Inside the New Wave of Digital Weather with Steven DiMartino

In this episode of the Everything Weather Podcast, we're joined by Steven DiMartino, a certified digital meteorologist and owner of NY NJ PA Weather. Steven shares his journey through the weather world, discussing his educational background, career challenges, and the development of his private meteorology business. Our conversation highlights Steven's experiences with notable weather events like Hurricane Sandy, his unique forecasting techniques, and the importance of networking and perseverance in the field.

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About the Everything Weather Podcast

A weekly podcast where we talk with people about the weather world, explore and discuss everything weather and the many things that connect to it, and have a little fun along the way. The podcast is hosted and produced by Kyle David, a meteorologist and digital science content producer based in New Jersey.

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Transcript

Kyle David: 0:08

Hello and welcome to the Everything Weather Podcast, where we talk with people about the weather world, explore and discuss everything weather, and have a little fun along the way. I'm your host, Kyle David, and it is great to be back with you on the Everything Weather Podcast. There's been a little bit of a gap between this episode that I'm doing right now and the last episode that we did with Tom d Roberto. Before we talk about why there was a gap, I just wanted to quickly say that and give an update on Tom d Roberto. He's now working with Climate Central as part of their media team that's talking about the weather and climate story. So real quick, congratulations to Tom on the new role at Climate Central, and I just wanted to update you all on where he's at in the weather and climate world. Now, getting back into. Why there was that gap. For those that have been listening from day one, I've been working on my master's in communication degree with Johns Hopkins. By the time we got to that last episode, I was in the middle of wrapping up that degree, which I'm happy to announce that I've officially completed and I've graduated with my master's in communications in that short time as well. I quickly started up a new full-time job with a B, C News as one of their new meteorologists and weather producers. And between those two things and other personal things that were going on, it was a whirlwind with everything going on, and I had not been able to edit the episodes that I had recorded and then also do new episodes, record new episodes for the podcast. But I'm happy to announce that the episodes that I've already recorded are now edited. I can now release them to you guys and. Bring you new everything, weather, podcast content, and before we get into what those episodes are, what the future of the podcast will be, I have a quick announcement on a big milestone that we've reached, or I feel like it's a big milestone. We have reached 1000 downloads for the podcast. It may not sound like a lot over the 25 plus episodes that we've done so far, but in my books, it is a huge milestone and it's real exciting to have done this podcast and share my love with the weather, and also talk with people about the weather and have some fun along the way as well. So I want to thank you, the listener. Whether you just started listening to this podcast or you've been listening from day one, thank you so much for getting us to this big milestone. Without the podcast, I would not. Be where I am today, literally, because one of the people that I got to talk to, Dan Peck, he's also working a DBC news, and had I not been able to network him with him and talk with him about his experiences, I very likely would not have gotten the job. ABC News 'cause I probably wouldn't have heard of it. He would not have heard of me. So it just goes to show the power of podcasting and networking. Without this podcast, I literally would not be where I am today. So thank you all for listening to the podcast. Thank you to all the people who have given their time to make this podcast a thing. And before we get into this episode, I have one more announcement and it's a sad one. I, and then I'm announcing that this podcast will be going on hiatus after this batch of episodes is released. And that's because I want to focus on my new job with a, B, C news. I want to focus on the opportunities that come with it, and not only the opportunity of working with all the awesome people there, including Ginger Z, who has had. Incredible experience in communicating the weather and climate, but also the new opportunities that will come in the weather world. But this is not a permanent goodbye. I will eventually be returning to do this podcast. This is just a see you later for now. So that being said, I encourage you still to share the podcast with your friends, your family, colleagues, anybody you know who likes talking about the weather, likes to listen about the weather and also have some fun as well.'cause it's still relevant to two days, five days, weeks, months from now. It's still will be relevant. There's a lot of great content and I encourage you to share that with everyone that you know who wants to learn more about the weather or just wants to have fun along the way. And with that as well, also still follow us on social media because when we eventually come back, it's just gonna bring a stronger start back when I'm able. When I'm able to get back into this podcast. Now, with all that out of the way, thank you so much to listening to the Everything Weather Podcast. Let's jump into this episode today on the podcast, we are excited to have Steven DiMartino. Steven is a certified digital meteorologist, also known as a CDM and a prominent figure in the field of private meteorology. He's the owner and consulting meteorologist for N-Y-N-J-P-A Weather, a company he founded in 2007, which provides personalized and accurate weather forecasting services for individuals, businesses, and government entities across the three states. His expertise spans meteorology, environmental science, and operational impacts of weather, making him a versatile leader in the field, and he is also lending his expertise to the American Meteorological side to their board of certified Digital meteorologists. Hey there, Steven, and welcome to the Everything Weather Podcast.

Steven DiMartino: 5:36

Hello. It's great to be here.

Kyle David: 5:38

Absolutely. I'm looking forward to talking about your experiences, talking about forming N-Y-N-J-P-A weather and some insights for the world of forecasting in private meteorology. But first, I've got a fun game for you. We've got what is on the Weather Person's playlist. So everybody I have, we do this game, I ask, what's on the weather Person's playlist? So Steven, what is on your weather play or your music playlist?

Steven DiMartino: 6:04

Well, it's a wide variety. Of course. We have to start off with Metallica, that's gonna be number one. And then you go to Meatloaf. I know it's, it goes completely outta direction, but it notice in this theme, there's gonna be a lot of emotional singing. Powerful, right? And then you go to Slipknot, disturbed Fort Miner, falling in reverse. They're new, well, relatively new compared to my list. Let's see, m and m can't, just, as a Gen X, you can't, absolutely Nine Inch Nails, Beastie Boys and the Chemical Brothers. There's my top 10

Kyle David: 6:37

that's quite the playlist, that it's hard to pick the top 10 artist, somebody who loves a whole bunch of different music and genres and just to do a quick like impromptu game. If you had to build your own musical super group, say you got the barometric brass or whatever meteorology, whether titled band, and you're creating a super group, who's gonna be in this super group of yours?

Steven DiMartino: 7:02

Oh man. It's hard to, I probably do a mix of, like these days I'd probably wouldn't wanna do new and old. So I'd do a mix of, falling in reverse in Metallica and see how that would work because it's two different sounds that I think that could grow together and I think it would be insane. But that's where I would go.

Kyle David: 7:26

Would you, who would you rather have as your front man vocalist, James Hetfield or Ronnie Radkey? For those that dunno. James Hetfield is Metallica. Ronnie Radkey is falling in reverse.

Steven DiMartino: 7:36

I think I'd probably do Ronnie for more of the powerful, like I think that they could work together, but I think that Ronnie being younger and younger voice, I think it would be able to pull off to more powerful and for notes.

Kyle David: 7:48

yeah, he's very versatile too. He can do, screaming. He could do powerful singing. He could do rapping.

Steven DiMartino: 7:54

Yeah.

Kyle David: 7:54

There, there a

Steven DiMartino: 7:54

few people

Kyle David: 7:55

in place. Yeah, there albums are,

Steven DiMartino: 7:57

are amazing.

Kyle David: 7:59

There's some good songs out there. And I'll say there's some good songs from the new one. I think my most interesting song from them is, the one they did with Jelly Roll, all My Life, I think it is.

Steven DiMartino: 8:10

And the thing is that if you listen to his whole album, the whole collection of music, it goes in so many different directions and versatility is just. Really amazing to listen to. So whatever your mood happens to be in, you could probably fight. If you feel like just having a good time, having a good laugh, you got some stuff like that, you feel angry, you got some stuff with that. There's just a wide variety of different ways to go about it.

Kyle David: 8:35

And on that note, is there a particular type of music or a particular artist that you listen to during specific events? Say like you're forecasting for winter weather or you're forecasting for severe weather. Is there a particular genre or artist for each of those?

Steven DiMartino: 8:48

Sometimes ahead of, it may be like Metallica, when I'm working out these stuff, nine inch nails, disturbed slip knot, cause falling reverse. Sometimes you're throwing some m and m, it just depends on how you're feeling. But most of the time I listen most of my music either when driving in cart, my wife, we got, a lot of nine-ish nails and stuff like that. And then when I'm working out some more heavier stuff, 'cause you're working out,

Kyle David: 9:14

And what about the post event? You're done covering everything, it's starting to dial down. What's your go-to song or artist for that?

Steven DiMartino: 9:23

Normally when I'm dial, when I'm dialing down, I really, I move away from music and start putting on sci-fi shows like Star Trek, to be honest with you, I don't really listen to, maybe if. If I need to really calm down, I'd probably go more classical, like, box stuff like that. Just more instrumental just to chill out.

Kyle David: 9:41

That's a good pick. And before we get into our conversation about your weather story, I have to ask, what is your favorite Star Trek series,

Steven DiMartino: 9:48

man? Well, I grew up watching Next Generation, right? So I always, that's always near and dear to me. I really, I can't get into Voyager as much. I try to, but it just doesn't. But I love Deep, deep Space Nine. I really enjoy that.

Kyle David: 10:03

and I'm a younging too, so the, these shows were well before my time, but my mother grew up on these shows and my first show was Next Generation. But I, I've fallen in love with Deep Space Nine.

Steven DiMartino: 10:13

Yeah, it's pretty cool. Yeah, it goes in a lot of different directions and you pretty much get everything it's a lot like the older Star Trek. In terms that you have action, you have some political stuff, you have a lot of different commentary and of course you got wars and starships and all that stuff. So it's a mix of everything.

Kyle David: 10:32

It's got a, I wanna say like its darker storytelling to it. Like, the original series Next Gen was very optimistic, deep Space Nine was, had this darker tone to it. I that I think I appreciated a little bit more. It was a little more, like, hey, this is not as optimistic as Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the show, painted.'cause you have the Dominion War, the Borg. Not to get too much into Trek.'cause this is why the podcast. But I love that Deep Space Nine is probably one of my favorite shows. But with that said, that's our first fun section, which kind of dived into some television shows a little bit. Let's get now into your weather story. So everybody I have on the podcast, I talk with them about the weather story and in the business we refer to the weather story as what's the day's weather, what's the week's weather, what's coming up with the weather? But here I talk about in the context of past experiences, things that have gotten you interested in the weather along the way. So with that said, Steven, tell me about your weather story and what got you interested in everything weather.

