Everything Weather Podcast

FROM THE ARCHIVE: Drizzling Fun & Education in Weather with Jazon Frazer

• Kyle David • Episode 33

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In this special 'FROM THE ARCHIVE' episode of the Everything Weather Podcast, we're joined by Jason Fraser, a dynamic meteorologist and founder of Drizzle Weather. Jason shares his journey from journalism to meteorology, engaging STEM education, and the challenges and rewards of weather communication. From a lively weather fantasy draft to personal anecdotes about overcoming the fear of flying and inspiring future meteorologists, this episode is packed with insights and fun.

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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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Kyle David:

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, this episode and the next episode that is going to follow this one are two special episodes that we'll be calling from the archive. These are called from the archive because unfortunately, we did not get to complete these episodes with these people. I still wanted to honor the time that these people gave because it's not just the recording that they gave their time for. It's also the pre-planning, doing the interview, talking beforehand about what we're gonna do for the episode. It's quite time consuming with the podcast. There's time that goes into the episode before the actual recording. I wanna thank these people for their time by releasing what I have so far before we go on hiatus with this podcast. If you don't know why we're going on hiatus, I encourage you to listen to this Steven DeMartino episode. Now, since this episode is not a complete episode, we don't have the everything weather trivia at the end with the guest, but I encourage you to listen to the end because we will have a special whether or not trivia just for you the listener, not just for this episode, but for the next one with Will Nunley. So I encourage you to listen to the end, So without further ado, let's finally get into this episode and I'll catch you back at the end for our special weather or not trivia today on this episode, we're excited to have Jason Fraser. Jason's A dynamic and accomplished meteorologist with a multifaceted career spanning broadcast journalism, weather forecasting, and STEM education. He has experience spanning from reporting on the weather to explaining the science of meteorology in both front of a camera and a classroom. He's currently the founder and chief fun officer of Drizzle Weather, a company dedicated to bringing accessible STEM education to classrooms. And he's also the author of a weather calling book for K through three students and a weather textbook for those looking to learn more about the weather. Hey there Jason, and welcome to the podcast.

Jason Fraizer:

Hey, you know, Kyle, I'm gonna have you, introduce me everywhere I go from now on. So whenever I walk in the room. I just want you to just say all of that and then like, I'll just come into like music. how do you feel about that?

Kyle David:

that's a big task being a professional hype man to introduce people into any conference or whatever.

Jason Fraizer:

Look, I remember growing up man, hype man used to make a lot of money and then I just feel like we all got away from hype Men. We all need a good hype man in our lives. We all need one.

Kyle David:

Absolutely. Maybe, you know, I could be a professional weather hype man for people in the weather world.

Jason Fraizer:

There's a lot of money in it for you. I'm just saying just gimme 10% for giving you the idea. Okay.

Kyle David:

That sounds like a done deal. I'll give you 15%.

Jason Fraizer:

Yes. Good guy.

Kyle David:

So, all right, well Jason, we're looking forward to talking about your weather experiences and having a little fun with you along the way. And speaking of fun, I've got our first fun game for you, and this is going to be the debut of this fun section. We've got a weather fantasy draft. So I know you are a big fantasy football fan. So in the spirit of fantasy football, I've got a weather fantasy draft for you. Your job and my job too, 'cause we're gonna be both competing, is to draft a weather team for covering national weather. So the roles on your fantasy weather team are chief meteorologist, second meteorologist, third meteorologist expert, climate scientist, storm chaser, weather reporter, and a weather producer. Oh man. So as the guest, I will let you start off the draft.

Jason Fraizer:

We'll go with Ginger Z.

Kyle David:

Ginger Z is your chief meteorologist?

Jason Fraizer:

Yes.

Kyle David:

That's a good pick. I probably was thinking about that one too. If I'm doing chief meteorologist, I will probably go with, yeah, let's do Lee Goldberg. Let's bring him to the national spotlight.

Jason Fraizer:

Lee's a good one. Yeah, Lee's very good. Highly underrated too. He was gonna be my second one, so, okay. I'm gonna go with Jim Kori.

Kyle David:

Jim Kori is your second meteorologist.

Jason Fraizer:

Yep.

Kyle David:

Damn, that's gonna make things tricky. All right. If we're going weather channel, I'm gonna go with Stephanie Abrams. She's an awesome talent and very knowledgeable.

Jason Fraizer:

Okay. Alright. I'm going with Paul Goodlow. I'm sticking with the Weather Channel.

Kyle David:

Okay. All right. Sticking with Weather Channel. Geez, I forgot his name. Oh, Steve Glaser. He was, weather Nation is now in NBC Connecticut. Yeah. Seems like a very knowledgeable guy and a good personality.

Jason Fraizer:

Alright. how many more slots do I have?

Kyle David:

So, I think that was our third meteorologist.

Jason Fraizer:

That was the third? Yes. Okay. I think I have one more meteorologist, then I gotta go into Storm Chasers.

Kyle David:

Yeah, let's do one more

Jason Fraizer:

meteorologist. Okay. So I'm gonna go with Nick Koser.

Kyle David:

Okay. Dancing Weatherman.

Jason Fraizer:

Listen, Nick always makes it fun. Okay. So, you gotta have the education, you gotta have the field stuff and then you also have to bring it home with making it educational and enlightening.

Kyle David:

Okay. I gotta think smart about this one. I got a couple of ideas in mind, but I think what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna bring in Kate Lau, who is a Big Stone education fan. She's also a Star Trek fan as well. She likes to incorporate like sci-fi fandom into forecast and stuff. So Kate Nicola is going to be my fourth meteorologist. Okay. Alright. So next up we have a expert, climate scientist. I don't know if you know any offhand

Jason Fraizer:

expert, climate scientist. I am gonna go with my guy Marshall Shepherd from

Kyle David:

Dr. Marker. That's a good one. This is gonna be a personal pick for me. I'm gonna say he's my mentor. Was my mentor, still my mentor when I was studying at Rutgers. I'll go with Dr. Anthony Broccoli, who's involved with the American Meteorological Society and that's more of a personal pick. I'd love to have him on my weather team.

Jason Fraizer:

Okay. All right.

Kyle David:

So next up we have storm chaser.

Jason Fraizer:

Okay, I can only have one. Alright, so you said storm chaser and storm reporter, right? Yes, with my, come on then I gotta go with Come on man. Re Reid. Reid is like Superstorm man. every single town I look up, Reid's got like a new do Hickey or something that he's like, yeah, like let's do it. So, yeah, Reid is the storm chaser.

Kyle David:

I think that's probably the, like the top tier pick for storm chasers. Anybody who thinks Storm Chaser is gonna think Reid. Tim, I'm gonna go with Jordan Hall as my storm chaser for my radar. So let's go with him.

Jason Fraizer:

Okay? Alright. full reporter. I'm definitely going with my man, Robert Ray.

Kyle David:

That was a solid one. Man, I feel like he can't get any better. So you did you have Jim Canto, so like you could put him out in the field too and he got Robert Ray. You got a saga team in terms of field reporting. Ooh, field reporters. Trying to think who could I put in that role? Let's go with, I'll go with Will Nunley give a shout out to Will Nunley, who's got into the field.

Jason Fraizer:

Will's great. Yes, I love Will.

Kyle David:

so that's our weather reporter. And then for the last one, we got a weather producer or like a flex roll, like they're behind the scenes doing all of the behind the scenes magic.

Jason Fraizer:

This is gonna be tough. Alright, so I'm gonna cheat on this one. I'm gonna go back to Fox Weather, Greg Diamond.

Kyle David:

Damn. I was gonna pick Greg. So for those that do not know, Greg Diamond was a weather producer with the Weather Channel. He's now over at Fox Weather. Extremely knowledgeable guy when it comes to graphics and stuff, so I don't blame you for picking Greg's diamond. There's an

Jason Fraizer:

overall good guy like Greg. Greg is the type of guy you can have a beer with. And also at the same time talk about how the Jet Stream interacts with low pressures and like how the past six years it spawned like massive superstorms, as a result. like that is Greg right there. and I love the fact that Greg is, he's a great human being, but he is also really smart guy, but he doesn't, he's one of those meteorologists where you're like, he really is the smartest guy in the room, but like, he wouldn't know it.

Kyle David:

He's very knowledgeable and when it comes to talking about fun things, he's a big Mets fan. You know, you could talk baseball with him, talk weather. Very great guy. Damn. That leaves me in a predicament for this one. Jason, you kind of crimp me on this one.

Jason Fraizer:

I'm a New Yorker. Okay, we go for the knees. We don't go for the face, we go for the knees.

