Feb. 5, 2026

National Weatherperson’s Day

Show Notes
Transcript

Question 1: National Weatherperson’s Day is observed annually on February 5 in honor of which early American physician who kept some of the first continuous weather records and even carried instruments on a pioneering 1785 balloon flight?

Question 2: Known to newspaper readers as “Old Probabilities,” which meteorologist is often called the Father of the U.S. Weather Service for organizing early forecast operations and issuing the nation’s first official weather forecasts in the 1870s?

Question 3: When meteorologists use Doppler radar to spot a tornado, what key measurement do they rely on to reveal rotation inside a thunderstorm—leading to signatures like velocity couplets and hook echoes?

Question 4: The deadliest single tornado in U.S. history carved a 200-plus-mile path on March 18, 1925; which three states did the “Tri-State Tornado” tear through?

Question 5: Which early 20th-century scientist and leader of the Bergen School laid the groundwork for modern weather forecasting by formulating the primitive equations of atmospheric motion and the polar front theory?

You may also like ODD ONE OUT. a new podcast with Mark Ellison! Mark gives you 4 words, you decide which word does not belong. Three rounds daily, quick and fun,

Portions of today's trivia podcast were made with the help of AI.

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Callaroga Shark Media. I I am Mark Ellison. And today's

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theme is National Weather Person's Day Meteorology, historic storms and

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the people who predict them. Question one. National Weather Person's

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Day is observed annually on February fifth, in honor of

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which early American physician who kept some of the first

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continuous weather records and even carried instruments on a pioneering

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seventeen eighty five balloon flight. Question two, known to newspaper

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readers as old probabilities. Which meteorologist is often called the

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father of the US Weather Service for organizing early forecast

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operations and issuing the nation's first official weather forecasts in

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the eighteen seventies. Question three. When meteorologists used Doppler to

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spot a tornado, what key measurement do they rely on

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to reveal rotation inside a thunderstorm leading to signatures like velocity,

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couplets and hook echoes. Question four. The deadliest single tornado

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in US history carved a two hundred plus mile path

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on March eighteenth, nineteen twenty five. Which three states did

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the tri state tornado tear through? Question five? Which early

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twenty the century scientist and leader of the Bergen School

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laid the groundwork for modern weather forecasting by formulating the

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primitive equations of atmospheric motion and the polar front theory.

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We'll be right back with these answers after this break.

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Welcome back. Question one, National Weather Person's Day honors which

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early American weather observer? Answer John Jeffries. The day marks

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the birthday of doctor John Jeffries seventeen forty four eighteen nineteen,

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who began daily weather measurements in Boston in seventeen seventy

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four and made one of the earliest meteorological observations from

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a balloon during a flight across the English Channel in

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seventeen eighty five. Question two, who was the old Probability's

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father of the US Weather Service? Answer Cleveland Abbe. Abbey

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led the Signal Service's forecasting work, standardized procedures, and began

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issuing regular forecasts starting in eighteen seventy one, laying the

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foundation for today's National Weather Service. Question three, What does

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Doppler radar measure to reveal storm rotation? Answer radial velocity

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of precipitation particles. Doppler radar detects frequency shifts caused by

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motion toward or away from the radar, allowing forecasters to

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see inbound and outbound wind side by side, an indicator

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of rotation. Question four. Which states did the nineteen twenty

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five tri state tornado cross Answer? Missouri, Illinos and Indiana.

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The long track tornado devastated communities across those three states,

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killing nearly seven hundred people, and reshaping understanding of severe

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storm impacts. Question five. Who developed the Bergen School's polar

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front theory Answer Wilhelm Birknis. Norwegian physicist Wilhelm Berknis treated

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forecasting as a solvable physics problem, and with colleagues, including

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his son Jakab, described fronts and cyclones core concepts in

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synoptic meteorology. That concludes today's five daily trivia questions. I'm

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Mark Ellison, and today's questions were crafted with the help

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of AI technology. See you tomorrow.

National Weatherperson’s Day

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