In this episode, Jarod sits down with one of his best friends, Phillip Smith. Phil is a former active duty officer in the U.S. Navy, and now lives near Philadelphia with his wife and kids. The two discuss his many stops during his service, their appreciation of golf, with some other nonsense mixed in.
1:00 – Phil’s background
2:15 – U.S.S. New York
6:50 – Making the move to becoming a weather officer
7:45 – Anti-submarine warfare
8:45 – Offutt Air Force Base
9:20 – Getting married on base
10:45 – Moving to Monterey
11:30 – Living in Philly, cheesesteaks
14:25 – Learning the game of golf
16:15 – Remembering the former Selman Field Golf Course (Monroe, Louisiana)
17:10 – Weather forecasting for “national assets”
19:30 – Nuclear fallout prediction
21:30 – Using the same information in different ways for the same goal
High pressure and summer usually mean oppressive heat and humidity in the southern United States. So far, 2022 is no different than any other year. Jarod and Walker discuss the science behind summer heat, and compare it to an especially brutal summer from just over a decade ago. After that, we all have a TV show (or two) that we know an embarrassing amount from. They’ll discuss theirs, but what’s yours?
0:40 – “Heat domes” are normal
2:15 – Counting the records of June 2011
3:10 – Summer heat’s usual suspects
4:00 – Humidity just makes things worse
5:20 – The most extreme temperatures experienced
6:00 – That time the air conditioner died in the studio…
6:45 – Some records are a little sketchy
7:50 – Relative humidity bad, dew point temperature good
10:10 – Accidentally altering the climate of your home
11:30 – Walker’s most quotable television show
12:10 – Walker’s Spongebob ally
13:45 – Jarod is obsessed with The Office
15:40 – Learning the state capitals for no reason
16:20 – Honorable mention TV shows
17:30 – Quotable movies
18:15 – Remembering Gilbert Gottfried with a horrible impression






As the Atlantic Hurricane Season continues to pick up pace, Jarod and Walker go through some of the basics of tropical meteorology. Not a lot of super nerdy, deep-diving here… simply because hurricanes and tropical systems are quite complex. Tropic talk doesn’t stop there, as Jarod and Walker recount some of their most vivid memories from past hurricane seasons.
1:15 – Areas most likely impacted from tropical systems
2:45 – Why can’t hurricanes survive over land?
3:10 – Hurricanes are heat engines
4:30 – Worst impacts are in isolated areas
6:40 – Most likely ArkLaMiss impacts from landfalling tropical systems
8:00 – Landfalling tropical systems’ impacts on local agriculture
9:00 – Tropical moisture and the rain it can produce
10:45 – Inland, tropical tornadoes and where they typically occur within a storm
15:20 – Ray Stevens and ‘The Mississippi Squirrel Revival’
16:35 – Walker evacuating from Katrina
22:00 – Walker recounts Hurricane Michael
23:50 – Young Jarod learns about Andrew
25:30 – Watching family impacts from a major hurricane
28:00 – Jarod’s “Deal or No Deal” fiasco
34:00 – Jarod over-caffeinates for Isaac






Extreme weather events are unavoidable, but they are also very difficult to forecast. In this episode, Jarod and Walker discuss the aspects of preparing the public for impactful weather events, plus certain scenarios that are almost impossible to predict. And, later… you may not know this, but meteorologists are human. A television station is really no different than your workplace, and we all have bad days. The guys will talk about how they get through a day when they’re not feeling their best.
0:30 – Flash flood event from July 3, 2022 in southern Arkansas
1:15 – Background on the event
4:45 – Some flood, others stay dry
7:30 – Forecasting the March 2016 Floods
8:30 – If we put it in the forecast, yes… we think it’s going to happen.
9:10 – We just wanna get it right/’Price is Right’ rules
11:00 – ‘Weather extremists’
11:45 – Harvey’s outlandish rain totals
13:30 – Drawing the line in winter weather events
14:05 – Winter systems in New York
16:00 – Meteorologists have to make the final decision
17:10 – Be a better weather consumer
20:05 – Everyone has bad days at work
22:00 – Cutting social corners
25:05 – Personal issues happen, and we all have to deal with it
26:00 – Being introverted in broadcast