Steven DiMartino: 11:32

well I think like a lot of meteorologists, you just get born into it. I've been interested in the weather since I could remember. when I was a little kid, two, three years old, I was fascinated by the snow, how it changed, everything, turned everything white. I was really interested in that. And then as I got older. Once I went into elementary school, I was able to find books, I'd read all the weather books that were in the library. I just loved it, and I wanted to find out, I think from a young age, I always wanted to figure things out. And there is one topic that is very difficult to figure out. It is the weather, because, it is complete chaos, And I think that I got really interested in the challenge of forecasting because I would see other forecasts go bad. And I would wonder, gee, I wonder if I could do better. I wonder if I could figure it out. So, I probably was the only kid, on my neighborhood that while everyone else was excited to put on their favorite TV show, I'd put on the Weather Channel, So I was always interested in that whole field, and. I love watching guys like, John Hope talk about hurricanes every, 45 minutes after the hour. Jim Kori. the cool thing about Jim Kori is that, this was an individual who was Italian like me, but on the tv and, he looked, he had great suits on. he looked great, he was very intelligent. He explained everything. And it was almost like having a professor, every day, and learning all the different little cues, and especially when he pulled up the water vapor satellite pitcher. So I always loved that. and of course I started getting more and more into, I try to figure out the storms and I would tell my teachers, we're not gonna, we don't have to do homework tomorrow. We're gonna have a snow day tomorrow. So, in elementary school they would ask me, Hey, what do you think about the weather? Then in middle school I started, type writing, columns about the weather and doing my own forecasting. And then finally we got the high school and I started to do the weather forecast on the, loudspeaker every morning. And, that was a lot of fun. I did that from sophomore year through senior year and it was just an amazing experience, and, I got to do other announcements too, but that helped me break out my shell 'cause I'm more naturally very reserved and quiet to myself and I need to learn how to communicate to other people, especially if I'm gonna do a forecast. So that actually pushed me to break outta my shell. It was really a great experience and I really can't say enough about the amazing teachers at Rio Burro High School in Rio, New Jersey.'cause they helped me quite a bit in being able to harness that ability. So after that, I had a couple of colleges to pick from and I decided to go to Suny Ogo. And the reason why, aside from the fact that it had this amazing magical power called Lake Effect snow, which I was really excited about. I love the classes, and this is one thing I always tell a lot of younger kids looking for meteorology. Don't worry about the school names. School names don't matter. Okay? they really don't. Okay? it's a lot of nonsense. Go to the school where you're going to learn the best, how you like to learn things. Are you comfortable in a large class with, a thousand people and they're all trying to get an answer? And I didn't like the idea of me paying so much for college. And then the only person I'm gonna talk to is a person who just was, she was just four years ahead of me. So I wasn't up for that and some of those schools, they had that and I wasn't interested in that. Oswego allowed me to go talk to the professor directly and probably drive them insane with some of the questions I had, but that was really important to me because, if I'm gonna learn, I need to be able to talk to somebody who's going to push me to be better. and, there was a lot of great professors. Dr. Valentine, was very difficult with, synoptic meteorology. He'd make you stand up in front of the class and explain your forecasting, and he just tear it apart, right? But it taught you how to present your theory, how to present your idea of how to forecast and how to respond when someone has a different point of view. And I think that's something that is very lacking in our education today, because you have to be able to take in other ideas and test it to see whether or not, does this make sense? Should I have considered this? Should I incorporate it in the way that I go through my processes? Do I throw some things out? and that's how you grow as a scientist. you have to take in failure and understand it, and then grow from it. If all you do is shield yourself from that. So you feel good, but at the end of the day, you're just ignorant and that doesn't help anybody. and then another great professor that I ran into, which rubbed off me quite a bit, 'cause I did, I was not a fan of math, but this man, Dr. Scuba was, I've never seen someone so excited about doing calculus in my entire life. Not even the calculus. Teachers at college were excited about doing the math, but because of that, and I'm still nowhere near as enthusiastic about doing multi-variable calculus like he was, but. I learned how taking those equations and understanding them, you can find model error. And by finding model error you can be ahead of the game and not rely on models. It doesn't matter what model A or B is doing, what does the physics say? What is the actual environment of the atmosphere that you're working with? And by doing that, the only way to do that is by understanding the mathematical equation involved and sometimes doing the math yourself. So that is my educational background. I went off to Oklahoma for my first job. Now, before that, just so some of you guys know out there, I know that in our current state as of this recording, there's a lot of craziness going on with the federal government and young meteorologists out there. I started right after college working at Vitamin Shop, which for some of you guys that don't know, is like a little retail vitamin. Protein, drinks, all that type of stuff. Not exactly the glamorous job I was looking forward to when I got right outta college, but hey, bills are important, so you gotta pay 'em, right? So I did that for a bit and then I got a job going. I went out to Oklahoma, much to the horror of my mom, who, was very concerned about me going out to the central part of the country, but. It was an amazing experience. So I went out to Oklahoma, I got my first apartment and started forecasting for the Northeast. I had to go out to Oklahoma to forecast for New Jersey, which was ironic, but okay. And, it was a great job working for another private weather company that was later bought out by AccuWeather. It was called a Weather Bank. And it was a very interesting experience. It taught me a lot of things about not only forecasting, 'cause I got to forecast for California and Europe and, all over North America. And I gradually got to the point where I was a vice, a manager, head manager, vice president, whatever you wanna call it back then for all of the Northeast. And it was a great experience, but there came a point, and perhaps it was because of the lack of pizza, good pizza. Or just missing family where I just felt like I needed to get home and around this time, this would be when the economy was going to, heck, some of you guys may have heard of Enron creating all sorts of havoc, not only in the stock market, but also in the meteorological community. Why? Because Enron was really big in meteorological, I guess you could call it, stock market and insurance and futures, right? So when they went down, a whole bunch of forecasters went with it and it really hurt the industry. So I came home and I wasn't sure what I was gonna do. And this again, is a great learning moment for a lot of you guys out there that are dealing with, I just had this amazing government job and now it's pulled out of, out, away from me. Then the federal government wasn't hiring. If you got a job in federal government during this time, around 2006, 2007. You were way ahead of the game'cause it was very difficult to do. So I went and did some basic jobs. Worked at, let's see here. Macy's just sold suits, and tried to figure out what do I wanna do with my life? what do I wanna do with my career? And while that was happening, I started a blog called N-Y-N-J-P-A Weather. Now the funny thing about this name, which one of my friends calls one of the worst and best names out there ever in business. Worst, because it's hard to say sometimes. Best because it shows up on all of the Google algorithms. And that's why I wrote it. I'm like, well, let me, what do I wanna call this blog? Okay. and I just kept on typing out combinations. And then it's one combination that stood out, which is now the company name. And Google was like, yeah, we love this name. We're gonna share it on all of the top engines and it's gonna show up on top of all the links. And back then that was like the biggest thing, it wasn't really so much social media, Facebook was a shell of itself. Twitter had like four people and there was no Instagram really. You had, MySpace, which was great if you wanted to share music with your favorite music or cause drama with your top 10 friends. Awesome thing to use, but not so much good for sharing businesses and weather. But that was the environment. And of course you had YouTube, which was really just full of cat videos at that point. So I decided to start typing away at, to share a basic forecast. And a couple people saw it, and back then the big thing in the meteorological community were weather forms. Now weather forms is a hotbed for arguing and drama, somewhat meteorology. And I had, there were a couple I was, I visited, I tried to respond to, and that's how you start to get the word out. Now today, weather forums are fading off into the background, you could still find a couple of good ones every so often. I haven't been to one in a while, but that was the landscape back then. So again, just started typing out forecasts. I really wasn't thinking of it as a business, but more of I needed to psychologically be able to get to for that outlet. During that time, I went through some depression. Struggled with that quite a bit because I felt like my whole career was gone, that it was destroyed. And by starting out with the weather with just that weather blog, at least I felt like I was contributing. So by 2008, I was starting getting a really good following and I felt good about it. And it was suggested, hey, I pay for a more detailed forecast, maybe focused for my small business. A lot of these guys were landscapers, snow removal people, some people who were just interested in general weather. I'm like, okay, let's try it out. And so for the winter, 2007 and, into 2008, we, start, I started to organize a premium section and, the winter of 2008, 2009, it went live. And that was the first time where I started to get subscribers to my website. And it's been growing ever since. Steadily picking up schools, we started to add a business section specifically for more detailed business analysis, aside from just the general forecast and the technical forecast. And the technical forecast were technical, like it went into mesoscale banding and slant wise convection and going over the science. And then the public forecast was more like, it's gonna snow. Here's how much. So you had the, here's what's gonna happen, but then you got more of an education with the premium section. So that grew. And honest to God, there was no plan. None. I was just like, okay, sure. And while this was happening, I was working at a bank 'cause I wanted to learn about finance.'cause if I was going to do this, I was gonna have to learn about that type of stuff. So I started to work on. And learning the business by doing other jobs while building the website. So, like I said, I went to the bank to learn about business loans and I was a teller. But while I was doing that, I was peppering the loan guys about all the processes, what they look for, how do they determine what the good loan, what's a bad loan? What's your best prospects? And by doing that, this smart thing was that then I was able to prepare myself for my business and also get an education without having to go to college for it. Then I went to another store called PC Richard, and I had to learn how to do sales. Why? Because if I'm going to expand my business, I'm gonna have to do sales, right? So I learned how to talk to people for sales. I became the number one salesperson there in the store in Manalapan. In fact, some people would come in, they're like, Hey, you forecast for me. Can you get me a good deal on this refrigerator? So it was great, 'cause I started to learn like how to talk to people. And again, a lot of people pay for this. I just went and did it and had the company pay me for doing it, and I got better and better at it. So I took those life skills and I took those skills and I had continued to apply them to my business. And then, I had another company that I work for even to this day, that, helps me gain knowledge in environmental science and how to deal with green cleaning and green, just a lot of green technology. And I use that to help me grow my understanding of what's important when I'm forecasting for a building management right, or something of that nature. So all of the, what I'm trying to say is that if you're looking for your career to be linear and just like, well, I'm gonna do a, b, c, life does not work like that. It never does. The most influential people in the world are people who have done multiple billions of things that they weren't even known for, but it all came together to make them who they are. So you have to be able to fall down and get back up. That is essentially my story, falling down flat in my face, having nothing and building up something from nothing. And being able to take the lumps, learn, have a bad forecast, take it in, and just grow from it until now that we're at this point. Where I have a lot of different school districts, I have a growing business base, a growing membership, which always spikes in the winter. I always expect that if you're for, if do this in the northeast, expect the winter to have a lot of money. And the spring and summer, not so much probably in the plains would probably be different 'cause everyone's freaked out about tornadoes and all that stuff. So you gotta understand that weather in many places is a seasonal thing. So with that being the case, I'm growing even more now. As I earned this CDM, which was huge because. While this was all happening, we didn't have a certification to separate the individuals who were just posting 360 hour gfss and people who are actually putting out good work. So one of the people who I wanna make sure I get their name right, I'm probably gonna screw it up with this CDM, there was a lot of people that, that really came in and, really built the whole structure. There was, Vanessa Alonzo, who was our first president or board, let's see here. Here it is, Erica Gro. I wanna make sure I share her. Erica Gro, she recently worked for the government. She's amazing leader. And she came to me first about this idea and she's a big part of the American Meteorology Society. She does amazing work. She's an amazing person. And she came to a bunch of us who are out there in, in the social media field. I'm saying, Hey, would you be interested in helping us build a certified digital meteorology seal? And I was like, hell yeah, absolutely. It's something that we need. And so that was an amazing experience and I've been, I am been serving on the board and next year I will be the board chairman. So that's gonna be a lot of fun. Currently, Joe Marusi is doing, is the chairman right now. He's doing an amazing job. And, he's also doing a lot of amazing stuff with like drones and stuff, so he does an amazing job. You'll find that I tend to pump up everyone else around me. So, there's a lot of great meteorologists in our field, in the social media field that I just love to see do that, do amazing jobs, and I'm looking up one now. Andrew Freeman does an amazing job, although we don't always agree with some of the ways that he goes about, phrasing some of the things I have tremendous respect for him. Just so many meteorologists out there who are just doing an amazing thing. And for some reason, a lot of people think that I started all this. I just felt like it was an opportunity. Let's roll. So now I'm going for the CCM, and that's gonna allow me to go to other types of fields, including lawyers, major energy companies, start to build that up. And I'm writing a book. And the book, this is gonna be fun because one thing I noticed when I got outta college is no one taught me how to forecast. They gave me all the science behind it, and I get it. And it was amazing. But there was no education on operational forecasting. You had synoptic meteorology and you went through all that. But when I say operational forecasting, how do you craft a forecast for a client? How do you explain it to someone who doesn't understand it? You could explain it to your professor. You could spot all the terms, all that stuff, make yourself sound really smart. But if you do that to like the general public, they're gonna look at you like, what the hell are you talking about? So the book is gonna be focused on how to do that and how to take all the information, all the models are out there and how to consolidate it into an actual forecasting plan and not so much getting bogged down with all the different models are out there. A lot of people focus on European versus GFS. It's not one model versus the other. You have to take pieces of it and combine it and look at how the atmosphere is evolving. Sometimes the GFS does a really great job at 500 millibars, not so much at 700 millibars, but the European does a better job at 700 millibar. So you combine them and you work it out and you make your forecast. The model doesn't make your forecast. You do. That's not taught. A lot of people say, well, this model's doing this and this model's doing that. And then you get model paralysis and you can't do anything and that's how you get the, well, I don't, here's the worst case scenario, here's the best case scenario. I don't know what's gonna happen. As in forecasting, that's just confusion. Looking forward to writing that book and getting that done. we're, I would say we're about halfway done. I wanna work off some tweaks. I wanna make sure there's any other new research out there and make sure I include it and reference it and all that good stuff. And and then we're gonna be growing even more, and hopefully launching a, a new track for education where you could take classes, maybe like a forecasting certificate. We're looking to do that. so I'm really excited about that. And basically where I just teach the weather and something that's evergreens. A lot of things are on the way too. So it's really exciting.