Kyle David:

You definitely went for the knees and a little bit more there. in terms of weather producer, oh, I'm trying to think. Is there anybody from the Weather Channel still there? You know what, I hate to stay on the Fox weather train, but one guy that I have in mind, who would be good on this team is, Steven McLeod and I'll give a little context for our listeners. Steven McLeod is a weather producer at Fox Weather, but he also has broadcast experience. He also has experience in the private sector, the government sector. He's worked with Baron Weather, he's contracted for the government. He has many years of experience in the meteorology field. So I'm gonna tap in on Mr. Steven McLeod to fill in my weather producer flex role for this team.

Jason Fraizer:

And also very sarcastic. So I now, when I was a morning anchor at Fox Wild, Stephen and I worked together for about a year.

Kyle David:

He's got a good charm to him. So yeah, that is our weather team post edit. I'm gonna recap all that 'cause I don't even remember what I remember a couple of the things that I did, but I'll give like a recap, After the fact after I've listened to it. But that is our fantasy weather team. That's our debut of the fantasy weather draft. So with that said, that's the end of our fun section. Let's get into our conversation, Jason. So everybody I have on the podcast, I talk with them about the, you know, their weather story and in the business you've probably heard it is, you know, the weather story being referred to, what's the day's weather, the week's weather. But in the context of this podcast, I talk about what got people interested in the weather, what experiences led them to where they are now. So Jason, let me ask you, what is your weather story and what got you interested in everything weather?

Jason Fraizer:

So back in 1996, and it's kind of crazy, I'm even saying back in 1996, but there was this thing called a massive blizzard that slammed the East Coast. and it extended from Washington, DC all the way up the, eastern seaboard through New York City where I lived at the time, up to Boston. I remember as a kid, I was like 12 years old and you know, they were talking about this massive storm that was coming and everything was gonna shut down. Now, just so that everyone is aware, New York City probably used to have anywhere from two to three major snowstorms a year. Sometimes they were northeasters, sometimes they were just like very strong, low pressure systems. And New York City really lived up to its name as the city that never sleeps. Now, yes, there would be things that were closed, but you would never actually see the city closed down. So what I will never forget was in 96. Everything in New York City came to a screeching halt from the trains, the buses, there were no cars on the roads. and if there were very few and far between. New York City picked up nearly two feet of snow, and I will never forget how insane it was, but at the same time, how mesmerizing it was. Because, the cool part about snow is it impacts everyone. It doesn't matter if you're rich, poor, black, white, Asian, Puerto Rican, right? It impacts everybody. The same. On top of that, we finally had a snow day, and I just remember thinking, wait, school is closed. New York City schools never closed. And New York City schools had closed for multiple days. And that was when I thought to myself, I gotta figure out why this happened. What is it? And ever since then, my mom will tell you. I used to wake up as a junior high school kid. I was practicing the weather in front of the mirror and I would say, good morning, New York City, I'm meteorologist Jason Fraser and here's your weather report for this morning, high temperature, 65 degrees. My mom would be like, stop it. What are you doing? Okay, enough, we're ready. I believe that life in death is in your tongue, right? You put it out there and you naturally respond to it. Whether or not you're a Christian, you believe in just the universe. Whatever it is, whatever you put out, you receive. And you know, I think so many times as adults, we grow up and we start thinking about money and we start moving away from the different things that we used to do as children. But if you go back to what you naturally did as a child, there is some tool or there's just something that you used to do that I would point to that you currently either are doing or that you should be doing. And I think back to when I was a child, I was doing a lot of public speaking. I was doing a lot of stuff around science and weather, and now here I am, I'm meteorologist.

Kyle David:

That is an awesome story. And you're right, it's rare to see schools closed in the New York City area and it's unfortunate that everything has gone remote now. So now kids these days will not be able to enjoy a snow day,

Jason Fraizer:

which I still think is wrong. Right? Because like if we can't get outside, why do I need to, do remote school? But unfortunately in certain parts of the country, even though we do have that ability, some school districts very smartly are saying, it's just still not worth it.

Kyle David:

Yeah. it's unfortunate 'cause kids will not be able to experience that traditional snow day like you and I have experienced, Anyways, I assume that was the blizzard of 96, that one kind of sparked your weather interest. Big weather storm. For me it was the boxing Day blizzard. If we wanna talk about winter storms. But it seems like, remember

Jason Fraizer:

Kyle? Remember Kyle not to cut you off there, but you remember when? Well these schools, they have email now. Or you get like text message. Okay. Back in my day. Alright. We had to turn on tv. Yeah. And we had to wait. We had to wait until our specific, either town or county was mentioned and then they would go through the list or you had to listen to this thing called the radio. I know I'm old, right? And don't tune in right at the time that they were finishing up.'cause you had to wait another 10 minutes to figure it out. the best comparison is it was almost as if you were waiting to see if you won the lottery. Because you had to think, wait, is my school close? do I have to get ready and, nope.

Kyle David:

I did it and for me it was, like you said, television. I think a few times we've for us it was like News 12, shout out to News 12. but they had a phone call system. They would call my parents either night of, you know, they were gonna cancel school or sometimes they'd be morning of, they'd be like, yeah, we need to close school. But I don't think you're that old in terms of listening to radio and stuff.

Jason Fraizer:

Put it this way, the reason why I say I'm old is because, so in New York City there is a radio station called Power 1 0 5 1, and sometimes they will play nineties to early 2000 hip hop, and there'll be a drop that'll happen before it, and it'll say, back in the day, New York City, 1996. and I always get offended every time I hear it because I'm like, wait, it hasn't, that's not back in the day. And then I do some calculation and I'm like, oh wow, it's been almost three decades. Yeah. Okay. No, that is old.

Kyle David:

I've had some moments like that even at 25 where I'm like. Wait, that was 20 years ago. But going back to the weather, the blizzard of 96 all struck you with, you wanted to learn more about the weather and how it all works, why school was canceled. At what point did you realize you could make a career out of learning about the weather and talking about the weather?

Jason Fraizer:

So I think as I started watching the news more after that, I think that's when I started putting two and two together where I said. I can somehow combine my love of presentation, right? I loved presenting, I loved doing different things with my voice or performing, but I didn't really like the whole testing thing. If you gave me a test, it'd be like, oh God, maybe I might get a beat. But if you gave me some sort of public speaking or presentation project, I would always ace it. And so I would always try to look for that in science. Either Faires or science experiments, or science classes, I should say. And as I just started getting older, I started having more and more of an attraction to science. the beautiful part about science that I had always loved, especially as a young child, was there was always an answer, right? There's a cause and there was an effect, right? We know the reason why we get snow is because it falls down and between 500 to 10,000 feet in the air, we know that air is really cold, right? there's no ambiguity, there's no complexity, I should say. it's always either X or Y. Whereas whenever you get into like. I'll call it the literary arts. Okay. Right. We're talking about different things like art and even music. There's a lot of subjectivity to it. And with science it's just, it's either this or this. And I love that my wife tells me all the time that I need to do a better job at understanding gray areas. And I'm like, no, I'm a scientist. it's either A and B cause C, or it's B and C cause D. And that's the wonderful part about weather. We know that if, we have a lot of moisture and we also have lift, we're gonna eventually get thunderstorms, or at the very least rainstorms. We know that. And that's the beautiful part of science.

Kyle David:

Absolutely. And it, like you said it, it's cause and effect. You know, this thing and that thing causes this thing. Or maybe it's sometimes multiple things or just one thing. Was there a time where you had to break that down and uncomplicate the science of the meteorology or stem to a public audience, and was there any challenges that came with that?

Jason Fraizer:

So I think very good meteorologists do this all the time. One of the things in our field I think we have to really understand is no one really cares about the real science behind it, right? People really care about what I call the applicable of the science. So if I have a rainstorm coming, right, people want to know, am I still gonna be able to get outside? Am I still going to have a house at the end of the storm? There is a niche, right, that I think really cares about the full on science of, well, you know, it's because we had an increasing amount of wind shear over the Rockies. Therefore we had development of the moisture that was coming out of the Gulf and that combined to create this superstorm in the Midwest. And what's really pushing this is as a jet stream, I would say 90% of people don't care about that. But what I will say is they care about the inconvenience. So I think my job as a meteorologist constantly is not necessarily explaining all of the signs behind it, but explaining the inconveniences or the dangers that can potentially happen as a result of the storm. Now, does that mean we can't nerd out A little bit? Yes, but I think we have to also understand that everyone has a different, I'll call it desire to know of things. There's a different level, and I think sometimes with a scientist we can be a little too insider baseball. You asked me an example of this. I mean, look, when I was at Fox Weather and even when I was in Cleveland full time, we would've storms that would come through and trying to explain to people, you know, why this particular area got seven inches versus this particular area got maybe two inches. I mean, we're talking a difference of five inches. But I mean, that could be due to the micro climates. It could be due to geography, it could be due to moisture factor. And I think when you have those moments, they're appropriate. But to do it every single newscast, every single time, I think for a lot of people it's overwhelming. And I think you can really become that guy that I think is, or that woman who's a little too smart for their own britches, as my grandmother used to say.

