Gene Rhoden's "High Instability" internet radio show

[Dustin Wilcox]

So you are claiming that if they kept the offcolor commentary out and just concentrated on chasing / met issues, they would lose more people who say "I'm not listening any more because there isn't enough profanity"?

If they took away the "offcolor commentary" and focused on chasing and meteorology I probably wouldn't listen. If I wanted to listen to discussion strictly on weather I would read a book or go listen to a professor, oh wait they sometimes use profanity in class so I better not listen to them either. I can't really believe that profanity used as relatively infrequently as it is during the show is enough to deter anyone for watching it, and if it does you better try at all cost to avoid any public places or you may be exposed to "bad words." Personally I think the show kicks ass.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

So you are claiming that if they kept the offcolor commentary out and just concentrated on chasing / met issues, they would lose more people who say "I'm not listening any more because there isn't enough profanity"?

I said what I said, read it again if you are confused. No where do I talk about losing or gaining, nor do I qualify it by how much so. They could do away with "panty" talk, and then if they still used one foul word, someone out there would still be unhappy.

 

[Darin Brunin]

If I wanted to listen to discussion strictly on weather I would read a book or go listen to a professor.

I hear ya there

Really, it's just nice to just sit back and hear a casual conversation about chasing. To me a conversation with people hiding their true personalities is just boring and I like the spice that this show has. You can bet that I will be listening in a little bit.

 

[Amos Magliocco]

I put the archived podcasts on my iPod last night. I haven't listened yet since I teach on Wednesday evening. I intend to be offended all the way to the dryline next week, crankin' some Gene-ege.

 

[rdale]

They could do away with "panty" talk, and then if they still used one foul word, someone out there would still be unhappy.

Agreed -- someONE would be. It appears more than one are unhappy as it is...

 

[Tony Lyza]

Tonight's show was the best yet. I really enjoyed Jim's insight into the tornado rating process.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Agreed -- someONE would be. It appears more than one are unhappy as it is...

Appears so!

 

[Dave Gallaher]

I finally got to listen to the Roger Edwards podcast last night. Great information here, especially hearing the stress put on written analysis at SPC to go along with models. Great stories, too.

 

[Sean McMullen]

I really enjoyed last nights show and probably had too much fun in the chat room. I can't wait to listen to the show the night before a big chase day or afterwards listening to reports on the air rather than just reading them on ST. Do you think we'll be able to send them pics or links to sites to go along with on air reports? Just wondering. Anyways keep up the good work!

Sean

 

[Bobby Prentice]

March 21, 2007 guest...Don Burgess

Gene Rhoden's guest on "High Instability" this week will be Doppler radar pioneer and severe storms expert Don Burgess. The show will air LIVE on Wednesday, March 21, 2007 at 7 pm Central Time (8 pm Eastern) and run for 2 hours. Call TOLL FREE 1-866-400-6684 with your questions and comments during the show.

"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.

Tune into the show at highinstability.com (for high bandwidth CD quality) and click on the "Click Here to Listen Button".

You will need to download an aacPlus plugin found here:

http://www.orban.com/plugin/

If you use windows media player to listen or you can use winamp found here:

http://www.winamp.com/player/full.php

A low bandwidth simulcast can be found at WRBN.net. Simply click on your media player of choice located within the box on the middle right-hand side of their main web page. Or you can also download the latest version of Real Player as it has a built in aacPlus decoder. The audio will be better quality by listening through the shocknet site linked above but WRBN.net is certainly "good"

Each week's show will be repeated at 2 pm Central Time (3 pm Eastern) on the following Thursday. Also, each show will be archived and available for podcast the following Sunday night on highinstability.com.

 

[Bobby Prentice]

April 4th guest...Chris Novy

Gene Rhoden's guest on "High Instability" this week will be CFDG'er Chris Novy. The show will air LIVE on Wednesday, April 4, 2007 at 7 pm Central Time (8 pm Eastern) and run for two hours. Call TOLL FREE 1-866-400-6684 with your questions or comments during the show.

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.

 

[Bobby Prentice]

April 11th guest...Dr. David Karoly

Gene Rhoden's guest on "High Instability" this week will be Dr. David J. Karoly - Climate Scientist, University of Oklahoma. The show will air LIVE on Wednesday, April 11, 2007 at 7 pm Central Time (8 pm Eastern) and run for two hours. Call TOLL FREE 1-866-400-6684 with your questions or comments during the show.

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.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Wow, very cool. Dr. Karoly is a "big whig" in the climate change community, so this show should be of great interest for anyone interested in global climate change (either pro- or anti- on the anthropogenic contribution).

 

[Bobby Prentice]

April 18th Guest...Steve Corfidi (SPC)

Gene Rhoden's guest on "High Instability" this week will be Steve Corfidi, lead forecaster at the NOAA/NWS Storm Prendiction Center (SPC). The show will air LIVE on Wednesday, April 18, 2007 at 7 pm Central Time (8 pm Eastern) and run for two hours. Call TOLL FREE 1-866-400-6684 with your questions or comments during the show.

"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.

 

[Marko Korosec]

I would just like to thank you all who are working on this amazing "High Instability" radio show! All guests were very interesting and I am looking forward for the new ones in the future! Great to listen to such experts who made me even more interested into forecasting and researching severe weather.