Weather guys handle shower of questions with ease

While many place conversation about the weather in the realm of mundane small talk, two UW–Madison atmospheric and oceanic sciences professors take it to the public airwaves.

Steven Ackerman and Jonathan Martin have been regular guests on Larry Meiller’s weekday Wisconsin Public Radio call-in show for more than two years. During “Conversations with the Weather Guys,” which airs the last Monday of each month, the professors field a variety of weather-related questions.

Martin says the show is successful because it draws on weather’s presence in everyday life. “I’m not sure there’s another thing that occupies people’s minds quite as frequently as the weather,” he says.

The ordinariness of weather is what makes it a perfect topic for a talk show, Ackerman says. “Everybody has common experiences with the weather, so there’s automatically a foundation,” he says. “Once you tell somebody that you’re in weather or a meteorologist, they start asking you questions.”

Such an all-inclusive topic requires experts who can communicate with any type of caller. Meiller says the professors are able to talk with anyone. “They come across as such average guys,” he says. “They’re friendly and approachable.”

The 25 callers Ackerman and Martin typically hear from during a show are as diverse as the questions they ask. “We get some people who clearly know a lot about science in general and some people who are intensely curious,” Martin says. “And there are occasionally some kooks.”

Ackerman says he most enjoys people who call in seeking an explanation of something they’ve experienced, such as severe weather or weather phenomena.

The range of weather topics covered on the show is partly due to the host. Meiller begins each show armed with a list of questions pertinent to the current season or month.

“I’ll throw out a question, and then it’s basically a four-way conversation with a caller and the three of us,” Meiller explains.

Although the 90-minute shows begin with a theme, the direction each follows cannot be forecast. “Every show takes on its own character within the first 10 or 15 minutes,” Martin says.

An entire show can center on one caller’s question. Ackerman remembers a show that unintentionally focused on weather folklore. “Somebody asked about something their grandmother had said and then all of a sudden everybody was calling in with things they had learned.”

Callers usually ask questions of local concern, particularly about the Great Lakes and regional weather. However, the professors receive a surprising number of questions with global significance, many about global warming and lightning. “For the fact that the show’s going across Wisconsin Public Radio to predominately people in Wisconsin, we get a large number of questions that go well beyond the boundaries of the state,” Martin says.

Ackerman usually answers questions about global warming and weather phenomena, as his expertise is in these areas.

As a specialist in winter weather systems, Martin has spoken frequently about Wisconsin’s unseasonably warm winter. He believes the concern will carry over to questions about lake water levels and soil moisture this spring.

Other topics the professors predict will become popular in the coming months are tornadoes and severe weather. People will want to know what kinds of weather to expect this spring, they say.

Meiller says although the show’s four incoming phone lines are busy throughout most of the shows, his guests always have enough to talk about. “There’s no shortage of questions, but the guys are rarely — if ever — at a loss for words,” he says.

While Meiller and the professors often joke amongst themselves and with callers, the show’s primary goal is to educate people about the weather. “I think the mood of the show is very lighthearted,” Martin says. “I hope that we don’t go across the line and make people feel as though we’re not taking them seriously, because that’s not true.”

Ackerman says doing the show is often as educational for him and Martin as it is for listeners. When they are stumped by a caller’s question — something they both admit happens — they research the topic and report their findings at the next show.

Meiller attributes the success of the “Weather Guy” show, which can be heard in Madison on 970 AM or 90.7 FM, Monday-Friday at 11 a.m., to the interplay of Ackerman and Martin’s personalities.

“If you love what you’re doing, if you have an enthusiasm for it, it really comes through,” Meiller says. “And it certainly comes through with them every time.”