Kyle David: 31:53

Congratulations to all the stuff that is in the future for you. The book, the being the chair of the board of Certified Digital Meteorologists, and there's a lot to unpack with what you just said, and we're gonna be unpacking all of that throughout our conversation. But I wanna, 'cause I've been taking notes as you've been talking, I want to go back to the beginning where you had mentioned you had watched Jim Cantore and then you'd said Jim Hope as well. what are some moments from them that stand out to you today and have influenced you in your forecasting your business and how the way you communicate the weather,

Steven DiMartino: 32:25

the excitement of explaining what's happening and then explaining it in such a way that you protect human life and you get people, there are some people who are just gonna be stupid. they're just not people that we're gonna have a party in front of a category five hurricane. There's nothing you can do about that, but. The ability just to share information and get it out there and explain it in such a way so that everyone understands it and take a technical matter and re and lower it down to a way that everyone can understand it. I think that's really important. And I was really just amazed with that. and John hope, he did an amazing job with tropical systems, and explaining the power of a hurricane and why, how it's evolving, how it's growing. And I would've loved to see him with today's technology, what he could have done, because back then the satellite pitchers were just woefully horrible. And the thing about it back then too is that you had a kind of behind the scenes look of how everything was forecasted. And again, this was back in the eighties and nineties where you didn't have even have a LL forget about it. You had no internet connection, right? So. You're looking at this stuff and you're like, wow, there's actual models and there's actual data. And you can see the, my, my whole exposure to the satellite picture was me waiting for the weather child to show it. So it was amazing. And then having people like that explain it, was just amazing, and, it was an experience that I just loved, another person who, did something AMA who was amazing as well, I love watching, that's actually on my website now, is Tom Moore, who did an amazing job telling, and he brings a more of a historical reference to meteorology. And now I get to have him every Friday at 9:00 AM he shares a post about historical weather events. So I felt like it was an honor to have him and he asked like, Hey, do you mind if I post something on your website? I think it would be a great outlet. I'm like, absolutely. Are you kidding me? So, we make sure that we have, that we share that every Friday morning. Just an amazing, just amazing meteorologist and it was great to see like that behind the scenes. I

Kyle David: 34:40

wanna talk a little bit more about that in a second, but, you had mentioned earlier MySpace and the Top 10 Friends feature, and I wanna take a moment and ask you, it'd be challenging, but I wanna ask you, if you had to make a MySpace top 10 meteorologists or influential weather figures, who's gonna be in your MySpace top 10 weather people?

Steven DiMartino: 35:01

Man, that's difficult. Oh, man, I don't know. I'd probably have like a lot of one A's, BS. C's. Because it's hard to have like a top, like the top, top right. Probably Paul Cosen, Dr. Paul Cosen who wrote, Northeast Winter Storms. Yu who was Core third on there. I got a good one for you that probably you guys probably might have to research. Lloyd Lindsey Young from when I was a kid, he was on chow nine WOR and he not so much like, oh yeah, he was an amazing, he brought the, like a real flare to forecasting and I'll never forget if you guys ever have a chance, Google or look on YouTube for Avoid Lindsey Young. He does this whole thing, like, hello, and it, he just names off people's like names and cities. And it was just, it was great because what was cool is that it taught me like, Hey, you have fun with this. So he was a very interesting guy. Of course, talk about Jim Kori, Tom Moore. They were amazing as well. I'd put them up there. Let me see, I'm gonna get in trouble with some, I'm gonna try and name some of the current guys out there I, that I have a lot of respect for. Let's see here. I wanna make sure I get everyone's name too. Let's see. So there's, of course, Joe Marusi. very great guy. Let's see here. Mike Rizzo, I think is an up and coming. I'm really impressed with what he does. He's out, in New Jersey as well.

Kyle David: 36:32

I love his mood cast. I don't mean to interrupt, but I love his mood cast and him using emojis to convey the weather forecast. I think that's really unique.

Steven DiMartino: 36:39

I think it is unique and it's important to have. I don't think I could pull that off'cause that's not my vibe, but I like his vibe and I like Joe's vibe. And let's see here. I got a couple others. I wanna pull off some people from that, that I checked out on TikTok because I think that this is really cool that some of the people I found here. Let's see here. Yeah, here we go. Andrew, mark. Mark, mark. O Markowitz.

Kyle David: 37:06

Markowitz. Yeah. We actually had him on recently

Steven DiMartino: 37:09

too. Yeah. I'm really impressed with his work he's doing. He's doing a great job. I like what he's doing on, TikTok and I know that a lot of 'em are worried about this whole TikTok thing, but I said to him before, I'll say it again. They come and go, like, you cannot base your identity on a social media platform because they'll come and go. I've seen 'em all come and go. Okay. As much as TikTok will go, something else will replace it. It's not the platform, it's you. So if you go somewhere else, they will follow. Right. The following I have on X, well, guess what? It came from weather forms originally. It came from YouTube. It came from so. Don't worry. AB let the platforms be the platforms. They're a bunch of crazy multi-billionaires running around like the lunatic shooting themselves off into space. Don't worry about that. Just be you. If you're you and you're authentic, whether you're doing TikTok or whatnot, it will follow you, right? The top people that I just named off, they didn't become the top meteorologist, in my opinion, because of the platform they were on, but because of who they are, right? So I am really excited about our future. I really am. Even with this whole government thing, I think this is, in a way, this is the best thing that could have happened to a lot of these people, because it's gonna force you to look at doing forecasting a different way. And a lot of that is a private sector, and there's some freedom to that, Sometimes growing pains are hard, but at the same time, trust me, I've been through 'em. It makes you much better. It really does. And I'm really excited about what the future holds for these people. I really am.

Kyle David: 38:51

Deb, talk a little bit about your point on growing pains. disruption can bring a lot of change. I'm younging, but I took a class on how different technologies have disrupted communications and like TikTok, Twitter now X, whatever you wanna call it. There are so many platforms that have emerged. Vine, I'll mention that one too 'cause that has shaped what TikTok is now and Instagram shorts and whatnot. But as you said, growing pain disruption can bring a whole bunch of new things. And on that note, what's one thing that you've seen so far that has disrupted the weather communications, the weather forecasting business that has grown the enterprise and moved in a direction that positively impacts the weather world and also society as well.