Kyle David:

And you kind of have to translate what they're saying too. it's hard, being able to translate the science effectively into something that people understand, like how it would impact their day, their week. For you, you've had a lot of experience from starting off as a weather reporter up in New England to, starting as a meteorologist, getting your foot into the meteorology presentation door, and then eventually, you mentioned earlier you started with Fox weather. What's been a favorite moment for you in terms of presenting the weather and translating the science to something that is actionable for people?

Jason Fraizer:

Oh my goodness. I mean, look, I've had so many, I mean, I only pick one. You know, I think one of the things that really stands out for me was my first ever hurricane, which was in Savannah back in 2017. And what was interesting about that particular storm was it was my first time ever being in a tropical storm. when I decided to pursue meteorology full time, I had to go back to school in order to get a certificate so that I could properly explain everything that was a danger. And one of the things that was fully overwhelming for me was to understand the psychology that I think comes along with storms. Right? So, as a meteorologist you're saying, Hey, the storm is gonna be coming by. Here's the reason why. You know, we have an increasing amount of water vapor. The water temperatures are well above the mid eighties in the, Western Atlantic. And on top of that, you know, we have a lack of sheer, and this is gonna end up developing into a storm to explain to people that all of this was happening and then to understand the psyche of, yeah, okay, yeah, this is great, but like, I'm not leaving. I'm sorry, maybe you didn't hear me. Just say we're going to have 120 mile per hour winds and the reason why is because we have no wind shear. We also have a lot of moisture. What do you mean you're not gonna evacuate? That for me was a moment where it was very enlightening because most people in the southeast, until you hear it, I'll say, major hurricane. And when I say major hurricane, I'm not even talking about a cap three, I'm talking about cap four, cap five. They don't evacuate. and look as a northerner, I was like, y'all look crazy. But then going through, a tropical storm, I was like, ah, it's just a really bad rainstorm. I understand it now. Doesn't mean I agree with it, but I understand it. And then to also see the majority of Savannah evacuate after that storm and the counter flow that happened. So, we had a highway in Savannah where everybody. Had to get out. And I just remember being one of the few people left behind 'cause we had to stay on air and report. It was, I prayed. And at the same time I also remember thinking, I really hope that we're right and this is not gonna be as bad as we thought it was. Turns out it was,

Kyle David:

it's still a nerve wracking experience to stay behind and report on what the weather's going on too. And for those who have followed you in your Fox weather days, they've sent you out into the field for covering a multitude of events from a tropical storm herald. I remember actually firsthand seeing you out in the field in Texas to covering the solar. I forgot if it was the total or the annual eclipse, it was one of the solar eclipses.

Jason Fraizer:

Well, I was actually in studio for that one,

Kyle David:

but in studio. Okay.

Jason Fraizer:

yeah. But I look, I've covered a couple of things for Fox weather. You know, I had way more experience as a local news reporter covering, weather, you know, especially up in the Boston area, when I was in Columbus, Ohio. You know, part of the reason why I switched from being a news reporter to a meteorologist was because, at 30, I had a career moment where. I was like, man, what do I really enjoy? You know? And I think everybody should have this moment in their career where they say, should I continue down this highway? And we'll probably know exactly where it leads because I've been doing this a while. Or do we want to maybe use this exit and maybe say, let's think about going to the right and let's see what happens here. And I got into Boston. I was an investigative reporter and we changed some things, but I just wasn't, I gotta be honest with you, I wasn't thrilled with going to work, but every single time we had a snowstorm come through, I was like, oh, maybe it's about to go down. I'm loving this. Like, let's go. Because weather events are, I think the one time where it doesn't matter who you are, we all come together. We have neighbors helping neighbors, doesn't matter, Republican, democrat, rich or poor. You see somebody in the street that's struggling, right? You are going to help them. The weather also forces us, I think, to not be so focused on our daily lives to maybe say, Hey, time out. you know, maybe we need to rethink about this. I think COVID was really the only other time where I think that's happened. That was a non weather event. Well, I guess there have been a few other moments in history, but generally speaking, the weather really forces everybody to sit down or as the young folks say, take two seats. And think about your life.

Kyle David:

I have not heard of that one before. Maybe that's a really youngin thing. Was that gen Alpha?

Jason Fraizer:

Yeah. But no. The thing is just take a seat, take two seats.

Kyle David:

I've heard. Take a knee, you know, sit it out.

Jason Fraizer:

Yeah, no, I mean that too.

Kyle David:

and you had mentioned that you had transitioned from an investigative reporter role to finally being able to go back to school and get a certificate in meteorology. Can you talk about that transition, how you transitioned from journalism and reporting to meteorology, and what's one surprising thing that you found that transitions very well from journalism to meteorology?

Jason Fraizer:

So, let me answer your second question first. The transferable skills are storytelling, right? As a meteorologist, all I'm doing is storytelling, I'm explaining what's happening right now, why it's happening and what's going to happen. And when you really think about the meteorologists who are very good at what they do, they're really great storytellers. And it's just that instead of maybe talking about the news, they're really talking about the weather. They're making it in a way that people from, it doesn't matter what walk of life can understand it. And when you think about some of the most successful meteorologists when you really drill down, yes, they're really smart people, but they're really great storytellers. And I didn't realize that was gonna be transferrable when I left journalism and I transitioned over into meteorology. But I had a news director named Victoria, who to this day, one of the best bosses I've ever had. She said, the reason why I hired you, was because you were great storyteller. And yes, you were great on camera, but you are a great storyteller. And there are very few scientists who are great storytellers. And I was like, okay. All right. That's interesting. Now to answer your first question about the transition. The transition was humbling, Kyle. It was hard. I was in my thirties, folks were getting married, having kids, and I was making great money on Boston. But I always think about in life, are you happy? Right? Money's great, but are you happy? Do you feel like you're operating on all cylinders? Do you feel like this is the moment where you just can't wait to get to every single day? And for the majority of people, I gotta be honest with you, the answers are resounding now. But what you don't realize is you have the power to change it. And one day, I decided, no, we're gonna change this. We got a long life to live and we haven't even made it to the middle part of our life. And I remember looking at my girlfriend, who's now my wife, I remember saying to her, look, we're gonna make this career transition. And she was like, wait, what? I thought we were about to get married and I was like, Nope, I'm about to go back to school. I gotta go do this. And I heard about this program in Mississippi State and I applied. We got in. And the most humbling thing is to recognize that even though you might be smart, even though you might be good at one thing, there's always something else out there that can humble you very quickly. And yeah, I had a very basic understanding of science, but there was a lot of things that I had forgotten about from undergrad that I now had to relearn while all of this was happening. You know, all my friends were buying houses and having kids, and there was a moment where I honestly felt like I was behind. And that can be traumatizing for some people because here it is, you're trying to improve your life, but then you look at everybody else and you're like, wow, man, I really wish that I could. Do that. I don't wanna be in school. I'm not trying to learn about thermodynamics right now. Okay man. Which, by the way, thermodynamics I think is secretly another language. It is not English. Okay. Same thing with calculus. You cannot sit here and tell me That calculus is English.'cause I'm like, no. I was like two plus two equals four. Okay. I don't know why they stopped saying that at dust, but that's all noticed. But. I think in life you have to take a bet on yourself. And we as a community, especially the science community, some of us can be very risk adverse. We just don't believe, even though we're willing to do an experiment on something when it comes to our lives, when it comes to our career's, like, man, I gotta, I got a kid, or I got a house, or I gotta think about my wife or my girlfriend or my boyfriend. And it's like, no, like take risk. I think about had I not taken that jump in 2017, I wouldn't be where I am today, which is an entrepreneur who has now multiple streams of income.

Kyle David:

we haven't even gotten to the end of the episode, which is where we normally get into reflections, insights, and we are already dropping some nuggets of wisdom here.

Jason Fraizer:

Nuggets.

Kyle David:

Let's stick with No, we love that. But I'm curious, was there a moment or several moments where you realized that your hard work is paying off and you felt. Your work in meteorology was rewarding?

