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.

Tonight's Guest WeatherBrain is Canadian meteorologist Ken MacDonald. He started his career way back in 1975, and has been an instructor, a forecaster, and a researcher. He is the former Executive Director of Environment Canada. Our second Guest WeatherBrain James Abraham is a veteran meteorologist with almost four decades of experience who has forecasted in British Columbia, the U. S. East Coast and even was former and first Director of the Canadian Hurricane Center. Ken and James, welcome to WeatherBrains!

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

• Environment Canada basics (08:00)
• Modernization process at Environment Canada (14:00)
• Reformatted warning polygons (19:00)
• Recurring issues with zone forecasts (22:30)
• Canadian meteorology employment/recruiting (28:30)
• Details of 18 month internship after initial hire (34:00)
• Canadian Hurricane Center (35:00)
• The Perfect Storm of 1991 (48:00)
• Total number of TV meteorologists in Canada (53:00)
• Death of linear television (56:30)
• Research efforts across Canada (01:06:00)
• Most difficult places to forecast meteorology in Canada (01:09:30)
• 2025-26 Canadian winter highlights (01:10:30)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:14:00)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:16:45)
• E-Mail Segment (01:18:00)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 1043:

Alabama Weather Network

Canada's weather warning system has changed. Here's how.

Meteorologist Occupational Training Program

Picks of the Week:

James Aydelott - The OCS/Mesonet Ticker

Jen Narramore - Jen shoutout on X

Rick Smith - Out

Troy Kimmel - Foghorn

Kim Klockow-McClain - Foghorn

John Gordon - NWS Juneau on YouTube

John Gordon - Juneau, Alaska buried under 80+ inches of snow

Bill Murray - Out

James Spann - CIPS Analog-Based Severe Probability Guidance

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.

Our Guest WeatherBrain couldn't make it tonight, so our panel holds a homegrown episode to kick off 2026. Discussions include storm-based vs county-warnings, public storm reports, and a deep-dive into fundamentals of modern-day radar.

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

• Severe storms possible on Friday in Deep South 1/9/26 (05:00)
• Storm-based warnings vs county-wide warnings (26:00)
• Pete Wolf Charitable Foundation (38:00)
• Helping the general public with radar interpretation (48:00)
• Public storm reports and how often they are used in NWS warnings (53:00)
• MPING (57:30)
• NWS app is needed (59:00)
• Protecting people living in mobile homes during severe weather (01:06:00)
• Threats-In-Motion (TIM) (01:08:00)
• Threat Confirmation Defined (01:14:00)
• Social media AI engagement farms (01:16:00)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:22:00)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (No segment this week)
• E-Mail Segment (01:24:00)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 1042:

Alabama Weather Network

Picks of the Week:

James Aydelott - Out

Jen Narramore - WeatherBrains 224

Jen Narramore - WeatherBrains 998

Rick Smith - The Annual Lightning Report 2025

Troy Kimmel - US Drought Monitor From 2000-2025

Kim Klockow-McClain - Foghorn

John Gordon - Extreme Temperatures Around The World

Bill Murray - Out

James Spann - AEM Releases 2025 U.S. Lightning Report

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.

On WeatherBrains this week this our annual year-ender episode with Greg Carbin. Greg needs no introduction; tonight we look back at 2025's notable weather events, and what the meteorology community has learned in the past year. Greg has presented his "Year-in-Review" presentation to the NWA Annual Meeting every year since 2004. His professional society memberships have included the NWA, AMS, International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), and Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). Greg currently serves as Chair on the NWA's Professional Development Committee.

Thanks for joining us this week for this year's WeatherBrains finale!

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

• Looking back at 2025 (11:45)
• 2025 Gulf Coast snowstorm (19:30)
• Legendary meteorologist Chuck Doswell passes away (21:00)
• 17 tornadoes in Alabama in 2025 (42:00)
• Mid-May tornado outbreak near St. Louis (53:00)
• July 2025 Texas flooding tragedy (55:30)
• Remnants of Typhoon Halong cross Alaska (01:05:30)
• Dr. Neil Frank 2021 interview clip/Rewatch Episode 819 for entire interview (01:14:30)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (01:11:05)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:13:00)
• E-Mail Segment (No segment this week - Happy New Year!)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 1041:

Remembering former KHOU-11 TV chief meteorologist Dr. Neil Frank

Alabama Weather Network

Picks of the Week:

