidi is a lead forecaster at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman Oklahoma. The lead forecaster serves as the "team leader," overseeing duties among other forecasters on shift and making sure each product issued is of the highest quality possible. This is so important that all products and bulletins from SPC are proofread by at least two pairs of eyes before they go out, one of which is usually the lead forecaster. The lead forecaster's job is very complex. He or she must be intimately familiar with every aspect of SPC operations, every type of forecast we issue, and a myriad of computers we use to do the job. The stress level of this job can be quite high on active severe weather days, with the lead forecaster having to closely monitor several areas of the country for impending thunderstorm development. A high level of situational awareness is required in this position.

"High Instability" for March 21st, 2007

Don Burgess was involved in the early development of Doppler weather radar technology, and has been recognized for his contributions to research, development, user training and operational implementation of the NEXRAD Doppler weather radar.

"More than any other individual, Don pioneered the discovery of valuable information in Doppler radar data for use in operational meteorology," said James Kimpel, director of the National Severe Storms Laboratory. "His work has led to substantial improvement in NOAA National Weather Service severe storm and tornado warning performance measures and training thousands of meteorologists in both the public and private sectors."

A native of Okmulgee, Okla., Burgess earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Oklahoma (OU). He was a research associate at the OU Research Institute from 1970 to 1972. He began his federal career as a research meteorologist in the Doppler Radar Group at NSSL in 1972. From 1976 to 1979, he was chief meteorologist of the Joint Doppler Operational Project (JDOP). He served as research meteorologist with the Meteorology Research Group from 1980 to 1986 and manager of the Forecast Applications Research Group from 1987 to 1991.

Don moved to the NEXRAD Operational Support Facility in Norman, now known as the Radar Operations Center, serving as chief of the Operations Branch from 1991 to 1995, and then chief of the Operations Training Branch. In 2000, he moved back to NSSL to lead the Warning Research and Development Division.

Over his career, Burgess has been active in the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and the National Weather Association (NWA). He was elected fellow of the AMS in 1993, and served as NWA National Secretary in 1989. Burgess served on many graduate student committees in the OU School of Meteorology from 1990 to 2000, and was appointed an Adjunct Professor in 2000. He is currently a member of the COMET Advisory Panel, which he joined in 1996, and a Fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies since 1998. He was co-chairman of the Tornado Symposium III in 1991. Burgess has more than 150 publications in formal meteorological journals and conference preprints.

Burgess's honors and awards include the NOAA Special Achievement Award, 1976; Environmental Research Laboratories Outstanding Paper Award, 1979; Dept. of Commerce Silver Medal Award, 1979; NOAA Superior Accomplishment Award, 1979; National Society of Professional Engineers Outstanding Paper Award, 1980; Dept. of Commerce Distinguished Authorship Award, 1987; and Dept. of Commerce Award for Unusually Outstanding Performance, 1994 and 1999.

"High Instability" for March 14th, 2007

"High Instability" for March 7th, 2007

Roger Edwards is currently a meteorologist for the Storm Prediction Center(SPC) in Norman, Oklahoma. Prior to working at SPC, Roger worked at NSSFC (SPC was the Severe Local Storms Unit (SELS) of the National Severe Storms Forecast Center (NSSFC)) as a "SELS Assistant" (now called SPC Outlook Forecaster) in April 1993 ,and was promoted to the mesoscale desk in September 1995. His responsibilities included writing Mesoscale Discussions, watch Status Reports, and Day-1 through Day-3 Convective Outlooks and experimental in-house products (i.e., Day 4-8 outlook composites).

Roger also used to also write the National Weather Summary, which became extinct on 30 September 1995 due to budget cuts and privatization. Other duties included extensive, by-hand map analysis, assisting in preparation of tornado/severe thunderstorm watches, coordination with local NWS offices, research projects and publications. Roger served as SPC's webmaster from 1995 to early 1999, and remains active on the SPC website with The Online Tornado FAQ, and many other sections. Roger also handles quality control of automated severe weather report logs, data archival.

"High Instability" for February 28th, 2007

"High Instability" for February 21st, 2007

Our guest for February 21st will be Dr. Charles Doswell, renowned severe storms meteorologist.

"Dr. Charles A. Doswell III was born in 1945, in the Chicago suburb of Elmhurst, Illinois and lived in nearby Villa Park, IL through high school. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, WI, graduating in 1967 with a Bachelor of Science in Meteorology. He began his graduate work at the University of Oklahoma (OU) in Meteorology the following fall, completing his Master of Science degree in January 1969. After beginning his doctoral studies at OU, he was inducted into the U.S. Army in the fall of 1969 and served 2 1/2 years, including a tour in Viet Nam and another at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. After leaving active military service, he returned to his doctoral studies, graduating in the summer of 1976. He spent six years with the Techniques Development Unit at the National Severe Storms Forecast Center, in Kansas City, MO. Then, he moved to Boulder, CO, where he spent four years with the Weather Research Program. Following that, he moved to the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, OK, in the fall of 1986 and retired from Federal service there in January 2001. Since then, he has been working part-time as a Senior Research Scientist with the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, which is affiliated with the University of Oklahoma. He is a certified consulting meteorologist and a semi-professional photographer - videographer, using both his chasing and his scientific knowledge to help develop U.S. national training materials for storm spotters (slides, videos, and guidebooks) and the National Weather Service."

We will be speaking with Chuck (live in studio) about a number of topics including the general perception of risk and how it relates to Storm Chasing. Is chasing storms considered a fringe type of behavior? What are the real risks involved and how do others perceive this hobby? Is there anyone or anything to be blamed on the apparent "explosion" in popularity of storm chasing? We'll also talk about where he thinks the science of weather forecasting is headed, how important the human element is and what qualities he feels are important in becoming a talented forecaster. Are weather forecasters really loosing their ability to analyze and diagnose using basic atmospheric reasoning in favor of automated computer models? Are computer generated indices and model output going to result in an ever increasing "glass cockpit" style whereby weather forecasters turn into mere "high-tech babysitters"? Well get out your colored pencils and get ready, we'll hear what Chuck has to say about all of this and more.

Host Gene Rhoden alongside producer/engineer RJ Evans