Episode 25: Harvey Hell: Off the air and on the ropes by Blake Mathews

Blake Mathews is a meteorologist who was working for the CBS affiliate in Houston during Hurricane Harvey. In his new book he recounts the events leading up to the greatest tropical cyclone rainfall disaster in United States history. He recounts the day the Buffalo Bayou came surging into the television station.

Gary Lezak is the Chief Meteorologist for NBC in Kansas City. He has a hypothesis known as the Recurring Pattern also called the Lezak Recurring Cycle or "LRC" by his devoted followers. In this episode we discuss its use for super long range forecasting and what it means for hurricane seasonal forecasts as well. Gary first appeared on Episode 15 in 2021 where he goes into even more detail about the LRC.

David speaks with the newest member of the FOX 8 Weather Authority Team Hannah Gard. Hannah is a recent graduate of the University of Oklahoma and is originally from Colorado. She's already an experienced storm chaser and tracker having covered tornado outbreaks while in Oklahoma. David also discusses her experience being a producer and writer on a national level for CNN during the COVID-19 pandemic. And believe it or not she's been a New Orleans Saints fan since she was a child.

Dr. Nick Shay published an article recently about the current state of the loop current in the Gulf of Mexico. He compared it to 2005 and Katrina. But does that really tell the whole story about what the 2022 hurricane season will be like? He discusses the loop current as well as loop current eddies that influenced Ida last year.

David and Nicondra are joined by Brian McNoldy who is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Miami. We get Brian's thoughts on yet another record breaking hurricane season including of course Hurricane Ida. We also discuss ways of measuring a hurricane season's intensity such as named storms, accumulated cyclone energy and a storm's actual damage.

Two months after Ida the ramifications are still being felt across Southeast Louisiana. One bright spot from the storm was the post-Katrina levees "held". But did the levees really hold or was this just not the storm to test the system. Sandy and H.J. discuss the current state of our flood protection and what can be done to protect against an even stronger Katrina like storm in the future. Also, should there be a national disaster fund established to spread risk more evenly across the country and in the end reduce cost from increasingly expensive disasters?

The Gulf of Mexico can be a complicated body of water. We know the water is hot but there are various currents and eddies that are sometimes cold. All of these can have big impacts on hurricanes both good and bad.   Dr. Nan Walker is a James P. Morgan Distinguished Professor of Coastal Studies in the Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences at Louisiana State University. She is also Director of LSU’S Earth Scan Laboratory. Her areas of expertise include physical oceanography, satellite oceanography, air-sea interactions and tropical cyclone intensities, the Gulf of Mexico Loop Current and eddy circulations. 

Veteran FOX 8 reporters John Snell and Rob Krieger give their perspective on the Ida recovery. Rob recounts riding out the storm at the coast and compares it to his experience with Laura.  John gives his perspective on the environmental damage to the Louisiana coastline. In addition, what is the status of temporary housing for the most devastated areas? How and when will the seafood industry return?

Windell Curole has been General Manager for the South Lafourche Levee District for 41 years. He has been through every storm this levee district south of the New Orleans area has seen since its inception in the 1970s. It just faced one of its biggest challenges ever with Hurricane Ida. How did the levees hold up? How many people does it protect? If you're a hurricane history buff, Windell will answer those questions and more. 

Does it seem like extreme rain events are happening more often? The statistics show this is the case and it has major implications for where and how we live. Urban areas are particularly impacted as we have seen in recent years in Southeast Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Dr. Trepanier discusses extreme weather and its impact on current and future climate with a focus on tropical meteorology as well.