Weather Hazards, Aviation, and a Personal Story Too

By: Dr. Marshall Shepherd , 11:02AM,GMT on August 19,2015

Did you catch the images of the commercial airline damaged by hail in Colorado last week or so? Passengers were alarmed and fearful based on accounts that I read. Many meteorologists and citizens were rightfully asking, "How in the world does that happen in 2015 with the sophisticated weather tools now at our disposal?" The Weather Channel's Senior Meteorologist Stu Ostro, one of the best in the business in my humble opinion, wrote an excellent analysis at this link on what likely happened. Ultimately the National Transportation Safety Board will weigh in.

If you know me, it is NO secret that I do not like to fly. I have flown all of my life. As a child, I used to fly from Atlanta, Georgia to Melbourne, Florida to visit my dad often. Heck, I even remember my elementary class taking a flight from Atlanta to Knoxville, Tennessee just for the experience. As a professor and scientist, I certainly do my share of travel also. About 15 years ago, a flight from Denver, Colorado changed my life. Let's just say it was one of "those" flights. Since then I have been very hesitant to fly.

I know, I know....statistically speaking, I am in more danger daily in my car. I am a very logical and objective person. I will share my experience this week on Weather Geeks.

We also talk about the recent hail incident and other weather hazards associated with aviation (e.g., Icing, severe weather, fog, turbulence, and more). We've invited one of the top 300 Professors in the United States to join me, Dr. John Knox of the University of Georgia Atmospheric Sciences Program and Department of Geography. Dr. Knox is also the recipient of the National Weather Association's top scientific research award, The Fujita Award.

John is a great colleague, but I am not being a biased host by inviting a UGA colleague. Dr. Knox is one of the top experts in the world on aviation meteorology. If you don't believe me, he actually helped develop and has his name on one of the Clear Air Turbulence Indices used operationally.

If you have to fly for work or pleasure, you will enjoy this show and its really cool images and videos.

Join us on The Weather Channel at Noon ET (11 CT, 10 MT, 9 PT).

Oh and by the way, we taped a show with Professor Jon Martin and Dr. Greg Postel the same night discussing cold pool shrinkage, climate implications, and where Jim Cantore will find his "thundersnow" in mid-latitude cyclones. I mention this because they are both University of Wisconsin guys as is Dr. Knox and Weather Geeks producer Dr. Matt Sitkowski. There were a lot of Badgers in the studio on this particular night :). The Martin/Postel show will air in a couple of weeks.

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