Steven DiMartino: 39:34

I mean, we can go all the way back to tv, radio, and then the printing press. Every single one of them has altered the way that we have communication, right? On one hand, the great thing is that you can get a lot of information out. On the other hand, you also interact with some of these people who maybe don't get science all that much as one person said, Hey, how come you're controlling the weather? And I explained to 'em, if I can control the weather, I would've had sunny skies and beautiful conditions for my wedding. Okay? And the mets would never have a rain delay, and the Yankees would constantly get hailstorms, and that would be it. Okay? Now I don't control the weather as much as I would like to sometimes, but it's interesting. It's also a great opportunity because of X. I've got to meet amazing meteorologist and we get to share ideas. Dr. Judah Cohen. I would've never been able to interact with someone who is so intelligent, so amazing, dealing with the polar vortex and all that stuff. If it wasn't for social media, if it wasn't for X, okay. To be quite frank, Dr. Steven Shepherd, right? He's an amazing meteorologist out of Georgia. we significantly disagree with each other on many things. Aside from Kit Kats, we agree on that. But interacting with him, don't be afraid to interact with people who you disagree with. That's the most important thing. That's how you become better. You have to test yourself every day. That's how meteorology gets better by running into someone that says, well, I don't think I don't believe in global warming. Great, let's debate it. Let's look it out. Let's look at everything. And you know why? You wanna know why it's important? Because there's a rare nugget sometimes, but they make a point, a very rare nugget, and that can make you better. While you're educating everyone else, and when you're talking to everyone else, nine outta 10, you might be like, I don't believe you. I'm gonna go to my forum and go to the Crazy Uncle Association. But that one person that makes a difference. And that's key. Education in our field is key. We are the most known scientist that most people will ever know. And you have to take that responsibility very carefully. you have to take it very seriously because yes, there's gonna be some people who just dismiss you, get upset with you because you're interrupted their baseball game, or basketball game or whatever. You're gonna have those people. That's life. But for the person who is generally confused about something, you're their light, you're their guiding light. And part of that process is not about being right all the time. But admitting when you're wrong. That is what's key in all this. I consider it a huge opportunity when a forecast goes wrong because then you could take a step back publicly, say, okay, this forecast didn't work. This is why it didn't work. This is what we learned from it. Why is that important? Because you're sharing the scientific process, you're sharing that, yeah, sometimes we're wrong. This is how we get better. And by sharing that, you bring everyone along with you in the learning process. And by doing that, you enhance your authority and your trust. So by enhancing your authority and trust, then you can start to talk about other topics like climate change. So you can explain to people, okay, yes, I agree with you. The world is not gonna turn into Venus. I a hundred percent agree with you on that. But this is some of the other things that we are doing and here are some of the changes and here's how we could track them. And then here's what we have gotten right. And yes, here are some things we've gotten wrong. And you, by taking that process, starting off with your own forecast and then looking at other topics like environmental science and saying, yeah, this is where they went wrong and this is how we're improving. It's the same process that builds trust, which is something in our field and many other fields, unfortunately, has taken a big hit for a variety of reasons. And it's not just on one political side, it's both. So we have to be the ones who, we have the opportunity with social media to be that guiding light to say, it's okay. We are gonna be wrong. And that's okay. Now by, by being wrong, we can educate ourselves and educate everyone else and grow and become better. And I think it's an amazing opportunity.

Kyle David: 44:25

There's probably a lot of moments for you that you remember that were very memorable and sharing, whether the forecast be wrong or go back to your earlier point debating with a fellow meteorology professionals and weather professionals about different topics. But can you share one specific moment where it was the most rewarding for you and how that has shaped your practice today?

Steven DiMartino: 44:47

There are so many. I would say having a really deep conversation about climate change with Dr. Shepherd.'cause I got to see the other point of view. And it was very educational. Again, we disagree on some aspects, but we all agree that, it's simple physics, if you add something into the atmosphere, you're gonna have a response. So that was a lot of fun. That was great. and I really enjoyed it. I even bought his book that he wrote. I thought it was a great book. But I loved that. I loved interacting with Juda Cohen because I wanted to learn more about the stratosphere and, having those bouncing questions off of him and understanding his process and understanding when he had some issues with some of the forecasting he was putting out and how things changed and what he might have missed and didn't miss was really important factor for me as well. I love that. And honestly, interacting with the general public, there's a lot of my followers who are weather enthusiasts and having conversations with them was probably even the most rewarding part. And here's why, because it gave me an idea of what they're seeing. And how they're taking in information and how I'm under, I'm possibly explaining something that is up here because of what I'm used to talking about, and they're down here, not in a negative way. I'm not trying to speak like, that they can't understand it, it's just like talking, going in for your car, right? Your mechanic is talking about stuff up here in his level and you're way down here saying, well, I just wanted to figure out how to turn on the radio, right? I don't know how to build a car. I don't know anything about that stuff. All I know is I turn it on, it goes right. So when I, as I got more and more used to interacting with the general public, it made me a better forecaster in terms of me being able to explain what is going on and also giving them credit that, yeah, they may not know the technical terms, but they're smart. They'll figure it out. If you explain it, I think that's something that a lot of our, a lot of people in our field, especially when they talk about climate science, do a really poor job of, is that they always go to the worst case scenario. Think that will catch their attention. The only thing you're doing is saying the worst case scenario, then it doesn't happen. And then you blow all trusts, which is something you don't want. Okay. And I think that our field really needs to learn that because they failed epically over the past 10 years on that. And we need to be better at that. Stop treating the general public and people who you may disagree with, like they're idiots. They're not idiots, they just have a different point of view. So now you have to talk to them and educate them on what you know, and be humble and take in what they know and what they're experiencing, what they're seeing. If you don't do that, you go nowhere and no one gets any education whatsoever and no one grows as a result.

Kyle David: 47:56

I think that's a very enlightened view and one that can not only apply to the weather world, but also just general life. I mean, not to get too into it, but I feel like a lot of people can use a little bit of that and see others' perspectives, not just in the weather world, but in general life

Steven DiMartino: 48:11

in many things. Yes, it's something that I apply to all facets of my life that I know what I feel. I know what I believe, but just because that's what I feel and what I believe, someone else might have another experience, and that's not anything good or bad, you, it is just something that you have to take in, in, into your life and some people you go and disagree with, and that's okay. That's what makes the world beautiful. It's okay to disagree with somebody, for God's sakes. If everyone agreed about everything, that's the making of a sci-fi horror movie. And no one wants that. Yeah, I'm not interested in being a pod person. Thank you very much.

Kyle David: 48:49

I'm sure there's a Star Trek episode. I'm trying to think. but there's probably a Star Trek episode that explores that a little bit more. Or, to go off a little bit, the Orville, which is a parody in a way, or a, an homage to Star Trek. But that's, I'll give you even more of a,

Steven DiMartino: 49:03

I'll give you even more classic one, black and white invasion of the body snatchers. Everyone's gotta agree. It's the same thing. Not good,

Kyle David: 49:13

good movies there. And we've still got a lot more to talk with you about your experience with the digital world, your business. We're gonna take a quick break right here, but don't go anywhere. We still got more Everything. Weather Podcast with Stephen d Martino coming up in just a second. On this special five part edition of On This Day in Weather History, we revisit Hurricane Katrina, one of the most devastating hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin. On August 19th, 2005, a tropical wave merged with the remnants of tropical depression, 10 near the Leicester Ates. Over the next few days, the combined disturbance became more organized organizing into tropical depression. 12 on August 23rd over the southeastern Bahamas. By the next morning, the tropical depression strengthened the tropical storm Katrina over The Bahamas. Katrina began to turn west towards Florida and quickly strengthen into a hurricane two hours before making landfall north of Miami on August 25th, while weaker than historic hurricanes that hit Florida, Katrina still brought flooding, rains and heavy winds. That downed trees and power lines across the southern half of the state. A tornado that tracked through marathon on August 26th caused damage up to $5 million, including at the local airport. In total, the Katrina caused more than$600 million in damages across Florida. Claimed the lives of 14 people. Katrina emerged into the Gulf of Mexico on August 26th, moving over unseasonably warm water. It quickly intensified as it slowly turned northward towards the Gulf Coast. Later that day, the National Hurricane Center shifted Katrina's forecast track from the Florida panhandle, west Mississippi, Alabama coast, placing New Orleans in center of its forecast attack. Louisiana was no stranger to visits from hurricane with 57. Hurricane impacted the to 2020, an average of one hurricane every three years earlier in the hurricane season. Hurricane Cindy. Had claimed the lives of six people and caused $320 million in damages due to heavy rain, coastal flooding, strong wind gusts, and some tornadoes across the southeast. Cindy also caused the most extensive power outage in New Orleans since Hurricane Betsy in 1965. But as forecasters and residents soon learned, Katrina would be unlike any hurricane they had ever experienced before. In the next part of this special on this Dayed weather history will continue to track Katrina as it made its way north towards Louisiana and the preparations that were made by the area ahead of its fateful landfall on the Gulf Coast. Hello and welcome back to the Everything Weather Podcast. I'm your host, Kyle David, and today we've been talking with Steven DeMartino. He's a certified digital meteorologist and a prominent figure in the private meteorology industry, and he is started up his own business called N-Y-N-J-P-A Weather where he focuses on bringing personalized weather forecasts for individuals, businesses, government entities for the New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania states. We're gonna get back into that conversation, but first I've got another fun game for you, Steven. We've got weather brackets, I gotta think of a better name, than weather brackets. Maybe a pun on words, but weather brackets is the name for it right now. So we've got eight cities and their weather, what they normally see in terms of the weather and your job is to, in playoff style, determine who goes on to the next round and eventually wins this weather bracket of Best City weather. So with that said, are you ready Steven?

Steven DiMartino: 53:21

I'm ready. Let's do this.

Kyle David: 53:22

Alright, so in our first matchup we have the Titan Number one seed, New York City against the Underdog eight Seed Kansas City. Who is going to win this matchup?

Steven DiMartino: 53:35

This is gonna be one of those games that's unfortunately a blowout early, but Kansas City will start off pretty strong because of their severe weather and their funky winter weather evolution where you can get everything from snow to ice over the rain, back over to snow. Now, New York City though, well that's where you can get your 30 to 40 inch blizzards out of nowhere and all sorts of meteorological mayhem based on the coastal front, whether it's in the winter or in the spring. So New York is gonna win this one handedly, they, Kansas City is gonna put up a bit of a fight.

