Tonight's Guest WeatherBrain is the Director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. He previously led its Hurricane Specialist Unit and served as a senior hurricane specialist, producing forecasts and warnings for tropical cyclones in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific. His work focuses on improving hurricane track and intensity forecasts, integrating new data into models, and training meteorologists on forecasting and communication. Before joining NHC leadership, he was the Science and Operations Officer at the Weather Prediction Center, where he guided scientific practices and staff training. He is active in the scientific community as a presenter, journal reviewer, and associate editor. He earned his bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. in atmospheric sciences from North Carolina State University, with research focused on weather forecasting and meteorology in the eastern United States. Dr. Michael Brennan, welcome to the show!

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

• Notable Virginia hurricanes (12:00)
• When can NOAA Hurricane Hunters fly into a developing tropical cyclone? (15:00)
• Extending tropical weather outlooks beyond a week? (18:00)
• Considering population density with regards to hurricane watches/warnings (25:00)
• Operational tempo atNHC during 2025's Hurricane Melissa (35:30)
• Receiving and analyzing real-time reports during landfalling tropical cyclones (46:00)
• Behind the scenes: a normal day at NHC vs active event protocol (49:45)
• Dealing with the media as NHC Director (54:30)
• Social media attacks and appropriate professional responses in the weather enterprise (01:13:00)
• NHC seasonal outlooks and call to action (01:18:00)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:27:00)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:29:20)
• E-Mail Segment (01:30:30)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 1053:

Alabama Weather Network

Picks of the Week:

Dr. Michael Brennan - NHC Tropical Cyclone Video Series

James Aydelott - Foghorn

Jen Narramore - Hurricane Gloria September 27th, 1985

Rick Smith - U.S. Drought Monitor Current Map

Troy Kimmel - NWS Houston/Galveston Hurricane Guide

Kim Klockow-McClain - The Fifth Hurricane Hazard: A Case Study of Heat Risks Faced by Disaster Relief Workers After Hurricane Beryl's Landfall

John Gordon - Kentucky Mesonet at WKU

Bill Murray - Out

James Spann - Conditional Warning Probabilities

James Spann - NOAA's NWS eyes the cloud for next-gen applications

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 WeatherBrains is all about the NWS Storm Prediction Center (SPC)'s convective outlooks.

Guest WeatherBrain and SPC forecaster Bill Bunting joins us tonight. He grew up in Virginia Beach, VA where we experienced a series of hurricanes and Nor'easters at a very young age. He attended Old Dominion University as well as OU where he earned his Bachelor's Degree. He's been with the National Weather Service since 1985, where he's worked primarily at local offices in Norman (OK), Kansas City (MO) and Fort Worth (TX). He was Chief of Forecasting Operations at SPC in 2012, and is now the Deputy Director at SPC since 2024. Bill, welcome to WeatherBrains!

Second and last Guest WeatherBrain (but certainly not the least!) is the brand new Warning Coordination Meteorologist (MIC) for the SPC. He grew up in Ohio and attended Valparaiso University, and has since worked for the NWS for over 15 years. He loves historical weather statistics and visualization. Evan Bentley, welcome to WeatherBrains!

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

• Organization/structure of NWS Storm Prediction Center (14:00)
• SPCS's Fire weather forecasting (16:00)
• Science behind SPC's new conditional intensity forecasts (20:30)
• Deterministic factors for a PDS (Particularly Dangerous Situation) watch (26:00)
• Improving communication of impactful weather events to family and co workers (40:00)
• SPC's philosophy on dealing with QLCS events (51:00)
• National team approach for warnings? (01:03:00)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:29:45)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:32:15)
• E-Mail Segment (01:24:00)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 1051:

Alabama Weather Network

Picks of the Week:

Bill Bunting - SPC Hazard Climatology

James Aydelott - Okie James on Facebook: Two supercell rotation paths

Jen Narramore - Southeast Severe Storms Symposium XXIV

Rick Smith - NOAA Damage Assessment Toolkit

Troy Kimmel - Foghorn

Kim Klockow-McClain - Edwardsburg Schools offer support as community mourns loss of student

John Gordon - Congressman Eric Sorensen introduces new legislation to investigate major weather disasters

Bill Murray - Out

James Spann - Out

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.