WeatherBrains 576: Kevin Goes Down the Tubes

WeatherBrains Episode 576 is now online (January 31, 2017). If you are crazy about weather, this is THE netcast audio program for you!

Joining us for this episode is the newly retired former Meteorologist-in-Charge of the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Birmingham, AL, Jim Stefkovich.

Stefkovich launched his career with NOAA’s National Weather Service in 1982 as a student trainee/computer programmer at the National Weather Service Techniques Development Laboratory in Silver Spring, MD. He served as a meteorological observer at the Weather Service Meteorological Observation site in Waycross, GA, in 1984 and became a forecaster intern at the Weather Service Office in Lake Charles, LA, in 1985. Three years later, Stefkovich became a forecaster at the Atlanta, GA, office. In 1991, he joined Southern Region Headquarters as the Next Generation Weather Radar regional focal point responsible for coordinating its implementation. Stefkovich served as the warning coordination meteorologist at the Weather Forecast Office in Fort Worth, TX, from 1993 to 2000 before being promoted to meteorologist-in-charge of the Weather Forecast Office in Jackson, MS. Stefkovich spent several years serving as meteorologist-in-charge of the Chicago Forecast Office before transferring to the Weather Forecast Office in Birmingham, AL.

Stefkovich is the recipient of numerous local and regional awards including Office Unit Citations and a Bronze Medal for superior service during hurricane and tornado outbreaks. He has also assisted in national leadership courses for multiple government agencies. Stefkovich earned a bachelor’s degree in meteorology from Pennsylvania State University in 1983. He is a member of the American Meteorological Society and National Weather Association and has authored and presented several papers at national conferences. Stefkovich has also served on several national NWS teams, including the Service Assessment Team for the deadly April 1998 tornado outbreak in Alabama and Georgia. And Jim loves to fish.

Other discussions in this weekly podcast include topics like:

• Extremes: 84 at Cotulla, TX, and -19 at Saranac Lake, NY
• No severe weather forecast for next several days
• Cold across the northern tier of the US
• But warm across the southern US
• Winter is far from over!
• Astronomy Outlook with Tony Rice
• and more!

Our email bag officer is continuing to handle the incoming messages from our listeners.

From The Weather Center:

WeatherBrains 101: It’s not something I’ve actually seen, though I really would like to. It’s called a hole punch cloud or sometimes a fallstreak cloud, and it definitely conjures up the idea of alien invasion as in the movie Independence Day. It’s a fascinating mix of contrails and supercooled water.

Web Sites from Episode 576:

Guilty of Malpractice

To subscribe to the brand new SkyWritings, an email newsletter from the WeatherBrains gang, click HERE.

Picks of the Week:

Bill Murray – Telluride Avalanche Video

Brian Peters – NWA January 2017 Newsletter

Kevin Selle – Meteorological Development Laboratory

Rick Smith – Best Practices for Sharing Weather Information via Social Media

James Spann – Davis Instruments Weather Map

Jim Stefkovich – alternative Twitter feeds

Aubrey Urbanowicz – Women Meteorologists: Don’t Call Us ‘Weather Girls’

The WeatherBrains crew includes your host, James Spann, plus other notable geeks like Nate Johnson, Bill Murray, Aubrey Urbanowicz, Rick Smith, Kevin Selle, and Brian Peters. They bring together a wealth of weather knowledge and experience for another fascinating netcast about weather.

Category: WeatherBrains