Hurricane Expertise

ALBANY, N.Y. (Sept. 12, 2017) – As Hurricane Irma leaves behind a trail of debris, historic flooding and power outages to millions across the state of Florida, the expertise of UAlbany’s Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences (DAES) has been featured on the national stage and across the globe.

Live on MSNBC:

On Friday night, DAES associate professor Kristen Corbosiero was interviewed live on MSNBC’s “All in with Chris Hayes” from the University’s on-campus studio in the Office of Communications and Marketing.

She spoke with Chris for several minutes, who was in Miami, about how and where hurricanes form. He also asked her to explain the reasoning behind Irma’s massive size and intensity in relation to Hurricane Andrew, a category 5 hurricane that struck the Bahamas and Florida in August 1992.

Chris Hayes averages about 2.01 million viewers in its primetime 8 to 9 p.m. slot.

“MSNBC was a great platform to speak about my research and to educate the public about tropical cyclones,” Corbosiero said. “Appearing on national, primetime television was both exciting and excellent exposure for our department and the University. With only 10-20 seconds to answer each question asked, I tried to keep my answers as succinct as possible, without jargon, sticking to the main science message I was trying to make. I’m thankful for the experience and would welcome the opportunity to speak with Chris again.”

Corbosiero was live on The Jim Bohannon Show following her MSNBC interview. You can listen to it here (starting at about the 10-minute mark).

Helping Track Hurricane Irma:

DEAS’ Brian Tang and Ryan Torn have spent the last several weeks helping the National Hurricane Center track Hurricane Irma.

Brian Tang, assistant professor of atmospheric and environmental sciences, speaks with Global News Toronto via the Office of Communication and Marketing’s on-campus studio. (Photo by Mike Nolan)

Tang, an assistant professor, created a spaghetti diagram that illustrated the paths that different forecasts centers were predicting that the hurricane could travel. His diagram was picked up by several different news outlets, including the Washington Post’s “Capital Weather Gang.”

On Sunday morning, Tang was live in-studio with Mary Wilson of News10 ABC in Albany. He also spoke remotely with Global News Toronto in Canada on Monday via the Office of Communication and Marketing’s on-campus studio and interviewed with The Wall Street Journal.

Torn, an associate professor, worked with the National Hurricane Center to help them decide where to fly their aircraft and launch weather balloons to gather data. By choosing the right locations, the center could more precisely determine Irma’s path.

The two were interviewed together by CBS 6 WRGB – Albany last week about their efforts.

“Irma is just a monster storm in terms of its’ strength so people need to be taking Irma quite seriously at this time,” Tang told CBS.

In addition, Torn spoke with Gordon Deal on his morning show, which partners with 250+ terrestrial radio stations. You can listen here.

Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences:

From better understanding and prediction of extreme weather events to advanced climate studies and climate impacts, UAlbany’s Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences offers students and opportunity to work with world-class researchers on projects inspired by some of the most pressing questions and challenges facing humankind.

You can learn more about its academic programs here.

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