Jason Fraizer:

yeah. Multiple times. I think what happens with every meteorologist, you get that one email from that one viewer that says, I'm so thankful I was watching your newscast because you saved my life. And I'll never forget when I got my first one in Savannah, Georgia. And it was because we were at a moment where we had a tropical system that was barreling down and they emailed the station. This viewer emailed the station and said, should I, or should I not evacuate? And I said, look, I can't tell you what to do, but if you were my wife, I would tell you Now it's time to go. And come to find out, we had gotten some minor storm surge and she might have drowned if she would've stayed. So that was the moment where I felt like, alright, I think this is what I'm supposed to be doing. Look, that to me was worth any, you could. Give me a million dollars, I still would be like, Nope. that was way more valuable, than that to know that I impacted and potentially saved somebody's life. You know, as I've progressed through all my career, you know, I've also had, a number of schools that I have visited, and I have been told later on that I inspired other people to consider meteorology.'cause they were like, oh, we thought all meteorologists were boring, and then we met you. Yeah, you were definitely not boring. And it was like, wait, I don't know whether or not to take that as a compliment or insult, but I would've taken it as a compliment.

Kyle David:

just based, I mean, we've known each other for a little bit, but just based on this conversation I can say you're the least boring person, that I know. So that is most certainly a compliment. And before we go into our break, I want to end on a light note and talk about. You, we've talked a little bit about storytelling and how you tell the weather story, but I'm also curious of some non weather related stories that you've had to tell. So what's your favorite weather story that you've told and your favorite non weather story that you've had to tell?

Jason Fraizer:

Well, I think my favorite weather story, that I always like telling folks about is, you know, my, my background. Because you know, I think many times when people start, they often think that this is going to be easy and, there are a hundred million times I could have given up, but thank goodness I had some really good people around me. And you know, this is why the older I get the more. I say to people, you have to be so careful of the people who are around you, because in your lowest moments, you're gonna need some people to look at you and say, you can do it. Just one more step, just one more day, just two more days, and you start recognizing that, wait, you know, I'm that much closer. I can't give up right now. my favorite non weather story, I mean, Kyle, man, I need to think about this one. I mean, that's so generic. Favorite non weather story. I went to South Africa when I turned 40. Is that allowed?

Kyle David:

Yeah, we can talk about that.

Jason Fraizer:

Okay. So for my 40th birthday, we went to South Africa, and let me tell you, I did not believe that the was gonna be that long. Oh my goodness. So just so that you know, from Atlanta to Johannesburg, South Africa is about 16 hours. And I just remember thinking as we were flying, 'cause we did encounter some turbulence, we did encounter some inclement weather. I thought, are we going in the right direction Because we've been in the air for about eight hours. Are you sure? Because I'm looking out, I still see water. are, did the pilot fall asleep? What is going on? Matter of fact, The pilot hasn't even talked to us, for the past couple of hours. So are you sure that we're there? Alright. And then of course, you know, we get halfway across the Atlantic and it is a. Bumpy mess. Anybody who has traveled either to Asia or even, you know, the Caribbean islands, you know that there's a part where the trade winds change direction. And it's always when you're at that moment where the plane starts bouncing around. And I just remember thinking, oh my goodness, if we go down, what the heck is gonna happen? Like, who's gonna find us? And come to find out the plane was fine, pilots were fine. and then you begin your initial descent and you see this beautiful city in the background and you're thinking, you know, it's all worth it. I had an amazing time for my 40th birthday. We went to Johannesburg and Cape Town. we went to a safari, I had some of the best Indian food I've ever had in my life there. And then of course, for all of you who are winos like me, I had some of the best wine I've ever had. South African wine to my French, I'm so Sorry. South Africa beat you.

Kyle David:

Very interesting. Okay. South Africa wine. Over French wine.

Jason Fraizer:

Yeah, and look, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to piss off our French people, okay? We love you. You're great people, especially with your croissants. Okay, love y'all. But. South African wine when we were there. What's interesting is we went to, I can't remember the name of it right now. It starts from an S but anyway, it's the known wine region, just outside of Cape Town. The really cool part about this is it's in a valley, so you're drinking wine and you look up and all you see are mountains. And of course, you know, the meteorologist to me is I was like, oh wait, is this the windward side or is this the leeward side? Right. And then, you know, of course all of the vineyards, they all thought that they were one-upping one another. But was interesting was how they talked about how because of the weather they were able to grow this specialty grape and you were able to taste it and you were able to taste the impact of the weather, which was like, okay. I was like, this is interesting. But then I was like, wait, didn't that happen everywhere that you go? But that's a whole other story.

Kyle David:

Real quick. I'm kind of curious. So can you elaborate a little more on what the different weather impacts of the wine down there?

Jason Fraizer:

on it? Yeah, so depending on how close it was to the mountain And how cool it was, it impacted, the taste of it. So one of the things that I found was that typically the sweeter wines were closer to the mountain ranges. And some of the not so sweet ones were a little bit further away. And so they would all have slightly different tastes, whether or not you wanted red versus white. and they'll also tell you too, that depending on the kind of rain we got, right, you know, there were some regions that of course got a little bit more rain and others too, depending on the rainy season. And that's also reflective of even here in the United States, up in Lake Ontario, up in the, the Rochester area where they grow, what do they call? Not plumb wine. My goodness. I'm forgetting the name of it. Hold on one second. It is

Kyle David:

like huckleberry or.

Jason Fraizer:

Wine region. it's a sweet wine, ice wine. That's what it's called. Okay. So, yeah, so up in Rochester, they have this thing called ice wine. And part of the reason why it's available is because it gets really cold up in the Rochester region. Technically it's called the Finger Lakes region. But what's interesting is how, you know, depending on where you go all across the world, I mean how climate impacts the wine. And so you can't grow wine everywhere. You have to have some really good soil. You have to have a moisture source. And I would say some of the better wines tend to be closer to mountains. That's just my experience. I'm sure other people would completely disagree, but it's just been my experience. I'm a sweetie type of wine, so I like my wine suite, so that may be why.

Kyle David:

So we got a little insight on how to pick the best wine based on the weather of the area. very cool. Little tidbit there. We're gonna take a quick break right here, but we still got more to talk with Jason about drizzle weather and all of his other experiences and other stuff that he is working on. So keep it right here. We'll be right back in this special five part edition of On This Day and Weather History, we continue to revisit one of the most devastating hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin. Hurricane Katrina. After devastating New Orleans and Southeast Louisiana Hurricane Katrina continued its deadly March northward into Mississippi, despite weakening to an intense category three hurricane during its landfall over Louisiana. Katrina's massive size and destructive power were far from diminished. Later in the morning of August 29th, Katrina made its final landfall near the Louisiana Mississippi border with winds up to 120 miles per hour After crossing the Bretton sound as Katrina's powerful right front quadrant passed over the west and central Mississippi coast. A 27 foot storm surge penetrated six miles inland in many areas and up to 12 miles along bays and rivers. Coastal towns like Waveland Bay, St. Louis, Gulfport, and Biloxi suffered catastrophic damage. Entire neighborhoods were flattened. Casinos and beachfront properties were washed away, and critical infrastructure was rendered inoperable Mississippi bore the full brunt of Hurricane Katrina in bay. St. Louis. Storm surge and wave action obliterated nearly every structure along the coast in Biloxi. Large sections of this historic seaside city. We're almost entirely flattened by this storm's powerful surge within two city blocks of the shore, two floating casinos. The casino magic and the Grand Casino Biloxi were entirely wiped from the city's waterfront. The surge carried the casino magic inland and deposited in a parking lot across the street. It was one of the few structures to retain its form from the storm surge. All residential buildings in the immediate coastal area were swept away, replaced by vast debris fields to the East. Alabama also suffered significant impacts. Mobile experienced flooding of its downtown area as a 12 foot storm surge pushed water from Mobile Bay into the city streets. The mobile causeway in sections of Interstate 10 were submerged or destroyed. The Cochrane Africatown USA bridge in Mobile carrying us roots 90 and 98 were also damaged when the storm surge ripped a maritime oil rig off its moorings and rammed into the bridge. The West end of Dolphin Island was completely submerged with most homes washed away by the surge. Significant beach erosion occurred from Dolphin Island eastward to Dustin, Florida. Inland areas of Mississippi and Alabama were not spared either. Katrina's torrential rainfall and powerful winds, as well as tornadoes from its outer bands cause widespread power outages down trees and flash flooding cities as far north as Jackson, Mississippi were left in the dark and emergency services stretched thin. In total, more than 230 people lost the lives in Mississippi alone with thousands more injured or displaced. But even as Katrina weakened, the full extent of its wrath was far from over. The nation was only beginning to grasp the scale of the catastrophe and the humanitarian crisis that was unfolding in real time. In the final part of this special on this day and weather history, we examine the final days of this monster hurricane and what remained when the storm had cleared. Hello, and welcome back to the Everything Weather Podcast. I'm your host, Kyle David, and today on the podcast we've been talking with Jason Fraser. He's an experienced broadcast meteorologist who's transitioned from journalism and reporting to the world of meteorology and telling about the weather story for both in front of the camera and then also behind the scenes in front of classrooms and other public areas. So we've been talking with him about his experiences. But before we get back into the conversation, I've got another fun game for you, and this is another first for this episode. so we talked before doing this recording about doing something in the lines of the Come on man segment that you would see on ESPN. For those that don't know, that segment takes a look at different sports related clips throughout the week that they're covering the sports on. And it's like goofy clips and stuff, and at the end they'll say, come on man. so in that spirit, we've got a weather themed, come on, man, that we're gonna be doing. Probably have to think of a better name for it, but you get the gist of it. So I'm gonna, real quick, let me do this screen. Let me do window here. So what I'll do, Jason, is I'll play these out and then I'll describe 'em, and then you can just say, come on, man. So, all right. Our first clip comes from a Dust Devil in Texas that caught a woman off guard. I'll just let this play out and then. yeah, so a little bit lighthearted. So the clip shows for our audio listeners, the clip shows the Dust Devil just rustling around. The woman doesn't knock her off her feet or anything. I thought it was a kind of lighthearted video.

