Storm Chaser Valhalla-National Weather Service Norman-Podcast 636

Storm Chaser Valhalla-National Weather Service Norman-Podcast 636

Blue skies and sunshine on this Storm Chasing Trip. With no storms, it’s a good time to visit the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center at Norman, Oklahoma. The National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center is where where all severe weather predictions and updates originate. We’ll go in inside, In Storm Chaser Valhalla-National Weather Service Norman-Podcast 636.

Storm Chaser Valhalla

Storm Chasers use information that originates at Norman. Why? Doppler Radar was developed here. Scientists in Kansas City spent springs here back in the day, to research storms. There was a naval air station here. So, there was plenty of room to locate a brand new radar system.

NEXRAD

Doppler Radar has been a game changer since its inception in the 1990’s. NEXRAD changed and continues to change how the world learns about severe weather. In Storm Chaser Valhalla-National Weather Service Norman-Podcast 636.

Secure Facility

The radar control center is in a secure building shared by several government agencies. One of those agencies is the department of defense. Needless to say, I could not get into this facility. Persistence pays off and after a few calls, NOAA Public Affairs Specialist Keli Pirtle invited me to come over to the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center. Storm Chaser Valhalla-National Weather Service Norman-Podcast 636.

Weather Geek Out

It’s all about weather geeks. Thanks to Keli Pirtle for inviting me in on short notice and for the history lesson. How did the radar system get built at Norman? Finally, Warning Coordination Meteorologist Patrick Marsh gives us complete rundown of how the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center works. Plus some stories about what it is like in this center when major weather is breaking.

Storm Chasers

The idea behind tax payer funded NEXRAD is data products should be available to everyone, and this is one of the reasons we get radar and other NWS products on our smartphones. However, severe weather can be unpredictable. A town, person or chaser can be right under a tornado and not be able to to see it until it’s too late. While the National Weather Service does not have an official position on Storm Chasing Even the National Weather Service is not immune as you will hear. Be Safe.

Sponsored by Brush Studio in The West End, Saint Louis Park, Minnesota

Storm Chaser Valhalla-National Weather Service Norman-Podcast 636

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Podcast 172

Start the week off right. Updates on the key stories. Friday brought ‘good news’ with the latest unemployment numbers. More people are employed, but the media seems to want you to believe the economy is ‘roaring’ back. Is this the ‘Recovery Summer’ we’ve been waiting for. Shocking news from the NOAA; Looks like the United States has actually been cooling for the last ten years, debunking the theory that ‘Global Warming’ has caused forest fires out west and tornados in the midwest over the last decade or so. No matter how much James Hansen and Al Gore scream and yell and pound, the new data is not good for the ‘warmists’. Is there a feud between the Obama’s and the Clinton’s? Some say rumors of such a feud are political “BS”. If so why is the President’s right hand Valerie Jarett being dispatched to court Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren for President in 2016? And in the Twin Cities, the Met Council is so hell bent for leather to build the Southwest Light Rail its ‘mediating’ the conflict between two South Minneapolis neighborhoods of one percenters (and loyal democrats) who don’t want it in their backyard. Will the planned tunnel project drain the signature city lakes? Sponsored by X Government Cars! 

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Podcast 171

Midweek update! The big stories. As we head into the 4th of July Weekend, Obama gets ‘bitchy’. Do Americans really want a petulant President who blames everything on congressional ‘inaction’? What is the intent behind his tantrum in Minneapolis and in the Rose Garden this week? Is he channeling his inner ‘Elizabeth Warren’? Does the President have a sense of humor? It has come to light that the temperature data ‘warmists’ have been quoting are actually based on ‘models’. Not actual temperatures. What do the actual temperature data show? The answer may surprise you. A new disease threatens 30 million people and its not good. Step AWAY from the pastries, beer and hamburgers. Don’t tell First Lady Michelle Obama about this, but ‘binge viewing’ is becoming a problem for the world. The arrival of services like Netflix and Amazon Prime now make it possible to lay on the couch for an entire weekend, watching all the Breaking Bad(s). This is a problem? Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. 

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