Tulsa Meteorologist Michael Seger took an unconventional path in his pursuit of weather work. This podcast tells his back story, which involves years of studying art and some crazy times in South Florida- like hanging out with Aerosmith. He also covers tornado safety and communication in this episode.

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Transcript:

00;00;00;05 - 00;00;27;01
Hal Needham
How does a small town boy from southern Indiana end up going to art school in Georgia? Hanging out with Dan Marino and Aerosmith in South Florida and then becoming a meteorologist and storm chaser in Oklahoma? Find out in this latest episode of the Geo Trek podcast with Tulsa, Oklahoma, meteorologist Michael Sager. This podcast is relevant to young professionals making career decisions and trying to figure out what path to take, particularly if they have an interest in weather and climate.

00;00;27;18 - 00;00;51;29
Hal Needham
We also touch on some valuable perspectives about extreme weather communication, as well as precautions you can take to protect yourself if you live in tornado country. Hey, everyone. I'm Dr. Howell, host of the GEO podcast, and we are at podcast episode number 65, and we're so thankful to have you along for the ride. Geo Trek investigates the impact of extreme weather and natural disasters on individuals and communities.

00;00;52;12 - 00;01;12;11
Hal Needham
Our goal is to help you improve your decision making, risk assessment and communication related to extreme events so you can take action to make yourself, your family and your community more resilient. Hey, before we get into this podcast, we have a quick favor to ask of you. We'd really appreciate it if you take a moment to subscribe to this podcast on your favorite podcast platform.

00;01;12;28 - 00;01;33;25
Hal Needham
Your subscription helps us mark professional progress, which ensures many more episodes of the Geo Trek podcast in the future. Now let's get to know this week's guest a little bit better. Michael Sager is the Monday to Friday morning meteorologist at Two news Oklahoma in Tulsa. He forecasts produces and presents the on air weather segments on two news Oklahoma today.

00;01;34;17 - 00;01;58;08
Hal Needham
During severe weather he takes off the suit and goes into chase mode becoming the lead meteorologist in the field chasing severe weather and tornadoes that may affect his coverage area. I met michael at the national storm chaser summit near oklahoma city the first weekend in February. We recorded this podcast live from the summit. Here we are at the National Storm Chasers Summit in Midwest City, Oklahoma, very close to Oklahoma City.

00;01;58;09 - 00;02;03;23
Hal Needham
I'm with Michael Sager, broadcast meteorologist from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Michael, thank you so much for taking time to come on the Geo Track podcast.

00;02;03;23 - 00;02;05;05
Michael Serger
Yeah, thank you very much for having me.

00;02;05;12 - 00;02;07;27
Hal Needham
This has been an amazing conference. Have you had a good coverage so far?

00;02;07;28 - 00;02;21;24
Michael Serger
It has been amazing. You know, and the the content we've been seeing is fantastic. But what's even better yet is just, you know, seeing all the people, all the chasers and, you know, some of what you see out on the plains every spring and having a chance to catch up again after the winter.

00;02;21;24 - 00;02;28;17
Hal Needham
It's really nice post-COVID to have these conferences and workshops in person, Right. You get the relationship side of it, not just the meteorology.

00;02;28;25 - 00;02;50;27
Michael Serger
Absolutely. And that's the that's the big thing. You know, I had somebody asked me yesterday, you know, because I do have a meteorology background. So a lot of this, the content that is being shown I already know is like, what are you doing here? And I said, Well, I love chasing and I just the people, you know, these are the people that think like me and, and you know how that passion for weather and for severe storms and it's just great being here.

00;02;50;27 - 00;02;52;18
Hal Needham
Yeah, that's right. The community is really amazing.

00;02;52;18 - 00;02;53;08
Michael Serger
Absolutely.

00;02;53;17 - 00;03;06;00
Hal Needham
Michael, I wanted to start with you. Like, I know for a lot of people that got into meteorology, they were interested in as a kid or there was like a triggering storm. I mean, going back for you, how how long were you interested in meteorology and what was that like as a kid growing up?