Jason Fraizer:

Look, her hair, that is what you call a bad hair day. I mean, right there. And then. Look, if I was her, I would totally think about playing the lottery. it sounds to me, or it looks to me like someone was maybe trying to get back at her. I don't know, maybe it was like an X or something and was like, oh man, I got something for you. Watch this. and there she goes. I mean, she almost gets swallowed up by this dust devil. So, thank goodness it looks like she was okay, which is of course a good thing. But I mean, come on Mother Nature. Go pick on somebody else.

Kyle David:

And funny story, actually, my brother, like this is years ago, when he played Little League. There was a Dust devil that formed on the field when the ball game was playing. And like this video, the Dust Devil was in the middle of where my brother was. So he had to deal with something similar like that. So a little bit of, I would say personal connection, but I'd say a light, come on man, for this, like for Mother Nature picking on this poor lady. But,

Jason Fraizer:

and what's interesting about this too is as quickly as it happened, it just appeared

Kyle David:

that, that's the interesting thing about Dust Devils. It could just be like five seconds and then it's just gone. But yeah, like, come on, why are you messing up the lady's hair?

Jason Fraizer:

Poor thing. She'll be all right. Hopefully she played lotto. that's all I'm gonna say.'cause clearly it just was a bad hair day.

Kyle David:

Yeah, absolutely. And hopefully didn't get any dust in the eye as well, so. All right. Next one up. I've got a clip from, again, a few weeks ago as we're recording this. Of waves crashing on a huge cruise ship. I guess this is in the Drake passage. looking at the rocking back and forth motion, that's a huge, I would say no, for me. Not even a Come on man, just a no. And oh crap.

Jason Fraizer:

Oh, Kyle, I would love to do this.

Kyle David:

Look,

Jason Fraizer:

you only live once. What's the worst thing that happens? You end up pulling outta the boat and then you meet the maker. So, look, if you're gonna do it, I mean, now is the time to do it. By the way, if you're wondering where the Drake passage is, this is in between a Chile and I believe it's Antarctica, right?

Kyle David:

I think so, yes.

Jason Fraizer:

Yeah. and so this is a very popular thing that people will do is they want to actually be able to see, you know, the seventh continent and. So there's a lot of rocking back and forth. This is also not the type of boat you want to be on if you're maybe getting a little seasick. Matter of fact, I'm getting a little seasick. just looking at this, I'm a big guy, but even when you think about like how big that boat has to be and it's still rocking back and forth. Woo.

Kyle David:

Yeah. And you can see like the, it looks like a 30 foot drop. I've seen videos of like freight ships going into storms where the drops and crevices are much larger than this video. But That's a no for me.

Jason Fraizer:

That's a no for you.

Kyle David:

Yeah.

Jason Fraizer:

You know what, Kyle? I'm gonna do a Come on man. For you. I'm gonna be like, come on man. You only look once. What's the worst thing that can happen?

Kyle David:

I feel like those are famous last words spoken by somebody. But all right, now to get more into, come on man territory. This happened a few weeks ago with the latest round of severe weather in the, I'm not sure where. This is Indiana. So this is a video of a family running out to grab their dog up here. Let me play it from the beginning. But it shows the dog locked up outside in a carrier, I guess. And the family runs out to go and get them

Jason Fraizer:

just in time too. Okay. So I got a couple of questions about this Indiana family. One, why is the dog outside right? During clean? Yep. And then two, why did you wait till the last minute over in Gary, Indiana to do this?

Kyle David:

And then just as quickly as they got the dog in a few seconds later, tornado rips right through the backyard.

Jason Fraizer:

My goodness. Look at that. You see the roof of the little doghouse going back and forth. Oh. And the dog just gone. Wow. The shed too. wait. is that a trampoline?

Kyle David:

Yeah. I think that ends up getting blown away. let's see.

Jason Fraizer:

Okay. I'd be surprised. Hoping, holding on for dear life. See, this is why I don't understand if you're gonna have a four-legged friend, right? The four-legged friend needs to be inside at least the majority of the time. It almost looks like the dog was in timeout. And, they were like, all right, fine. You know, we're just gonna put the dog in the back. And then somebody's like, Hey, wait a minute. We forgot about Fido. Wait, what do you mean Fido's not inside? And then literally the last second, okay, now we gotta bring Phyto on side. I mean, that dog would've likely either been severely injured or died had they not intervened at the last minute. I mean, it is literally seconds before they run out. And then you're gonna notice right here, they open up the gate. The dog clearly knows what's happening because the dog just darts it straight to the house. So. Look, I mean for this. I'm like, come on, family. How could you leave, you know, man's best friend out there that,

Kyle David:

yeah. I love dogs. I love all pets and I don't understand the reasoning of leaving the dogs outside. I let them sleep on the bed. me, Casa sue casa, but to leave your dog outside when you know severe weather's going to happen, is just extremely unsafe and nobody should be doing that. they're incredibly lucky that not only the dog didn't get hurt, but they didn't get hurt as well. Going out to get the dog. Huge. Come on man. poor preparedness, but I will say, I don't know the situation of this family. that being said, there's a learning lesson from this video. Don't leave your dogs outside when severe weather's coming. all right, next one up. This one, may be a little, familiar to you as somebody who has been in the on air scene. This is a recent clip of somebody talking about a quote, monster Cold Front that's coming through Texas, by the way. So it's basically, this guy is not a meteorologist and he is talking about, a quote unquote monster cold front that's sweeping through Texas. Keep in mind, this is something that's normal this time of the year. Spring brings a lot of temperature changes, but to use wording like Monster Cold Front and kind of describe this life or death freeze that's gonna come through Texas. I say is a huge, come on man. And this is unfortunately something that we've seen a lot on social media where people will hype up weather events to draw clicks and engagement.

Jason Fraizer:

Yeah. Look, I have always told people you need to ask the source of where your information is coming from and what is the background of the people. Because sometimes, unfortunately, Kyle, as you mentioned it, people are just very quick to say stuff or interpret stuff and then bam, you know, that's how it goes viral. by the way, there is no such thing as a monster cold front. It's either a cold front, warm front, occluded front. we have, dry fronts, or dry lines, I should say, as well, that do typically impact, the lone star state, but a monster cold front. That's interesting. it, it's also brings me back to, you know, remember when everybody a couple of years ago was obsessed with polar vortex. All of us in the meteorologist community were like, this is normal. And it was like, no, it's the polar vortex. It's like the end of the world. And it's like, no, this happens every single January or February. This is a normal thing. it, this is totally giving me the same vibes.

Kyle David:

Yeah. and even like, I forgot when specifically it was, but it's been a few times where people have talked about like a category six slamming Florida or Texas and, there's hype drawn around, very exaggerated weather phenomenon. And yeah, just a huge come on man for all of this, not just this particular video, but any video that hypes up the weather for no apparent reason and just draws fear and it's just unnecessary.

Jason Fraizer:

Now, speaking of category six, I'm gonna open up a can of worms when I do say this, but I do think we should think about as a community. Redoing the ER Simpson Scale. I do think that there should be an enhanced SAF or Simpson scale because for a lot of people, I don't think that they wanna understand the different categories. And then two, you could have a category two storm that does way more damage than a category five. It just depends really on where it's hitting and, its proximity to wherever the water is, to where it's hitting. So I am for overhauling the system, but those decisions are for much smarter people.