Kyle David: 54:12

So New York City, of course, we'll triumph over Kansas City, but as you said, it was a good fight. Next up on the bracket, we have the number two seed Philly. Shout out to the Philadelphia Eagles for the recent Super Bowl win against the seventh seed Dallas. I'm not sure what is there for Dallas, but let's see how this matchup goes.

Steven DiMartino: 54:33

Well, Dallas cuts starts off ahead at first because of their severe weather and their very impressive tornado potential, especially if you're just north and west of the city. But they're running into Philadelphia, which despite their insane baseball mascot, who should be banned from the universe has amazing. Combination of tornadoes in the spring and summer because of the urban heon effect. You have the winter storms, obviously the ice potential to the northwest of you, especially in the Lehigh Valley. So Philadelphia pulls it out, but only barely because Dallas could have some pretty funky weather. And as one experience I had, when it does snow in Dallas, you're stuck at the airport because they believe when God gives us snow, well God will take it away. So we'll just have to wait for it to melt.

Kyle David: 55:28

and to go back to mascots, you also have, gritty as well, who's quite, quite the character? I've forgot the Phillies mascot, the green dude. Was it the fan? Is it the fanatic or

Steven DiMartino: 55:37

fanatic? Yeah,

Kyle David: 55:38

it's the fanatic. Okay.

Steven DiMartino: 55:40

Evil creature stole my popcorn.

Kyle David: 55:43

Wait, is that true? The mascot? You game stole the ma

Steven DiMartino: 55:46

I was arrogant. He stole my popcorn.

Kyle David: 55:50

That'll make a fun revenge. Maybe one of these days you'll get the Mets beating the Phillies in a key playoff game. But unfortunately, well, depending on your perspective, Philly goes on to the Final four and this matchup against city weather. Next up, we have the three seed, Syracuse known for its beautiful lake effect snow from time to time, and the sixth seed Miami for its very humid weather. What's this matchup gonna look like?

Steven DiMartino: 56:18

Miami starts to pull out ahead first because, well, if you wanna get away from winter weather, you're going to go to Miami. Only problem is that by April you dive from the humidity and you can't breathe and you're constantly sweating. So this is where Syracuse pulls ahead because there springs and summers are absolutely beautiful and every so often you get a pretty cool thunderstorm display coming right off of Lake Ontario. So Syracuse pulls ahead in the last quarter, but only barely,

Kyle David: 56:46

and we've got another case of a very close game or matchup. So Syracuse moves on though to the final four and our next and final matchup before we get to the final four is four seed Oklahoma City against five seed Boston. This is a very interesting matchup here.

Steven DiMartino: 57:01

There are two very dynamic and different entities, where you have a lot interesting weather. Oklahoma, of course, is known for their severe weather. Boston, well see Boston, you would think that the summer would be nice, but you get an onshore flow from the Gulf of Maine and it messes up your whole day and you're cloudy in 50, then it becomes 70 again and you go to a baseball game and then they lose to the Yankees and everyone gets upset and everyone gets drunk and then it rains. So Boston is very much a very weird city while the other one, not so bad. So I'm gonna go with Boston losing.

Kyle David: 57:42

Would that be also due to, as a Mets fan, your dislike for any Boston teams? Or is it just purely based off of leather here?

Steven DiMartino: 57:51

Not, I don't see, I don't dislike any Boston teams. I kind of pity them in a way, so I can't really say it's dislike, Now I appreciate the 86 World Series, even though I was too young. But the Yankees, Yankee fans seemed to have a bigger problem with Boston. I don't know, because they stole their best player and then they, for a horrible play, by the way. And then they constantly beat the heck out of 'em. So, I don't even know why Yankee fans hate Boston Red Sox. They constantly slap'em all over the place. So, yeah.

Kyle David: 58:25

It sounds more like to draw a connection to the college football world, the quote unquote rivalry between Rutgers and Penn State. Penn State. People will be like, you know what? What's with this rivalry yet Rutgers people will be like, yeah, we don't like Penn State. I don't get as a Rutgers person. But anyways, no upsets with the weather brackets here. So we've got the four seed, Oklahoma City, moving on to the Final Four matchup, and that brings us to our Final four matchup. We've got on the first half, the one seed, New York City against the second Seed Philadelphia. So we've got the Battle of the I 95

Steven DiMartino: 58:59

That's a tough one, but we're gonna have to definitely go for New York City for several reasons. First of all. They have far more impressive winter storms. Okay. Second, they get really cool severe weather coming off of northwest New Jersey, and also more of an impact from the sea breeze front and backdoor cold fronts. But most importantly, they don't have an evil mascot that destroys children's popcorn while they're watching baseball games. So as a result, Philadelphia has to be eliminated. sorry. Philly

Kyle David: 59:31

and New York City goes on to the final matchup against the winner of this second half, final four, the three seat Syracuse against the four seat Oklahoma City. Who's taking the second half?

Steven DiMartino: 59:44

I'm gonna say Oklahoma City on this one, mostly because the dynamic weather you can get spring, summer, winter, and fall, cannot be beat compared to Syracuse. Syracuse is can be amazing, but they really focus more on the winter, of course, lake effects snow, which can be hit and miss, sometimes it remains just a north of you, sometimes just a south of you, and then other times it just never ends. Whereas Oklahoma, you always blink and you'll get a different type of weather. So it's always a challenge. So I would go with Oklahoma City.

Kyle David: 1:00:17

Wow. And the final four matchup, we have an upset. So number four, seed moves on to our weather bracket championship here for best weather for any of these cities. So that leaves the number one matchup New York City, the Titan of this weather bracket against the number four seed, the seemingly underdog Oklahoma City. So Steven, who takes home the championship for this weather bracket,

Steven DiMartino: 1:00:42

New York City, takes us on without even a fight. And a simple reason is this, when it's July, it's a hundred degrees as a cool day in Oklahoma City and your tires can melt. I have personal experience of this in my twenties working out in Oklahoma City where someone told me, Hey, it's gonna be cool today. It's only gonna be 101. I don't think so. So as a result, Oklahoma City gets blown out because New York City has this amazing thing called the Atlantic Ocean, where at the very least, when it's 95 degrees out, you can go to the beach, get a nice sea breeze and cool off a bit without having to die, or your car literally melting.

Kyle David: 1:01:25

Oh, blowout. That's a very interesting way to describe this matchup. But the winner, as you said, is New York City. I feel like I'm not surprised by this, 'cause I feel like New York wins a lot of different things, but that's non weather related things. Of course.

Steven DiMartino: 1:01:42

But I mean, really if you think about it, New York City is one of the few cities in the world that gets impacted by at least seven different air masses and several different types of storms. Everything from hurricanes, tornadoes to winter storms, lake effects, snow, ocean effects, snow, backdoor, cold fronts. You get everything.

Kyle David: 1:02:04

And the occasional, severe thunderstorm may be a tornado here and there, but that's,

Steven DiMartino: 1:02:09

that's rare. But it is happening more and more, especially along the corridor,

Kyle David: 1:02:14

especially in New Jersey. I feel like that's become its own little mini hotbed four tornado activity. and I'm sure you know this as well, forecasting for the area.

Steven DiMartino: 1:02:24

Yeah. Yep. I have some theories on that I'm applying to my forecasting that, is actually helping out quite a bit.

Kyle David: 1:02:30

Okay. and you know what, to get back into the conversation, I'm curious to learn about some of your theories on severe weather in New Jersey, the New York pa, tri-state area, and tornado activity. So with that said, let's get back into the conversation with that. what are some theories that you have with that?

Steven DiMartino: 1:02:48

Well, I don't think you can use the old rules in terms of expectation for severe weather around the northern Mid-Atlantic and especially around the Delaware River Valley. I have corridor, same type of region, and the reason why is because of how we built up around the region. We've gone from farms just living here since I grew. I moved here as a kid in the mid 1980s, and when we did move here. Our biggest concern was the fact that a bull got out and it was running around the neighborhood, okay? It was corn everywhere. There were farms everywhere. Now there are malls everywhere. There are roads everywhere. There are houses everywhere. Why is this important? Well, this increases urban heaton effect. So you're enhancing the heat at the boundary layer on the I five corridor with a natural dip in Monmouth County. So you kinda get this pool of cool air and then this warmer air next to it, and you enhance low level vertical rotation. And so what we're seeing here is thunderstorms that normally are coming in that can be strong, even severe, but now you're interacting with a different microscale, mesoscale boundaries. Those boundaries typically are just to north and west of the city. It's not within the actual heat island, it's on the edge. So you're enhancing frontage genesis, that's a scale frontage genesis, and you're enhancing rising air. And so that rising column is leading to the potential for thunderstorms that can enhance that turning motion in the atmosphere and produce to nails. Now, for the most part, you're talking about F zeros, F ones, but you're seeing a noted increase because of those factors. And I think we wanna see that more and more as we continue to grow. Like I said, and just in freehold alone, if you ever, if you lived in Freehold, New Jersey for a long time, it went from everything is fields and corn to now everything is houses and malls and concrete and asphalt with, parking lots, it's gonna have an influence.

Kyle David: 1:05:01

So you get a little more of the urban heat island effect, as you said, for some areas in New Jersey.

Steven DiMartino: 1:05:06

Right. And that temperature gradient leads to these mesoscale and microscale boundaries, which leads to enhancement and weakening of thunderstorms.

Kyle David: 1:05:14

Interesting. I wonder if that would extend possibly the severe weather season a little bit because you also have the Atlantic, and that, can be very warm, towards the end of, local summer. as you're getting into September, October and the land gets cold or it's warmer, maybe there's some differences there that will either shorten it or weaken or lengthen, excuse me, severe weather here. What do you think about that?

Steven DiMartino: 1:05:37

Well, it depends on the region. I think if you're on the immediate coast and basically to the southeast of I 95, really the ocean effect just deadens everything pretty quickly. But if you're right on the I 95 corridor, we've seen impressive thunderstorms as early as February and as late as November. And then also it's gonna be interesting to see what that impact's gonna be when it comes to major winter storms. And we start to study mesoscale banding within these winter storms because this is how you get your heaviest snowfall through convective banding and how those urban heon effect boundaries that aren't just in your traditional city. But now along these major, highways, we'll start to influence the evolution of our precipitation shield and convective, slant wise convection within those winter storms.