00;03;06;04 - 00;03;27;21
Michael Serger
You know, I originally had a fear of lightning and tornadoes. Like I can remember when I was very, very young. I used to have nightmares and it just might sound crazy, but I used to have nightmares of lightning bolts that would not flash, but they were just in the sky and in the whole shape and everything used to give me a fear and I would have nightmares of tornadoes coming in and and hitting our house.

00;03;27;21 - 00;03;32;15
Michael Serger
And that fear, though, over time became a curiosity.

00;03;32;16 - 00;03;32;26
Hal Needham
Okay.

00;03;33;07 - 00;03;55;15
Michael Serger
And I grew up in a very small town in southern Indiana, Dubois, Indiana. It's kind of between Evansville, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky, if anybody is familiar. And yeah, I think to this day is still Indiana's largest tornado outbreak, June 2nd, 1990. And I remember that day vividly. You know, we were in the basement of our house watching the local television.

00;03;55;15 - 00;04;15;18
Michael Serger
And as we're down there and the local meteorologists are tracking the storm, like I'm just I'm I'm addicted, you know, like right away I'm like, I'm watching the storm on radar with the meteorologists. And I'm we had little windows. You know, we were in the basement, our house, we had little windows, you know, kind of at the top of the of the the ceiling.

00;04;16;04 - 00;04;19;03
Michael Serger
And I wanted to see what was going on, you know?

00;04;19;03 - 00;04;23;06
Hal Needham
Yeah, you're like you're following it on TV, but you want to pick out the window, see what's going on.

00;04;23;06 - 00;04;37;15
Michael Serger
Yes. And my grandparents is my dad's parents. At the time, they didn't have a basement, so they actually came over to our house. And my grandfather and dad went outside and I can I go outside on the front porch and I want to take a.

00;04;37;15 - 00;04;38;01
Hal Needham
Look during.

00;04;38;01 - 00;05;03;08
Michael Serger
The events, during the event and the storm still, you know, many miles away. And went outside. And that was the very first time I didn't really realize at the time that I saw a massive supercell that was producing a lot of lightning. And it missed us to the north, but it had a long track tornado on it and went from southern Illinois all the way across southern Indiana.

00;05;03;11 - 00;05;03;20
Michael Serger
Man.

00;05;03;20 - 00;05;06;03
Hal Needham
So it was close enough that you could see it from your you can see.

00;05;06;03 - 00;05;07;24
Michael Serger
That you could see the supercell from our porch.

00;05;07;25 - 00;05;14;20
Hal Needham
Have you ever seen anything like that? I mean, these rotating thunderstorms are kind of independent. They're so, in a way, artistic and beautiful, but very dangerous.

00;05;14;20 - 00;05;34;20
Michael Serger
Yeah. And, you know, I didn't know it at the time. What I was looking at to me, you know, if it had lightning and thunder, it was just a thunderstorm. I didn't understand at the time the differences and types of storms and storm structure. And so I totally was clueless at the time. And 13 years old. Sure. What I'm actually looking at, but that memory will stick with me.

00;05;34;28 - 00;05;39;25
Michael Serger
And then I can remember the town of Petersburg, Indiana, was was hit very hard.

00;05;39;28 - 00;05;41;08
Hal Needham
How far was that from where you lived?

00;05;41;08 - 00;06;04;19
Michael Serger
Petersburg is probably oh, gosh, I'm trying to think from where I grew up, by the way, the crow flies 20 miles or something or so pretty much due west and I went through town with my dad after they'd opened it back up. But obviously the destruction is still there. And that was the first time that I had seen EF four tornado damage.

00;06;04;19 - 00;06;08;17
Hal Needham
So this is like right after the event, you drive a couple of weeks or. Okay, but.

00;06;08;17 - 00;06;14;20
Michael Serger
There's still that. There's still like you got brick homes where the you can just the walls are gone, you know, and these are.

00;06;14;20 - 00;06;17;20
Hal Needham
Brick and an India for a tornado. Weeks later, you're still going to see a lot of that.

00;06;17;20 - 00;06;18;27
Michael Serger
Exactly. Exactly.

00;06;18;27 - 00;06;25;04
Hal Needham
And what was that like? I mean, do you recall, like memories of like driving through the town and, Yes, what you expected or was it just like, whoa.