Kyle David:

Yeah. And real quick, since you had mentioned it, you know, hit New Jersey, New York, Superstorm Sandy. Wasn't even technically a tropical system at the time. It caused as much, if not more devastation than any hurricane has, you know, in the last a hundred years for the New York City Metro, for New Jersey and the Northeast. But that again, is a separate discussion. We could have an entire podcast on how to properly communicate the weather. So, all right, next one up is a meme of somebody. This has kind of drawn a lot of attention in like the last few months. It's basically the guy saying, you know, pretending like he's the weather app. and the guy's asking the weather app, oh, okay, what's the temperature gonna be? And Him as the app says it's gonna be 40, but it's gonna feel like 11. And the guy's like, wait, what? But what do you mean what is it gonna, what do you mean it's gonna feel like 11? Like, and I thought it was kind of funny. I don't know if it's a come on man for you. but the joke I will admit is kind of funny and poking fun at what the feel like really means.

Jason Fraizer:

I get a lot of, people who make fun of us for saying 30% versus 40% versus 50% for rain. So, you know, when I think of, precipitation, chances, you know, this is giving me the same vibes, which is why a long time ago as a meteorologist has stopped saying 30 or 40 or even 50%.'cause it's not even what people normally think it is. look, this guy's talking about windshield, which, you know, as a meteorologist, you know, we always say, you know, here's where the air temperature is. But because of the air, it's going to feel much cold alert than that. And, you know, I, look, I like what this guy's doing. I mean, he's at least engaging people and. I think for a lot of people they are confused by what is the air temperature versus the wind chill temperature. So

Kyle David:

I'm not realizing it's not really more of a, come on, it's more like, okay, this is kind of funny, but I do have one more that's a, come on. You may cringe at it. No, I can't identify who this broadcaster is, but I'll describe it. For those that are in extreme cold air, you can throw or spray boiling water to get it to instantly turn into water vapor, sublimation or, yeah, sublimation, one of those. but, You could throw boiling water or spray boiling water, it turns into steam and water vapor. Unfortunately, for this broadcaster, it did not end well. And it ended up when she threw the pot of boiling water, it ended up back onto herself. I will give her props. she managed it, you know, without very much of a reaction. but the way she tossed it up in the area, it was like really directed at her. So my, come on man, would be, you know, you're tossing it back up at yourself. You should be kind of tossing it away a little more, you know, safe practice when you're with boiling water.

Jason Fraizer:

Why couldn't she just pour it directly in front of her? Why didn't she have to throw it? This is the part I never understood about this experiment. I mean, you can get the same thing to happen if you just pour it. Okay. you can pour it, it'll do the same thing if it's cold enough. So, yeah, I mean, you know, she's definitely gonna get a, come on man, because clearly she didn't talk to the meteorologist because the meteorologist would've said because of the wind direction, do not do it because, you know, particularly in weather like this, you know, you can't have the wind change from, you know, either a northerly breeze to a northwesterly breeze, you know, as you either have the front move through or maybe sometimes just depending on where you are in relation to the center of that low. So, yeah, no, she should have known better. definitely a come-on man for me, but thank goodness she's okay.

Kyle David:

Yeah. and props there for just like, she got a, huge doses of boiling water and I'll include the links for all of our Come on man videos, in our show notes, She, you know, got the splash of boiling water in her and not much of a reaction. Maybe it was 'cause the layers that she had on. but huge, come on man, for not being a little more safer with the boiling water. but with that said, that is our Come on man. Weather theme. Weather addition, if you will. But let's skip back into our conversation that we've been having, Jason. So you'd mentioned earlier that you'd taken a flight to South Africa and you'd actually mentioned you had encountered some turbulence and I feel like it would be a good time to mention during your time at Fox Weather. For those that do not know, Jason did a documentary on, you know, airline turbulence. In the documentary, Jason kind of explains, you know, he's had a fear of turbulence, but you know, I'll let you explain it a little bit more and you know, what was that project like for you and being able to describe something that impacts people on a day-to-day basis when they're flying, and what's been the most rewarding part of that project?

Jason Fraizer:

So, growing up I did not fly a lot, but once I met my wife, we were in a long distance relationship for about three years. we initially met when I lived in Connecticut, but then eventually I moved to Boston and she had moved to Jacksonville, Florida. So we were flying back and forth. So I know way more about the airline industry than I probably ever wanted to, As I was always flying back and forth to see her, my biggest fear wasn't even crashing. It was more of the turbulence. I hated turbulence. I was one of those people. I was the one out of every two people that had some form of Ara phobia, which is a fear of flying. And you know, I knew with her, I was like, I gotta do it, so I gotta go see her. But it wasn't the fear of, my goodness, I think, you know, the plane is going to crash. I think for me it was more about, I don't know how long it's gonna last. I don't know what's causing it. I don't know what the people in the cockpit are doing about it. And you know, is there something wrong with the plane one of the reasons why I had pitched this to the executives over at Fox was because it had combined two passions of mine. I love traveling, and at the same time, all turbulence pretty much, well, I'll say 90% of turbulence is weather related, with the exception of mechanical turbulence, which happens as a result of a bigger plane. Look, all turbulence is, it's just wind shear. It's a change of wind speed and wind direction. Either as you're flying or as you're going up. And usually what your plane is trying to do is your plane is trying to find some sort of equilibrium, right? That's the reason why it's doing this, is because it's trying to balance the wind that's either moving perpendicular or on top of it, or at the bottom. You know, with the mechanical turbulence, it's usually caused by a much bigger plane, either in front of you or flying overview, and there's these eddies that end up developing as a result, so you're basically riding the waves. What was enlightening for me about that project when I flew out to Boeing. We saw how the planes were built, and I learned that the wings are supposed to move. I felt that the wings were supposed to be attached like this and they weren't supposed to move, but they are designed to flex back and forth. I believe they said either 50 or 60 degrees. So if your wings are moving this way or this way, it's a good thing because it's your plane adjusting. And they told me that if we design the planes. Such that the wings did not move, the wings would eventually break apart because of the friction with the air. And I thought that was very interesting. The other cool part about the project was we had a chance to go to Delta Airlines in Atlanta, and I had a chance to talk with their meteorologists and to see the amount of people that were dedicated to my flight, not only taking off but also landing safely. it put my mind at ease that we're not alone and everything's going to be okay. And I had met another pilot as a result of this project with United, he was the chief pilot from United, and he basically said, a plane has never crashed because of turbulence. And all turbulence is, it's like a pothole in the middle of the air. And after that I was like. Baby bring all the turbulence. I'm good. Thankfully, I have overcome my fear of turbulence, so, you know, I would encourage anybody, I mean, you can go to YouTube and you can just type in fasten your seat belts, Jason Fraser. It'll pop up. I think to this day is one of the best stories that I've told, especially because it was personal.'cause I talk about my struggle with flying as well.

Kyle David:

And we'll do one better. We'll throw the link for that video into the show notes so people can go directly check that video.'cause it is a very interesting video on how turbulence is, and you do an excellent job describing that. Before we get into drizzle weather and your company that you've started up, looking back on all of the different. Weather events that you've covered, what's been one that has been the most memorable in a positive way, and then what's been one that's been frustrating you, or has frustrated you?

Jason Fraizer:

Sure, I'll talk about the frustration first. About three years ago, there was a storm system that had pushed through portions of Tennessee and Louisiana in America, we believe that, you know, when these storm systems come through, people's lives are changed, but they're gonna get the help because, you have the Red Cross that pops up, everybody donates money, they get a couple of million dollars and of course that helps people rebuilt. But I think the challenge that I had was, I believe it was the state of Louisiana. We had gotten word that there were people who a year after a hurricane had pushed through, they still had tarps on their houses. And I thought seven or eight months later, we are in the greatest country in the world, right? Our GDPs, billions of dollars. Why are Americans living in homes that quite honestly, we would expect to have in other parts of the world. This is the richest country the world. And a lot of this had to do with the fact that you had insurance companies that were basically saying that the damage was caused by water. It wasn't caused by wind. And as a result, they didn't qualify for payouts, which to me it was like this is the biggest, you know what, like these people's homes were destroyed and they're still trying to live there. So the government had to step up. There wasn't legislation that was passed because they got hung up because of politics. In the end, you still had just regular people who were caught up. You know, in this back and forth between state government, the insurance companies, and, I mean, these are good people. I mean, these aren't millionaires. You know, these aren't people who, have, you know, a hundred million dollars in the bank. These are just good, hardworking people across Louisiana, and that, to me, it was just incredibly frustrating that we would allow that in this country to happen. That we pay into a system and that we think that when we are going to need that help, the system is gonna take care of us. And semantics is what holds up people from moving on. it's heartbreaking. Now, you would ask me a question about a positive weather moment or one of my favorite weather moments? It was actually Tropical Storm Herald because. It was pretty cool to see how in Corpus Christi, it was a beautiful day, the day before. I mean, we had temperatures well into the seventies. I mean, you looked out and you would not think in the Gulf that there was a tropical system that was barreling down. The winds were calm, the skies were clear. But 12 hours after I signed off, boy, here it comes. You could feel the temperature drop. You could also feel the winds slowly start picking up. And I remember a moment where I was standing on a balcony, which by the way, I would never, ever recommend that you do in the middle of a tropical system. The winds were barreling at like 50 miles per hour, and the rain was pelting my face. And when I tell you it hurt, it felt like little icicles were hitting my face because the winds were so strong. So reminder, we had sustained winds of 50 miles per hour, and I believe we actually had wind gusts that were much higher than that. It hurt, but whew, it was a rush

Kyle David:

and I loved it. Yeah. I've actually ridden a rollercoaster It was just like drizzling out. there was no thunderstorms or anything, but describing that, it brought me back to that memory.'cause ooh, I don't know if you felt it, but it's painful feeling those raindrops hit you at like 60, 70 miles an hour at times. It's not as an experience.