Kyle David: 1:06:31

That's interesting. Okay. And we're gonna touch a little bit upon like, what you see as trends for, changing weather for the New Jersey, New York PA area. But, as somebody who's had a lot of forecasting experience dating back to the middle school and the high school era, I'm curious what has been your most exciting weather event to forecast for? And then what was your most frustrating weather forecast or weather event that you've had to forecast for?

Steven DiMartino: 1:06:56

let's see here. I would say exciting, terrifying, and rewarding Hurricane Sandy because it, I got so many letters of people thanking me for getting them out of the way, which I think is far more rewarding than any amount of money. Most frustrating, every time a winter storm's approaching. Because there's always some idiot posting a GFS or NAM model snow map and not knowing what in the hell they're talking about and showing 30 inches of snow and then getting all these phone calls and whatnot from clients getting terrified. And of course then there's our weather apps that actually don't have any type of meteorologist working on 'em that just spits out whatever the Mogan says. So one hour produces 35 inches, next hour produces two inches, and then 30 inches and 40, it's all over the place. So that's when it gets frustrating because you get tired of saying, this is my forecast. I don't know what everyone else is doing, but this is mine. And probably the most frustrating question is, well, why is X, y, and Z doing this? And I always say, I don't work for them, whether that's the government or another company. I just do what I do. And I don't feel comfortable in critiquing other people's forecast because maybe they have a good idea, I don't know, but I'm not there to see or ask questions about their process. So it's not fair for me or them for me to critique that. So this is what I'm thinking. Go with it if you want.

Kyle David: 1:08:30

I feel like this would be a great moment to segue to the Certified Digital Meteorologist Seal and how you stand out as a leading figure for weather information. Before I ask this question, I'll give a little, context for those who don't know what I'm talking about. The American Meteorologist Goal Society, basically the largest weather collection of weather people in the country in the United States has a seal that, meteorologists can get called the Certified Digital Meteorologist Seal. It's a brand new seal that came out a couple years ago and helps people identify who is trustworthy in the weather world and who knows their stuff. And you are one of the first people who have gotten that certified digital meteorologist seal. So as somebody who has gone through the process, can you talk about it a little more and how that helps people when they're looking for weather information during say, a Hurricane Sandy or a winter weather event, distinguish you from other weather information that is out there is credible and trustworthy.

Steven DiMartino: 1:09:27

Right. Well first of all, in order to earn the deal, you have to take a test. it's about 90 minutes long. It is a multiple choice and it can be very difficult. So first you test your meteorological knowledge. You have to have a degree or something that's so equivalent to that, let's say military service. and then you have to provide examples of the work you do. individuals that, let's say share 300 GFS models, snow maps would not be able to get this type of certification because in the process of looking over your work and what you're providing, that would probably get red flagged, right? So it's individuals that are very careful in describing what's going on. They are responsible with what they're sharing, and they're responsive and, they have a good rapport with the general public. So when you provide your, all your information, you get basically rated, graded, and then if you pass, then you get your seal. And what that SEAL stands for is that this is a person that we're not saying that they're always gonna be right,'cause no one could say that's not the point of the seal, but that they can be trusted and that they're responsible with the information that they're giving. it's meant to highlight people that are providing information that, that the general public can trust, not someone who's just looking for the most hits and the most following and all that stuff.

Kyle David: 1:10:52

And on that note, to talk a little bit about, weather information that is out there, those model hour, 300, 400 outputs, those screenshots that you see of snowfall for, let's say the I 95 corridor. I've talked about it with Matt Lanza, who's talked about it with the Houston area and tropical forecasting I've talked about with Andrew Markowitz and the TikTok space. You. On the other hand, you have private meteorology experience. You forecast for a wide array of clients, which we're gonna talk about a little bit more. And you also forecast for the public as well. You're out there doing live streams, doing public forecasts, and you also have paid forecast as well if people want more in-depth forecast information for New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. So I'm curious on your perspective, how do you combat, or how do you encounter misinformation, disinformation? How do you work to combat that?

Steven DiMartino: 1:11:42

Well, part of it is just being honest and just saying, this is what I'm seeing. This is why I'm not putting out a snow map. Because there's too much volatility and there's too much uncertainty. The one thing that I think has been the worst thing in our industry is this snow map. the model snow map. Let me be very specific, that a lot of private weather companies put out, like for their model data, right? The model snow map is a crut. It is a sign of weakness and I refuse to use it. I never use it. And the reason why is because it is seriously flawed. It is based on the idea of QPF times the temperature 850 millibars, which usually they consider whether it's above freezing or below freezing, and then multiply that by 10. It is not even close to the real atmospheric environment because the atmospheric environment is such that sometimes you might be minus six degrees Celsius at eight 50. Sometimes you'll at zero degrees Celsius. Sometimes your boundary layer is actually warmer because of different factors. So you get people who want to get a lot of traffic and whatnot, sharing these maps, and it creates a lot of confusion. So the best thing you could do is share your information. Explain, especially for your consulting, your premium members, what you think is actually gonna happen, and also what you're not sure about. Explain what the volatility is, what's the chaotic factor and how best to prepare for it. By doing that is how you actually educate the public. Say, okay, this is what I think it's gonna happen, and here's why. If you ever watch me doing a video, especially what I call a premium public video, where I go into a little bit more of the details behind the, model guidance, I explain not only when and how the storm's gonna impact you, but why, and what are the variables and how to prepare for them where it's the most likely areas for the heaviest snowfall Now. There's gonna be some people that they won't listen, that they'll go with the worst case scenario, and then after that worst case scenario, bus and doesn't happen, and you keep on telling them it's not gonna happen, they'll still blame you for it not happening. There's nothing you could do about those people. And sometimes you just got shrugged and say, okay, whatever. But most people will appreciate the hard work you put in and your ability to explain what is happening with a storm and what is the best and worst case scenarios within that storm.

Kyle David: 1:14:36

And for those that tune into your, either your live streams that you have on social media or your premium chats that you have, I'll take this moment to say they may see some pop culture things in the background of where you're doing your live stream. And I'm gonna take this moment to pose an interesting question for you, and it'll tie back to the weather and how you forecast using different pop culture things that you're familiar with, like Godzilla or Star Trek or whatever. Can you talk about how you forecast for winter weather rather than using just those snowfall maps?

Steven DiMartino: 1:15:09

Well. What I love to do is get back to the science, to, to pure science and I break down the various levels in the atmosphere and I like to look at 850 millibars and nine to 25 millibars and look at those temperature regimes. look at the skew T to see where the best snow growth is, and then combine that with the QPF map, which is just a precipitation map, which is fine, right? Then you compare that to the lifting parameters. One of the things that I always say to myself when I'm forecasting is that, does the model make sense? Does it make physical sense? Does it make sense that there's two upper level lows within 10 miles of each other? Probably not. Does it make sense that there is this bullseye of strong lifting? No, that's probably convective feedback error. So. My process is not just creating the forecast, but also looking for the pitfalls. What are some of the mile errors that I am not seeing and how can I adjust according to that? And sometimes I'm very successful. I compare myself to a baseball player. Sometimes I'm batting 500 and I'm doing amazing and I'm ready to go to the Hall of Fame. And then there's other weeks, months even where I'm batting 200 and I'm just outta sync and there's something missing in my process. I have to step back and get better. And the cool thing about being older, now I'm 45, is that. When I was younger, it took me longer to break out of that slump. And now it's more like a day where I get a slump, I get a day forecast wrong rather than a week's forecast wrong because I understand my process better. And to be fair, some of my ego is out of it too. And when you're in your twenties, you always wanna be right, you always wanna be the best. And then meteorology, much like baseball is incredibly humbling. And you'll learn you'll never be the best, you'll never be right all the time. And so you have to learn how to explain a forecast properly and expect that sometimes you're gonna be wrong about a couple of details and improve your forecast based on that. So that's my process.

Kyle David: 1:17:27

I love how instead of connecting pop culture, you connected baseball to your forecasting and your batting average and your forecast average. I like that.

Steven DiMartino: 1:17:36

Yeah, I mean, it's part of pop culture too, baseball and whatnot, Los Angeles Dodgers cheating and always using gambling, stuff like that. I mean, I do find, I will say this, but if I may add about baseball, I find it ironic that baseball keeps out Pete Rose for gambling and then has gambling literally on their games with a base, with their best baseball player, supposedly, I don't think so, but the false MVP, which should have been gone to someone in New York named, someone else, a shortstop, but. Who is connected to gambling, which I find very interesting. So it's trusting AI is your constant forecasting and then you get surprised that AI fails. I don't know. Silly. A lot of silliness. Couple ways I wanna go with that.

Kyle David: 1:18:22

Side note though, not to go off the beaten path or the weather beaten path. what do you think about the torpedo bats that the Yankees are using? Is that, do you think that's cheating or just a

Steven DiMartino: 1:18:34

No, I mean, I think it's smart physics, to be honest with you. It makes sense. But see, as long as all the other teams can use it. But I will say one thing with the torpedo bats, think about the torque involved in that, right? So you're putting a lot of mass towards the center and end of the bat when you're suing it. And so you have a displacement in your mass, you're gonna tweak your elbow and your bicep a lot more.'cause you're putting a lot more torque involved. You might get a lot more base hits potentially, and they might go farther, but you also might get injured faster, more frequently. So it'd be interesting to see how that plays out.

Kyle David: 1:19:14

Yeah, and I think they're smart for the design, a bat like that. And it doesn't break any rule. That's very engine Jesus words. I think that's very smart that they built that bat. but some people have hot takes on whether, they should be using it or not. Or like you said earlier with Pete Rose and his, statement with gambling whether or not that you should be hall of Fame or not. but to bring it back to the weather, is there a weather hot take that you have or hot takes that you have?