00;06;25;08 - 00;06;41;23
Michael Serger
I didn't know what to expect, really? You know, I don't remember. At least I don't remember knowing what to expect. But I do remember seeing the images and I can still generalize it in my head. It's shocking. At 13 years old, you're like, Holy cow.

00;06;42;00 - 00;06;44;15
Hal Needham
Yeah. You didn't know Mother Nature could do that, right?

00;06;44;16 - 00;07;00;21
Michael Serger
Yeah. And and that was pretty much the sparking point of this curiosity, which was originally a fear, too. Just. Just almost obsessed. Right? Like, well, I want to get all the books. I want, you know, any videos out there? You know, I wanted.

00;07;00;21 - 00;07;05;11
Hal Needham
To learn everything you could to know, like, how does Mother Nature work? How does the atmosphere work?

00;07;05;12 - 00;07;10;12
Michael Serger
Like, how how does nature produce that much power to cause that much.

00;07;10;12 - 00;07;14;02
Hal Needham
Just wow and so personal when it hits the area where you grew up, right?

00;07;14;07 - 00;07;15;08
Michael Serger
Yeah, absolutely.

00;07;15;13 - 00;07;23;19
Hal Needham
So, Michael, walk us through then you finish high school and now all of a sudden like, okay, well, what are you going to do after that? Well, how did your interest in meteorology evolve through those years?

00;07;23;19 - 00;07;43;08
Michael Serger
So I didn't go into meteorology right after high school. I had a debate of what I was going to do, what was I going to do? Meteorology? Was I going to do art? Because I have an art background. I was always good at drawing and I took a lot of art classes through through high school. I end up getting a scholarship to art school and being from a small town.

00;07;43;08 - 00;07;54;12
Michael Serger
And yes, I felt like this is an opportunity to do something different and I got a scholarship to do it. So I took a scholarship to the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia.

00;07;54;15 - 00;07;57;14
Hal Needham
Oh, wow. Okay. So you were you were thinking different parts of the country.

00;07;57;14 - 00;07;57;24
Michael Serger
Different.

00;07;57;24 - 00;07;58;06
Hal Needham
Parts, different.

00;07;58;06 - 00;07;59;09
Michael Serger
Experience and experience.

00;07;59;09 - 00;08;01;25
Hal Needham
And you're going to really focus on this love of love you have of art.

00;08;01;25 - 00;08;16;10
Michael Serger
Yes. And I always thought I you know, I had thought about doing weather, but I was also and it's crazy now that I'm doing broadcast meteorology. But I was extremely shy and introverted and TV at that time. Like, there's no way I can get from.

00;08;16;13 - 00;08;18;18
Hal Needham
Like, I'm not going to be on camera and for all those people.

00;08;18;18 - 00;08;19;13
Michael Serger
Yeah, exactly.

00;08;19;20 - 00;08;27;05
Hal Needham
So you went so you like dove really into art. I mean, so I'm curious, like, what were your undergrad years like being what how did you develop as an artist?

00;08;27;05 - 00;08;49;15
Michael Serger
I really enjoyed it. I majored in computer art. That was the degree at the time this would be. So I graduated high school in 1995 and at the time that was like computer animation, your Toy Story kind of thing. Yeah, just coming out, coming out. And and that's kind of what this degree was, was involved in, plus a lot of special effects.

00;08;49;23 - 00;08;55;12
Michael Serger
You know, some of my classmates have gone on to to work for these big companies in Hollywood and help make some of these like.

00;08;55;14 - 00;08;56;11
Hal Needham
Animation and stuff.

00;08;56;11 - 00;09;14;09
Michael Serger
Yeah. And but me, I realized as I'm getting later in my years, I'm really getting involved, too. I thought it was really cool. It is pain staking the time consuming and I don't I didn't know if I had the patience to be.

00;09;14;14 - 00;09;15;15
Hal Needham
Like detail oriented.

00;09;15;16 - 00;09;26;21
Michael Serger
Detail oriented. It's, you know, to make those animations and make those computer animation, it's a lot of time, it's a lot of work and it's a lot of sitting in front of a computer.