Greg Carbin - Ensemble QPF Tracking

James Aydelott - Tulsa, OK record high temperature graphic

Jen Narramore - Ethan Mok on X: Zion, IL fake AI tornado damage

Rick Smith - Out

Troy Kimmel - Foghorn

Kim Klockow-McClain - Foghorn

John Gordon - Tom Niziol on X: Wind-driven seiche on Lake Erie

John Gordon - Tom Niziol on X: 80 mph wind gusts at Buffalo, NY

Bill Murray - James Spann speaks with FOX Weather's Bob Van Dillen

James Spann - Aaron Rigbsy on X: Tree damage video associated with a blizzard

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.

On WeatherBrains this week are two special guests. Friend of the show and WeatherBrains veteran Mark Sudduth is the owner of HurricaneTrack.com and has over three decades of experience documenting landfalling hurricanes and other high impact weather events. He founded the Hurricane Intercept Research Team, which pioneers the use of unmanned camera systems to safely capture severe weather. Welcome to the show!

Last but certainly not least is our second Guest WeatherBrain Bruce Thomas. He's the President of WeatherCall and is the former spokesman of Midland Weather Radio and is a former broadcast meteorologist. He covered the 1997 Jarrell, TX tornado and has even worked with the Red Cross. Bruce, it's great to have you on the show.

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

• Mark's major projects in 2025 (08:00)
• 2025 Hurricane season's overall unexpected lack of activity (13:30)
• Launch of Mark's new podcast (18:00)
• Self-appointed Mayor of Weatherville (47:00)
• What is WeatherCall and where is it going? (53:00)
• AL/MS are the most dangerous places on Earth for tornadoes (01:08:00)
• Turning the page to 2026's very early hurricane season predictions (01:19:00)
• Jobseekers, watch what you post on social media!!! (01:30:00)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (No segment this week)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (No segment this week)
• E-Mail Segment (01:24:00)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 1040:

Alabama Weather Network

WeatherCall

Picks of the Week:

Bruce Thomas - Fire photo from Yuma, Colorado

James Aydelott - Tule Fog over California's Central Valley

Jen Narramore - 144 MPH Wind Gust On Wednesday One Of The Strongest Ever Recorded in Wyoming

Rick Smith - Out

Troy Kimmel - StormReady

Kim Klockow-McClain - Out

John Gordon - Ice Tsunami

Bill Murray - Out

James Spann - Foghorn

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.

On WeatherBrains this week are meteorologist Jim Abraham with Environment Canada and meteorologist Ken MacDonald. Jim actually started the Canadian Hurricane Center in Halifax, and has been working in meteorology for over four decades. Ken MacDonald has been in the weather field for over 48 years. He launched his career in 1975, and has been an instructor, a forecaster, and a researcher in areas all over Canada. It's great to see you both and thank you for joining us tonight!

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

• Origin of "Boomer Sooner" (07:15)
• NWS vs Canadian forecast offices (12:00)
• Canadian forecast offices and their relationship with the Canadian military (18:00)
• Monitoring/Observational networks across Environment Canada (21:00)
• Importance of cloud typing in Mexican and Canadian forecast offices vs NWS (27:00)
• US and Canadian weather radio equivalents (33:30)
• Environment and Climate Change Canada (56:00)
• June 2021 British Columbia Heat Dome (01:02:00)
• 2022 Hurricane Fiona (01:07:00)
• "Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World" by John Vaillant (01:17:00)
• Canadian weather warning Color Coded System (01:18:00)
• POD/FAR in Canada (01:22:00)
• The Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice (No segment this week)
• This Week in Tornado History With Jen (01:30:00)
• E-Mail Segment (01:33:00)
• and more!

Web Sites from Episode 1039:

Alabama Weather Network

Picks of the Week:

Jim Abraham - 11 jaw-dropping videos from the Fort McMurray wildfire

James Aydelott - Out

Jen Narramore - Anniversary of the 2021 Historic December 15tyh Derecho

Rick Smith - All Things Radar: Severe Weather/From the Girls Who Chase special workshop series

Troy Kimmel - Foghorn

Kim Klockow-McClain - Western launches Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory

John Gordon - Snow tarp video on X

Bill Murray - Out

James Spann - December 16th, 2000 Tuscaloosa Tornado coverage on YouTube

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.