Jason Fraizer:

These a little raindrop. I mean, they're like this big, you know, or I mean, maybe a few of 'em might be, you know, maybe this big. But yeah, I mean, it's, yeah. and then on top of that, there is one road that goes in and out of, Corpus Christi and where we were, out on the island. And you know what was a little scary was to see that road flood. thank goodness we had a vehicle that could travel over it. But, you know, I just kept thinking that, well, at least the car doesn't need a car wash. Their nature just gave it one and we were soaking wet and ugh. but it was so exhilarating because it was fascinating to see how mother nature could go from a very pretty day to, literally converting it into one of the worst possible storms that you could imagine. Then of course, the following day, oh man, what happened? I don't know. I mean, sky's clear. We're good to go.

Kyle David:

Not even so much of a drizzle remaining.

Jason Fraizer:

yeah. and that's very typical of these tropical systems. And then in front of it, skies are clear, it's very calm. And what's also interesting too, is how you even see the calmness of the birds as they're moving away from the storm. Then there's this eerie silence that happens right before landfall that every meteorologist will tell you that there is, it's almost as if all the other animals know that this bad boy's coming and there's nothing around you. And I think that there's some resource being done about like how they can, how other animals, know. but I think that they are in tune with something, whether it's the pressure difference, some sort of vibration, some sort of instrument that, they either naturally have or that they're aware of that we don't know about. Because when's the last time you've seen like a shark in the middle of downtown or Miami? it just doesn't happen, Or a whole bunch of fish. It just doesn't happen. So what does that tell you? They know something that we don't know.

Kyle David:

Yeah. I would not wanna see shark or alligator. I think there were cases with Katrina that happened, or Andrew, where there were like Gs and stuff. Yeah, I would not want that happening to me. but on a later note, and I was kind of trying to segue us to, drizzle weather, with the word drizzle after the tropical storm. I know. Poor transition. But anyways, it's okay. I wanna talk with you a little bit more about drizzle weather and getting that business started. We kind of mentioned in the intro that you've got two books out, you've got a coloring book, you've got a textbook, you're bringing STEM education to classrooms across the us. But I'm curious how, what got you interested in starting that business up?

Jason Fraizer:

Sure. So as I worked in Savannah, in Cleveland, and even at Fox Weather, one of the things I really loved doing was classroom visits. You know, when I thought about what really motivates me? It's interacting with the kids. It's getting the kids interested in weather and in climate. And what's really cool is when you see the light bulb go off with these kids, and so I said, look, let's just design something you know that the teachers can use. Because part of the feedback, even from when I did some of these visits. The teachers would tell me there's just not a lot of interactive resources. So now our business is basically all of that. I mean, we are right now working with a school on designing the first ever stem dance night Storm The school where we're basically gonna have one hour of the kids learning all about weather and climate. We're gonna put 'em on a green screen and then we're gonna have them come up and request their favorite weather song and then we're gonna have a dance party. As a result, I'm talking with another school about having a STEM related fashion show where basically we have the kids dress up as their favorite weather instrument and we do a whole presentation on that, and then we have a little party after. So there are different ways, I think, to engage kids around weather. It is the one thing that Doesn't matter where you are. Weather is always gonna impact you, and I'm very happy to see different states around the country adopt rules around teaching about climate and weather, because as they get older, they're going to be impacted by it. One of the other things that we're working on right now is the first weather app for junior high school and high school kids. You know, when you think about how vulnerable they are to doing outside activities, there is no weather app on the market that is really trying to help them do what they do. So we're working on that. There's gonna be lessons on there. There's going to be a social media feed where they'll be able to upload pictures and videos on it as well. So in addition to doing the in classroom stuff, we're also trying to find ways to continue the learning development beyond just the visit, whether it's virtual or in person.

Kyle David:

And the fact that you're developing a weather app to not only give kids the information about the weather, but help them learn. I think that's really awesome. the fact that you're developing an app for kids to not only know about the weather, but to learn from it as well is really awesome. And the fact that you're developing all these interactive materials for them to learn more about the weather is phenomenal. in writing your books and developing apps, what's one thing that still sticks with you in developing all these things that you thought wouldn't have applied from your journalism experience, your weather broadcasting experience, or any other experience that you've had?

Jason Fraizer:

It goes back to what I said earlier about storytelling, with the kids. If you tell a really good story, they'll remain interested. If you make sure that the story is interactive, they'll remember it. They'll tell other kids and they'll apply it. And so I am constantly telling stories, even in sales, you know, as I'm reaching out to schools and you know, I'm talking to school leaders, it is all about the story, right? What are kids gonna learn? Why is this gonna be so important, Kyle, it goes back to you. Do you have a good story?

Kyle David:

Good story, indeed. that's a good point. And on that note, I'm curious, in your school visits, in your public presentations, has there been a moment where you've shared a story and you saw. That light bulb go off in a kid or somebody that who doesn't know a lot about the weather and they just learn something.

Jason Fraizer:

Yeah. it happens all of the time. And I think that is what the most rewarding part about this job is now, is helping to inspire the next generation of meteorologists. So, you know, I remember there was a situation I had where I did a school visit in Savannah and I was up in the Atlanta metro area, which is about four hours northwest of there, randomly in a restaurant and a teenager walks up to me and says, Hey, you're Jason, right? It's like, yes. Who are you? and how did you know my name? Yeah. You came to my class and you were so inspiring. Two of my classmates said they're interested in thinking about meteorology 'cause you were so cool. and that was a moment where I was like, that's all worth it. that was the biggest reward. There was no amount of money in the world that could make that as rewarding as what that child told me.

Kyle David:

I'm just curious, has there been a kid that you've inspired to go into meteorology and they've actually gone to study meteorology or they have their first job in meteorology? Or are they still a little too young yet to

Jason Fraizer:

they're still a little too young. Thanks for aging me, Kyle. But yeah,

Kyle David:

not my intention

Jason Fraizer:

that has not happened yet. No, I have not had the kid. Yeah, I know the kids out there somewhere who attended one of my previous, you know, conversations and now is in school to do it. So now that would be interesting. Now I have had some people who were in a college course that I did talk to who are now a meteorologist.

Kyle David:

happen. Can you elaborate on that a little bit more?

Jason Fraizer:

Yeah, no, there was one person, I spoke with and, 'cause I used to get a lot more people who would just randomly reach out to me on like LinkedIn or, you know, to say, Hey, you know, I need this advice or this advice. And, you know, I do try. I can't do as much as I used to anymore just because my hand is in several different businesses now. But, you know, this person that reached out to me, they asked me for some career advice, I told 'em what to do. and then fast forward a couple years later, they were actually doing it. and they reached back out to say, Hey. Thanks.

Kyle David:

That's phenomenal to hear that. And in your experiences from transitioning from reporting journalism to broadcast meteorology and now to STEM education, I'm kind of curious, looking back on all those experiences, what's been one piece of advice that sticks with you to this day?

Jason Fraizer:

Don't give up. You know, you're gonna encounter some moments that are completely overwhelming. You're gonna encounter some moments where. You just think, I'm not gonna be able to do this, or, I'm not gonna be able to survive this shift. Somehow you do. you just take it moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day. And then before you know it, it's kinda like a race. You look back and you realize, wow, we just did that. So, you know, look, this industry, especially because we cover so many dark moments, we cover so many moments of extreme weather, it can take a lot out of you because we see so much death and destruction. But it's still one of the most rewarding careers that anybody could ever have because you know what we do, you know, we're saving lives. I mean, that's truly what we're doing. We're helping folks understand something that impacts everybody and we're trying to save lives, and there's no greater feeling than

Kyle David:

And on that note, you had mentioned there's unfortunately death and destruction that comes with the weather, and you've talked about in the past actually, that the psychology for people going through those weather bits and then recovering. Then there's also the psychology and the mental health of those reporting on it. You know, telling people what's going on with the weather. you know, what are some ways for people in both sides, you know, meteorologists, professionals and then the public to, you know, maintain their mental health during and after these extreme weather events.