Steven DiMartino: 1:19:42

Let's see. Oh, I got so many. one of, one of, one of my, one of my themes I'm actually trademarking is, meteorology, not ology. I hate it when I see people posting like six, seven models saying, well, this is what the model say. I didn't give a damn what the model say. What's your forecast? You didn't graduate meteorology. You didn't get your meteorological degree to compare models you did it to understand the atmosphere. So I think the models have been too much of a crutch. I think there's too much model paralysis out there where everyone's looking. I mean, for God's sakes, they're pulling up the Korean model, the Brazilian model. I don't know what's next. Norwegian. I don't know the Russian. That one's a little drunk. I mean, it's crazy. It's absolutely crazy. What is your process? Why do you think something's happening? Not what model is the most? I just think that we are too hamstrung on models, and so naturally everyone's all ooh and awe about ai, which is nothing more than a statistical analysis, which is perfect when it comes to chaos. Yeah, I mean, 'cause what's going to be better than figuring out chaos and forget the physics. Let's just do statistics. Oh, that's real smart. Because the atmosphere is steady state, right? So I'm looking at this AI stuff and I'm like, bring it on. I'm gonna beat you bloody, because you can't adjust to changing dynamics, So yeah, you're, you have a model that's learning, but what is it really learning? Because you don't involve any of the physics, it's just all statistical analysis. Well, how do you do that in a, in an environment where you have a clean, changing climate that doesn't track, that doesn't make any sense. So I am looking forward to AI making a fool of itself, and I'm making money off of it. So how about that? How about that for a hot take? And the other thing too, weather apps, holy weather apps are a joke. Okay? Of course, sometimes you get what you pay for with some of this stuff, but. If I have one more person say, oh, well my weather app says I might throw 'em through a window. I mean, it's ridiculous. Weather apps are because all it is straight GFS, and we all know what straight GFS gives you. So those are some of my takes.

Kyle David: 1:22:01

And to go back to the AI weather, take I, I agree with you on that because for another reason too, the meteorologist has instinct. It has intuition. AI computers don't have that intuition, that experience, that seasoned experience forecasting weather. And you're very seasoned with forecasting and you have that seasoned experience that AI model does not have,

Steven DiMartino: 1:22:25

and it's just a model. Whatever data you put into it, that's all you get out of it. So you have to be able to recognize when you have bad data. Like, what does it do when it has 9, 9, 9 for a data input? And it's gonna, unfortunately with some of the cuts that we've been hearing about, that might happen more frequently than you like.

Kyle David: 1:22:45

Yeah. And to tie back to that, the cuts and stuff we've actually had you on for our, deep dive episode on the, what's going on with the NOAA National Weather Service Cuts, what's going on and why they're important, not just for us in the weather world, but for everybody, the listeners who are listening from the farmer to the everyday mom trying to navigate the chaos of the weather. It seems like that the impacts are just continuing to grow and grow. So this is a rare opportunity for a returning guest to talk about something a little bit more on, on that note, is there anything you'd like to add that has been changing, that you see going on with this that concerns you?

Steven DiMartino: 1:23:27

Well. Concerned but also hopeful. Just this past weekend before the weekend before this recording, there was a reduction in some of the websites and it was noted that, hey, some of this stuff we actually really need, especially when it impacts business, drought.gov, stuff like that. Someone was listening 'cause it got turned back on. Literally what, like four hours later it was turned back on, the websites came back. So I understand what they're trying to do with these cuts, not just with Noah, but all over government. I get it. But the positive is that someone, I don't know who someone's listening and saying, okay, we, maybe we need to scale back. Maybe we need to hire back some. I've heard that they've hired back some people saying, ah, maybe the staff, maybe we need to fix this. I feel better about the fact that somebody is responding. You might not get everything you want, but there's at least some response like, all right, we, maybe we've cut a little bit too much. Maybe we need to, maybe we need to adjust some of this stuff. I think that we've I guess you could say overreacted a bit when they were talking about shutting down a building. They're not shutting down the computers. They had to shut down. They might be looking to move out of a building, might be looking to consolidate buildings that doesn't impact forecasters. Okay. As much as someone wants to freak out about it. If you have an office where you have a couple computers and a lot of staff that barely comes to the office, then I understand it and you wanna consolidate that office into one thing. that's the world. that's not anything that's like specifically about government, that's just the world in general. So I take a more non-emotional approach to this and trying to say, okay, what is the environment that we're dealing with? What are the impacts? And then when there are impacts, what is the response? And the response has been, well, let's correct it. So we're starting to see that more and more. I think that we're moving in a positive, but I always say I can't blame 'em. If they wanna cut the GFS just burn it. I don't blame them, But maybe they'll fix that too. I don't know. Or just pay the Europeans and have them put that into their GFS.

Kyle David: 1:25:35

Now there's a weather hot take there.

Steven DiMartino: 1:25:36

There is a weather hot. Everyone knows my hate for the GFS. And let me tell you something. The GFS has a long history and it is something called the Murph. Now the Murph, it is the same genetics and the Murph is known for creating hurricanes every day, six, somewhere off the east coast, regardless of the time of year. So this is the genetics that this thing is carrying the MUR cane. Anyone who is. Gen X or younger knows about the Murphy Cane, which is basically a hurricane on the MRF, which was the precursor to the GFS every day six and seven. And the GFS simply pushed that back day 10 through 15 with ridiculous solutions, whether it be epic blizzards or hurricanes or what have you. So I just, for all the money we spend for, can't we just fix it? please.'cause it's embarrassing

Kyle David: 1:26:33

the MUR canine, I've not heard, I don't know much about the Murf, but I've never heard of the MUR canine.

Steven DiMartino: 1:26:39

Anyone who's in their fees are older will know exactly what I'm talking about.

Kyle David: 1:26:43

interesting. And for those listening that may not be a weather professional or very in tune with how weather forecasting is done, could you talk about why that occurs and why meteorologists don't look further past than day seven or 10 for models?

Steven DiMartino: 1:27:01

Well, there's a couple of reasons why. First, you have to look at models like like your tv, right? You have your latest and greatest, which is great resolution, right? You do great picture, amazing visualization, color, all that stuff. That's like the European now, or even if you wanna go with the GFS today, okay? As you go further out in time, that resolution, let's say that. you're stepping further away instead of watching the TV in your living room, now you're in the kitchen and you don't see as well of the TV of what's going on there, so you don't see all the details. So it's a little bit fuzzy. So some of the descriptions that you're seeing may not be very accurate. And then you keep on stepping back further to now you're in the, you're in the garage and you just barely see the TV and you get a very basic idea that there's a baseball game or a football game on, but you're not really sure who's winning or losing where they are on the field. But you get a general idea that there's a game going on that is the forecast for days 3, 7, 10 15. By day 15, you get a kind of idea that something's going on. There's an active weather pattern, but you don't really know what the details are. Now, add that to now you have an annoying kid jumping up and down. Okay, that's your convective feedback error. And so the kid keeps on throwing a balloon, their favorite toy, they're screaming, and now you can't make out what is going on. Again, you get an idea that there's a baseball game or a football game on, but you have no idea what's going on because there's all this disruption that's convective feedback error. So what that leads to in terms of mild guidance is that. Instead of, let's just say a general winter storm producing six to 12 inches, well that convective feedback now produces a 12 to 24 inch blizzard with 30 inch blotches everywhere, and that's where that idiot takes the snow map and posts it all over social media for a storm that's 10 days out when as a meteorologist I see bullseye everywhere. So that tells me convective feedback, error, yeah, there's a good chance for a storm to develop, but this is likely bs. So remove it and just go with the idea. There's a potential here for some moderates to heavy snowfall that we'll have to keep an eye on. That's your model guidance and what you have to do when you use the model guidance is understand of its limitations, the resolution involved, and also what model you use. So there are some people, for whatever reason use the CFS model for synoptic forecasting. Okay, now let me explain what this means. Okay. The CFS model is a global model for, or climate model, should I say. So it's great for picking up the general 500 milli bar pattern if you're gonna start to see changes in El Nino or LA Nina, DMJO, large scale, tropical forcing, high latitude blocking, stuff like that. It's your sledgehammer. Now, if you're using synoptic forecasting, you're trying to use a sledgehammer to put up a nail for your pitcher, right? Not good, not very effective, and you end up with a hole in the wall. Other people like to use the NAM or the HRR, which are mesoscale miles small scale for a synoptic scale question, like whether or not a winter storm is going to produce heavy snowfall. A problem with that is that, again, resolution mesoscale models are good for picking up, let's say, convective elements within a winter storm, but not the winter storm overall. So what that means is that now you're using a little tiny hammer to nail in a nail in the wall, and it's gonna take you forever to actually get the real solution because the hammer is too small. So you have to use the right tool for the right time, for the right question, with the right resolution. And if you don't understand those things, all you're doing is wasting everyone's time.

Kyle David: 1:31:11

I will say real quick, those are phenomenal analogies. I think probably the best that we've had so far, comparing model guidance and time to the quality of TVs, whether you're in the living room or the kitchen or the garage. And then the analogy of the different types of models and what hammer you're using to use. To nail in a nail for a frame. I love those analogies. Thank you. And I'm curious, 'cause this, I wanna segue now into, you had mentioned earlier you're writing your book on weather. Are, is that analogy going to make it into the book? Are there any other analogies that you've picked up along the way that are going to make it into that book?

Steven DiMartino: 1:31:46

Yeah, there's gonna be a lot of little cues and little sayings that I have that are definitely gonna be in the book. A lot of, I guess you can call guidelines on how to forecast properly, how to use the correct models and why. So there's gonna be a lot of fun in that. And, working on the illustrations, we'll have fun with that too. So this book, it is taking a little longer, but I want it to take longer'cause I want it to be just right and the goal is for it to be my. My lasting final stamp on meteorology and I think that'd be pretty cool to have that opportunity to add that, and God, hopefully, maybe if it's good enough, maybe it might be on the same bookcase with a K Sini book, in terms of, forecasting. I don't know. That's the goal. We'll see how it goes.

Kyle David: 1:32:33

And on that note, I got an interesting question for you in that you've got a lot of books behind you on your bookshelf and you've mentioned a couple of authors of meteorology books. What's one thing you've picked up from any of those books that sticks with you to this day so much that you may include it or have included already in your book that you're already writing?

Steven DiMartino: 1:32:53

Oh man. I love KoSA and Yu's book. I really do, because it allowed me to see the connection between large scale forcing and how it impacts the forecast I'm creating. For my region and how a young age I learned that, what happens in the Pacific or in Japan has a significant impact to what I'm expecting for my region. So it ties everything together and it's just something I use daily. when I got this back, when I was in college, early, early years in college, it really opened my eyes and it really helped me become a better meteorologist.

Kyle David: 1:33:34

And for our listeners who wanna go and check out that book, what's the name of that book? And I'll include it in the show notes.

Steven DiMartino: 1:33:40

Sure. Is East Coast Winter Storms By and Sini. You could also find on the a MS website, it's part of their selection.

