Tonight's show is all about the OTUS Project. It's a nonprofit research mission lead by President Nelson Tucker, Drone Builder and Ops Coordinator Louis Tucker, Lead Engineer Tanner Beard, and chasing expert Eric Fox. The OTUS Project was founded by engineering and meteorology students, and is pioneering the use of cutting edge UAV technology, software and sensor engineering to investigate tornadoes in ways never before possible. Their goal is to protect life and property by improving our understanding of wind forces for structural resilience and collecting thermodynamic data to enhance computer models. Also, they prioritize hazard prediction through advanced drone deployment and strategic partnerships as well as real-time field work. Thanks for joining us tonight!

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

• Meet the OTUS Team! (05:00)
• How did OTUS Project start? (11:30)
• Drone design development (14:30)
• What does an OTUS project deployment look like? (17:30)
• Successful 2025 chasing season (22:00)
• May 2025 Arnett, OK tornado intercept (33:00)
• Difficulties of acquiring viable data with difficult variables during chases (43:00)
• Leverage controlled environments with drones for calibration activities (56:00)
• How an airspeed sensor works when chasing (57:30)
• Status on upcoming OTUS Documentary (01:09:00)
• Nelson shares footage of actual tornado intercept (01:12:00)
• 2026 National Storm Chaser Summit (01:28:00)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:33:15)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:36:00)
• E-Mail Segment (01:37:00)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 1046:

Alabama Weather Network

The OTUS Project

Picks of the Week:

Nelson Tucker - TornadoGenesis.Org

Eric Fox - Colorado water officials plan for "exceedingly grim" low reservoir levels

James Aydelott - Okie J on Facebook: Shovel Hack video

Jen Narramore - SPC Data Viewer

Rick Smith - SPC's Liz Leitman explains upcoming changes to SPC convective outlooks

Troy Kimmel - Out

Kim Klockow-McClain - Panel Discussion 10A - Informed decision-making and ethics: Developing a blueprint for ethical weather and climate communication

John Gordon - Barotrophic Instability AKA Karman Vortex Street

Bill Murray - Out

James Spann - Adding Intensity Information to SPC Convective Outlooks

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 celebrates 20 years of WeatherBrains, still going strong in January 2026! Former show regulars join the panel to reflect on memorable moments, including Aubrey Urbanowicz, Nate Johnson, Dr. John Scala, and Dr. Neil Jacobs. Over the years, WeatherBrains has covered nearly every topic in meteorology, and panelist Jen Narramore shares audio highlights from some of the most memorable episodes.

Thanks for being part of the celebration tonight!

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

• NOAA Administrator Dr. Neil Jacobs (14:00)
• Dr. John Scala life update (16:00)
• Resolving global ensemble model as a prediction system? (24:30)
• NVIDIA weather model announcement at AMS (26:00)
• WeatherBrains Episode 1 - January 31st, 2006 (29:00)
• J. B. Elliott funny moments (31:00)
• Groundbreaking weather radar with early broadcast meteorology in the late 1950s (36:00)
• Improving providing warnings to immigrant populations (45:30)
• Looking back at sexual harassment in social media show topic (51:00)
• Revisiting Episode 1016 concerning the July 2025 Texas Flooding (01:02:30)
• October 2022 WB Episode on Autism and special needs community (01:10:00)
• James Aydelott on WB Show 1000 March 2025 (01:17:00)
• J. B. Elliott WB highlights (01:22:30)
• Former WB Panelist meteorologist Kevin Selle life update (01:30:00)
• Nate Johnson drops in! (01:39:00)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:32:50)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:36:05)
• E-Mail Segment (No segment this week - stay tuned!)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 1045:

Alabama Weather Network

Picks of the Week:

Aubrey Urbanowitz - Frozen spaghetti photo in MN

Nate Johnson - Why weather apps may note be the best bet during winter storms

Dr. John Scala - California is free of all drought, dryness for first time in 25 years. Inside the remarkable turnaround

James Aydelott - Okie James Facebook Post

Jen Narramore - Steamnado!

Rick Smith - February 2021 US extreme cold write-up

Troy Kimmel - Foghorn

Kim Klockow-McClain - Foghorn

John Gordon - KOCO Field Meteorologist Michael Armstrong helps driver stuck on snow-packed road in OKC

Bill Murray - Out

James Spann - NVIDIA's new AI weather models probably saw this storm coming weeks ago

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 dedicated to a deep dive into avalanches! Tonight's Guest WeatherBrain is Dr. Ethan Greene from Colorado Avalanche Center. He's also served as the Director of the NW Pacific Avalanche Center. We will cover a basic understanding of avalanches, the geographic responsibility of the Colorado Avalanche Center, launch of forecasting avalanches and how they try to prevent avalanches during the off-season. We will examine how they prepared in this work with the citizens of Colorado and who they collaborate with make this happen. Dr. Greene joined CAIC as the Director in 2005. He grew up in Boulder and learned to ski when he was three. He has worked with snow and avalanches since 1990. He worked as a ski patroller (Big Sky Ski Resort) and as a backcountry avalanche forecaster (Utah Avalanche Forecast Center). He studied meteorology (B.S., University of Utah), mountain weather and snow-drift formation (M.S., Colorado State University), and snow metamorphism and microstructure (Ph.D., CSU). In 2016, he received the Bernie Kingery Award and a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Utah. Ethan has published a variety of articles and has been a member of national and international working groups on snow, weather, and avalanche topics. Ethan lives in Leadville with his wife and two children. Thanks for joining us tonight, Dr. Greene!

Also joining us as Guest Panelist is Mark Staples. He is Director and Avalanche Forecaster at the Gallatin National Forecast Avalanche Center in Boseman. Mark, welcome to WeatherBrains!

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

• Upcoming AMS Annual Meeting in Houston (03:30)
• Basic definition of an avalanche (08:00)
• What do their field technicians do and what instrumentation do they use? (18:30)
• How the avalanche watch/warning process works (24:00)
• Biggest clients in avalanche forecasting (37:00)
• How does the public get avalanche forecast information? (42:00)
• Canadian collaboration on risk communication (47:00)
• Communicating to young people about avalanche dangers (53:30)
• Smaller avalanche outbreaks vs major events (01:17:00)
• FAR and POD metrics vs avalanche warning metrics (01:19:00)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:27:20)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (No segment this week)
• E-Mail Segment (No segment this week)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 1044:

Alabama Weather Network

Avalanche.Org

Picks of the Week:

Dr. Ethan Greene - Avalanche Explorer

James Aydelott - Impactful snow ahead for Oklahoma and southern Kansas this upcoming weekend

Jen Narramore - Out

Rick Smith - Out

Troy Kimmel - 9 rules for using Forecast Models

Kim Klockow-McClain - Out

John Gordon - Avalanche search and rescue training in Tahoe

Bill Murray - Out

James Spann - NOAA/NWS Space Weather Prediction Center Radio Communications Dashboard

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.