Advertise on podcast: The David Bernard Podcast

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Is it possible to predict blizzards, tornado outbreaks and hurricane landfalls as much as 300 days in advance? It is an idea first advanced almost 80 years ago by a weather bureau meteorologist named Jerome Namais and it was called the cycling pattern hypothesis. Fast forward to the 1980s and Gary Lezak noticed the same type of repeating patterns. He has used this forecasting technique since the 1980s. His followers have called it the l.R.C. Or Lezak recurring cycle.

Bryan Norcross was literally the voice of the storm during Hurricane Andrew as its 200 mph winds were tearing people's homes apart in 1992. His broadcast career has spanned more than 50 years beginning with his first weather advisory he read over the radio for Hurricane Camille in 1969. Since then, he has covered every major storm on the local and national level. We look back on his career as he gives his thoughts on hurricane science today and where it could and should be going in the future.

Jim Cantore has been the face of the Weather Channel for 35 years. He discusses his career and the dozens of storms and disasters he’s covered on the ground in that time.

Claudette wasn't a named storm until after it crossed the Louisiana Coastline. Does a named storm impact flood insurance deductibles just like wind and hail? That question is answered along with an assessment of flood risk and why everyone should carry flood insurance. Zack Fradella also joins David to further discuss the unique storm that was Claudette.