Kyle David: 1:33:49

And for our listeners, we'll include both the Amazon link and the a MS link. for you to go and buy that book would recommend you doing the a MS link 'cause it supports the American Meteorological Society.

Steven DiMartino: 1:34:00

Yeah. Not of that, but I think that there's a discount if you're a student member. So. Something to just look up.

Kyle David: 1:34:07

Everybody loves discounts, so if you're a member of the American Meteorological Society, take advantage of the discount. And with that said that we're getting towards the end of our podcast interview, and I've got one final segment before our last fun section, and I'm calling it the sunset segment. As we look at the sunset on our conversation, it allows you to be open-ended with it, take it a number of different directions. So with that said, do you have any final pieces of advice that you'd like to leave for meteorologists or growing meteorologists? Is there any myths you'd like to bust, or any last parting thoughts that you'd like to leave for our listeners? Sure.

Steven DiMartino: 1:34:44

especially with what's been going on over the past couple of months. Do not let other people or events take control of your future. Life isn't gonna be fair. You're gonna lose your job, you're gonna lose everything. Don't let it stop You. Take it from someone who has gone through depression, who has lost everything and has built everything up on their own help from other people and other suggestions and growing and failing and climbing back up and getting knocked down. Life is a lot more like a rocky movie than you think. You are gonna get knocked down. That's okay. The important thing is that you get back up, you will lose your job. It's okay. The important thing is that you get back up, that you become stronger from it. It's okay to take a day and even a couple of days and cry and feel bad and eat four gallons of ice cream, whatever, but get back up. Don't let other people's circumstances control you. I didn't, and you don't have to either. So when the going gets tough. It's not just about getting tougher, it's just getting back up. And I think that there are so many young meteorologists out there that have so much to share. And believe me, you have so much more opportunity than I ever did when I got outta college. I didn't have a website to build. I mean, I had GeoCities that, trust me, it was garbage. You have so much opportunity. You may not see it right now, but it's there. Grab onto it and build your own way. I guess that's why I have to say,

Kyle David: 1:36:33

did the Rocky Music play in the background? I feel like that was a motivational speech or like the makings of a motivational video there.

Steven DiMartino: 1:36:40

All I can say is that, I'm really excited about the future on so many levels and, it's out there in front of you even when you don't think it is. Believe me, it is.

Kyle David: 1:36:49

That kind of connects, Disney movie, call it up, adventures out there. So that's true. There's adventure out there in the weather world and adventure with you. With all that you're doing with the book that you're writing, New York, New Jersey, PA Weather, and you eventually becoming the chair of the board of certified digital meteorologists. There's a lot cooking up for you, and I hope we can have you on again in the future to talk about more about all the things that you've been working on. But before we get to the final section, do you have any last things you'd like to say?

Steven DiMartino: 1:37:18

No, I think we pretty much covered all of it. hopefully we get some winter storms, this upcoming winter. That'd be nice. Get some of those snowplow guys are a little bit like, Hey, we need more snow. Like, trust me, you'll get it and then you'll complain that you get too much snow. But we'll get there.

Kyle David: 1:37:36

It's almost like Murphy's Law, like you're asking for the snow and then you get it, but then like, if you're not prepared or if you are prepared for the snow, it's not gonna come for you.

Steven DiMartino: 1:37:46

I got a very simple basic saying, there is no such thing as average. This, the elution of average, our weather is never average. It's actually rare to be normal.

Kyle David: 1:37:55

Okay. I like that. I like that we're adding a bunch of little nuggets of interesting information, interesting sayings that's gonna make the wall for interesting sayings on our podcast. But with that said, we're watching the sunset on our podcast and our conversation, but it's not the end of the podcast just yet. We've got one more fun game for you before we hit the road. And that is our weather or not trivia. So we've got some weather themes, non weather themed trivia questions based on what you're interested Steven, and we'll see how you do with them. With that said, are you ready to wrap this all up? All right, let's do it. All right. This is whether or not your first question is related to Kansas City Chiefs Christmas games. The Kansas City Chiefs have played five all time game. Lemme redo that. The Kansas City Chiefs have played five games all time in their franchise history on Christmas, winning three of them and losing two. One of those losses was in 2024, and the other was during a 1971 playoff game against which team was at A, the Miami Dolphins. B. The Baltimore Cults C, the New York Giants, or D, the Tennessee Titans.

Steven DiMartino: 1:39:11

We'll go with the cults. Baltimore cults. Yeah, the cults.

Kyle David: 1:39:15

Your final guess is the cults. I'm sorry to say you are incorrect. It was the Miami Dolphins that they lost Really? In the 1971 game. Wow. Wow. Huh? I believe so. Believe it was a very close matchup too. but don't quote me on that one.

Steven DiMartino: 1:39:30

I just thought I was like thinking of like 1970s. Well, it was either Miami or it was gonna be the cult, and I'm thinking. Maybe the cults 'cause it, 'cause they no longer exist in Baltimore, but

Kyle David: 1:39:41

yeah. Did they move to, I don't even think they were the Indianapolis cults when they moved, they became the Browns, I believe, if I'm not mistaken.

Steven DiMartino: 1:39:49

Yeah. Is bouncing all over the place. NFL does crazy stuff with their teams.

Kyle David: 1:39:55

I feel like that could be a whole podcast in itself of the craziness of the NFL. But unfortunately it was the Miami Dolphins who beat the Kansas State Chiefs in the 1971 a FC playoff game.

Steven DiMartino: 1:40:09

Now I'm all in one. Great,

Kyle David: 1:40:12

Hey, you know what, it's all about having fun. So if

Steven DiMartino: 1:40:14

that is having fun and learning something new,

Kyle David: 1:40:17

there you go. Finding the silver lining to everything. But this one I think is more up your alley in terms of weather. This is whether or not your next question is related to Superstorm Sandy. On October 23rd, 2012, the path of Sandy was correctly predicted nearly eight days in advance of its signature left turn into the East coast. By which model was it? A, the European model B, the GFS or the American model C? The GEM model or the Canadian model or D? The GMA model or the Japanese model?

Steven DiMartino: 1:40:53

the European model definitely had, I think about that time period.

Kyle David: 1:40:57

So your final guess is the European model. You are correct. It was the European model and it was the only model to predict that left turn before all the other models started to show that left turn into New Jersey and the East coast. So we're, I remember

Steven DiMartino: 1:41:11

that vividly. why the European did so well is because it handled the 500 mil bar block the best.

Kyle David: 1:41:16

Yeah, and as you said earlier, it's got better capabilities in terms of forecasting and stuff. I feel like that in itself, talking about the European model, it could be its own podcast episode in the future. Definitely. So, all right, let's hopefully keep the streak going. This is whether or not, the next question is related to Dragon Ball Z in the popular anime. Who is the prince of all Sayan? Is it a Broley B Radis, C Veta, or D Napa?

Steven DiMartino: 1:41:48

It's Veta, but mostly in his own mind. But yeah, it's Veda. He's the prince of All Sands. All true.

Kyle David: 1:41:55

So final guess is Veda. You are correct. It is Jeita is the Prince of All Sands. And so you say it's in his head more than anything.

Steven DiMartino: 1:42:06

Well, how can one be a prince or a king with all his whole kingdom got blown up by Freeza.

Kyle David: 1:42:12

Okay. I don't know Dragon balls that well, I know like some of the characters like, like Goku Ji, but that's interesting, Laura. Then now I'm gonna have to go and check that out. So there you go. Now I'm learning something with this as well. So we're having some fun here. Anyways, this is whether or not your next question is related to Northeast winter storms. What does the 40 70 benchmark represent in winter storm forecasting in the Northeast? Is it A, the average mass snow during winter storms in the northeast? B, a geographic location that helps predict heavy snowfall for the northeast C, the coldest temperature ever recorded during winter storm in the Northeast, or D, A specific wind pattern observed during winter storms along the coast. Geographical B, final guess? You are correct. It is a geographic location that helps predict heavy snowfall for the Northeast. And with that, that brings us to our final question. This is whether or not last question is related to the New York Mets, which there you go. Which former Mets player gained the nicknames of God, of the shortstop and Godzilla? Is it A, had NoMo B Masato, Yoshi C Nouri, AKI, or D Kazuo Matsui. I hope I said this name for,

Steven DiMartino: 1:43:38

played for the Mets shortstop. It was Matsui.

Kyle David: 1:43:41

Final guess is Matsui. You are correct. It is Kazuo Matsui. And the trick was these are all Japanese Mets players. So that may have thrown you off, but you did not get thrown off by that. And you held true and you held a good streak there at the end. And met had

Steven DiMartino: 1:43:57

two Japanese players are very well known. Matsui and Syn Jo. Syn Jo actually went off to Japan, became a great manager, and also a model

Kyle David: 1:44:07

Matsui or the other German, model.

Steven DiMartino: 1:44:12

Dress model or model. he was like a, he was like a model. He was very flashy and he had like a whole runway as a man. It was crazy. Like he, he did crazy stuff in Japan. he was a huge showman. he was a pretty good player, but he was a better showman.

Kyle David: 1:44:28

Did he have like any like special show he thinks that he did while he was a baseball player?

Steven DiMartino: 1:44:33

I don't remember so much with the Mets, but I know back in Japan he was a big deal more so for his management skills and how he entertained.

Kyle David: 1:44:41

He had the opportunity to make a bedazzled Mets jersey during his time then, but,

Steven DiMartino: 1:44:46

well, I guess you just wasn't outta his shell yet. being in a different country and all

Kyle David: 1:44:50

That's true. And I did give an idea for anybody who's a Mets fan, go make a Bedazzle jersey. That's, with that said, that brings us to the last question. Well, that is the end of our whether or not trivia and the end of our podcast episode and our conversation with you, Steven. But before we go, how can people find New York, New Jersey, PA weather and keep in touch with all the awesome work that you're doing in the meteorology world?

Steven DiMartino: 1:45:14

Sure. I'm on, social media at X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and God knows whatever else pops up these days. the easiest way to follow me at N-Y-N-J-P-A weather.

Kyle David: 1:45:29

We'll make sure to include all of the social media handles for your social media accounts, and then also your website as well in the show notes for everybody for their convenience. Well, with that said, thank you so much, Steven for joining me on the podcast, and thank you to the listener for listening to the Everything Weather Podcast. I'll catch you on the next episode.