Jason Fraizer:

the TV folks and the streaming folks are not gonna like this, but take a break. Look, it's great to be engaged, but at some point you have to say to yourself, alright, I gotta take a moment. I gotta take a break. the other part of this is there are so many ways to help. You don't have to be on camera in order to help. you can either volunteer with a group, you can do things beyond. if you have been the recipient of Mother Nature doing something really crazy, my best piece of advice is asking for help and seeking help out. I cannot tell you how many times I've talked to people who did not realize how overwhelming the process was of my goodness this weather event happened. My home was either partially damaged or destroyed. What should I do? Because you're just so caught up in, in just, where am I gonna live? Where am I gonna sleep, that they don't really take time to process. And so I just stress, take a moment. Take a beat. You'd be very surprised, what that does to you.

Kyle David:

Take a moment. Take a beat. That's very good advice for not just the broadcast people, those telling the weather story, but for those that are in the moment being impacted by the weather. Just take a moment, take a breather. But now that we've climbed the mountain of your career, you can kind of see the mountain rage ahead of you in terms of STEM education, weather education, weather communications. What do you see as the future for weather communications and STEM education for the next year? Or if you wanna be bold, five, 10 years?

Jason Fraizer:

Yeah, so I believe that TV stations, TV meteorologists, are going to go away just because I'm looking at the streaming environment and people no longer want to wait 4, 5, 6, or 11 o'clock to happen. I believe that just as we've had travel influencers and fashion influencers, we're going to have weather influencers and we're already starting to see that happen, with people like Ryan Hall, who, you know, I know that there are some in our community that don't really agree with what he does and how he does it, but I think he's been able to really tap into a underserved market. So I, I hate to tell you this, but he is the future. So we better embrace it while we can. Social media, you know, it's not even the future, it's present. I think it's gonna be very fascinating to also see how AI is gonna impact how we do what we do. the National Weather Service is already utilizing it, to put out different weather alerts different languages. So, you know, I think at some point we're probably gonna all have our own personal AI meteorologist. I can totally see it happening. and if somebody's listening and it creates it, I want 15% for that idea.

Kyle David:

Make sure you give that 50% cut to Jason. But you bring up an interesting point too, because the future's a little uncertain because of, you know, recent events with the cuts to NOAA and the National Weather Service. We're seeing services that they've provided in telling the weather story and observing what's going on, being threatened by these cuts. What do you see the future of the weather industry because of those cuts? Do you see it's gonna be long lasting. what are your thoughts on that?

Jason Fraizer:

Sure. No one likes to hear about layoffs. No one likes to hear about cuts at all. A deeply disappointed, you know, to hear about the impacts of the people at NOAA as well as the National Weather Service because they were already understaffed. And I think what's unfortunately going to happen is there are going to be several storms that are going to be impacting people that we're just either going to miss or we're not going to be able to give the lifesaving information, that we have come to expect. And my biggest concern with that is, is there going to be a tornado or a hurricane or something that's going to happen that people will either be severely injured or worst case scenario, die. And we could have prevented it. The other concern I have is, you know, anytime you do staffing changes or staffing adjustments, people get used to that level and, we are the gold standard in the world, so we should be leading this. we should be investing in this. We shouldn't be cutting it. And, I just fear that it's going to take a significant event to happen for us to say, wait a minute, that was a mistake.

Kyle David:

And that brings us to the end of this from the archive episode with Jason Frazier. Now before getting into the whether or not trivia with you, the listener, I just want to quickly mention that Jason is doing his business drizzle weather, but he is also got two weather books that are coming out or have already come out as of this recording, that is Look Up, A Beginner's Guide to Weather by Jason Fraser. And we also have Weather Alert, a fun coloring conversation. For Kids and parents by Jason Fraser. So you can get those books at Barnes and Noble or wherever you get your books from. I'll be linking to those in the podcast notes below so you can get those books'cause they're quite interesting. The Lookup Beginner's Guide Weather is an Introduction to the Weather and then the Coloring Conversation book is as the title says, it's a conversation book, it's a coloring book for kids, for parents, for all ages. And it helps people not only learn about the weather, but also color as well. I find coloring very therapeutic, from time to time if I ever get the chance to do it. without that out of the way, now we get to our, whether or not segment. And unfortunately we were not able to do these with Jason Frazier before we had to, stop our recording. But we get to do it with you, the listener of the episode. So without further ado, let's get into our first question. This is whether or not the first question is related to the New York Giants football franchise, which New York Giants running back leads the franchise for most rushing yards in a season. Is it A Sequan Barkley B Joe Morris, c Ahmed Bradshaw, or D Tiki Barbara? Again, the question is which New York Giants running back leads the franchise for moats rushing yards in a season? The choices are Sequan Barkley, Joe Morris, Ahmed Bradshaw, and Tiki Barbara. All right, the time is up on this question and the correct answer is Tiki Barbara, and I'm kind of surprised that it's not Sequan Barkley, but given that the time that he had with the Giants and the. Historic run that he is had with the Eagles. just doesn't surprise me in that aspect. And good on the eagles for acquiring Saquon Barkley there. But anyways, getting back to the weather or not trivia, the next question is related to hurricanes, which 2005 hurricane holds the record for most intense hurricane by atmospheric pressure? Is it a Wilma b, Rita, c Katrina, or d Dorian? Again, the question is which H 2005 hurricane holds the record for most intense hurricane by atmospheric pressure? It's Wilma, Rita, Katrina, and Dorian as the answer choices and without the time is of the correct answer is will. It's kind of a little bit of a quiz on the, on this day weather history segments that we've been doing. Thus far. Katrina was not that far behind in terms of all the hurricanes that happened in 2005. It was most intense by landfall for that season. but in terms of the other hurricanes that happened, Wilma, Rita were historic storms within themselves as well. Now, with that said, we get to the next question, which is related to hip hop and rap. Which rap artist won the most awards at the 2025 Grammy Awards? Was it a Post Malone, b Kendrick Lamar c Rhapsody, or d Deutsche? Again, question is which rap artist won the most awards at the 2025 Grammy Awards? The answer of choices are Post Malone, Kendrick, Lamar, Rhapsody, and Deutsche. I hope you have your answer locked in because time is up on this question. The correct answer is Kenrick Lamar, what a historic run he had with his album, that came out and the Not Like Us song that I think won like two or three Grammys within itself, for best song, best music video. Don't quote me on that though, because I am a meteorologist and not a, music historian and big into the music, but still like his music. Also like some of the other artists that we mentioned here. All right, that said, next question is related to, again, tropical weather. At what Sustained wind speed does a tropical system, a tropical depression or something. And next question is related to tropical systems. At what sustained wind speed? Does a tropical system become a tropical storm and receive a. Is it a 21 miles an hour, B 30 miles an hour, C 39 miles an hour, or D 40 miles an hour? It's a little bit of tricky, so if I'll give a little bit more time with this. At what sustained wind speed does a tropical system become a tropical storm and receive a name? Is it a 21 miles an hour? B 30 miles an hour, C 39 miles an hour, or D 40 miles an hour? Give a couple more seconds for this to evoc in your answer. And with that time is up. The correct answer is 39 miles an hour C is the correct answer. That's when a tropical system, regardless of whether it's a tropical depression already, or it's something that's already forming but doesn't really have a designation, that's when it becomes a hurt, a tropical storm, and it gets a name from the nameless for that basin and for that year. Because each season, each basin has their own list of names that it runs through. So again, 39 miles an hour is the correct answer that we get to. The last question of this, whether or not trivia and that is related to travel. What is the busiest airport in the United States? Is it a Hartsfield? Jackson Atlanta International. B Los Angeles International Airport. C General Edward Lawrence, Logan International Airport, which I didn't even know that part of the name was part of the name of the airport or d Denver International Airport. Again, the question is, what is the busiest airport in the us? Is it a Hartsfield Jackson Atlanta International. B Los Angeles International, C General, Edward Lawrence, Logan International, or d Denver International. And with that time is up. The correct answer is Hartfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport. And with that said, that brings us to the end of the weather or not trivia and to the end of this episode. Thank you again to Jason Fraser for joining me on that episode and giving me the time to talk with him about his experiences drizzle weather. I encourage you again to go check out his books. Those will be linked in the show notes below. I hope that you enjoyed this episode of the Everything Weather Podcast and all the fun that we talked about, all the weather we talked about. As always, thank you again so much the listener, you to listening to the Everything Weather Podcast. If you have enjoyed it so far, please rate and review on your favorite podcast platform, share with all your friends and family 'cause there's still a lot of great content, even though we are going to be going on hiatus with these last few episodes. That being said, again, thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for listening to the Everything Weather Podcast. And we'll catch you on the next episode.

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Kyle David

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