00;09;26;21 - 00;09;33;18
Hal Needham
Yeah, yeah, that's right. It has become what used to be maybe drawing on, you know, pencil and paper now is, is all computerized, right.

00;09;33;18 - 00;09;39;20
Michael Serger
Yeah. And I still enjoyed it, but there was a part of me that was like, you know, I don't know if I want to do this as sure.

00;09;39;26 - 00;09;40;29
Hal Needham
A long term profession.

00;09;40;29 - 00;09;42;01
Michael Serger
Long term profession. Yeah.

00;09;42;01 - 00;09;46;10
Hal Needham
So how did you transition then from your background in art and that academic training into meteorology?

00;09;46;10 - 00;10;04;03
Michael Serger
So I guess it's kind of a long story and I end up graduating from SCAD, Savannah College of Art and Design in 1999. I did look for jobs. I wasn't having much success, but I, you know, I don't think I really had the passion for it to be young. I look back at the time, I did not.

00;10;04;09 - 00;10;07;01
Hal Needham
Yeah, how about fire? Like I need to get a job in the field.

00;10;07;01 - 00;10;27;12
Michael Serger
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And, um, I stayed in Savannah for a year. I had a good friend of mine. We actually tried to do some freelance work in Savannah, which we did a little bit, but it wasn't enough to to make a living, you know? We were. Yeah, it was. It was a struggle. Yeah. And so I just had this idea, like, I want to move to Florida.

00;10;28;12 - 00;10;33;05
Michael Serger
That's the weather's not even weather is not even an idea right now.

00;10;33;05 - 00;10;36;25
Hal Needham
So you're like in your low twenties, you have this undergrad degree in art and you're going to Florida.

00;10;36;25 - 00;10;56;02
Michael Serger
And I'm like, I'm just going to you know, I was I was actually starting to feel almost kind of down. And, you know, here I went and it's, you know, a very, um, you know, that that school is very high rated. Sure, sure. And like, here I am, I'm graduating. You know, it's almost a year passed and I don't have a job.

00;10;56;02 - 00;11;17;18
Michael Serger
And so, yeah, I'm getting a little down on myself for sure. And, and so I just felt like I needed a change. Long story short, I went down for a job interview in Miami, and it was supposed to be some sort of sports marketing thing, and I was just trying anything. Yeah, and but it wasn't anything what I thought it was going to be.

00;11;18;01 - 00;11;33;27
Michael Serger
And I talked to my parents that night and like, just check the paper, you know, see what? See what's in there. And, and there was this job opening for a doorman at a resort in Fort Lauderdale Beach. Okay? And I'm like, That might be kind of fun.

00;11;34;13 - 00;11;35;18
Hal Needham
Made a lot of interesting. They meet a.

00;11;35;18 - 00;11;55;29
Michael Serger
Lot of interesting people and and you know, I think that would be something different. You're on the beach, like I think I'm going to Yeah, check this out. So I called the number there on the classified ad and went over to the building, which was downtown Fort Lauderdale, where they were They were located the hotel, the resort wasn't there.

00;11;55;29 - 00;12;15;25
Michael Serger
But that's for the, the company that ran the front door of the resort was and and they set up an interview that afternoon for me to go over and talk to some of the managers over there. But I had to come back for a second interview to like meet the GM of the hookers. You know, if you're a doorman, you're the first person, the guests.

00;12;15;25 - 00;12;17;08
Hal Needham
Right? You need to have like, great people.

00;12;17;08 - 00;12;26;19
Michael Serger
Skills and you have to you have to they want they want the right people up front. And so I did that and they offered me a job and I was like, I'm moving to moving to Fort Lauderdale now.

00;12;26;22 - 00;12;31;05
Hal Needham
With So this is amazing. So you're going to deal you got the job, you're going to be a doorman. You're going to.

00;12;31;05 - 00;12;32;04
Michael Serger
Be a doorman. Yeah.

00;12;32;04 - 00;12;34;16
Hal Needham
And this is amazing. I mean, who knows who you'll meet, right?

00;12;34;16 - 00;12;47;02
Michael Serger
So I met I have one thing I regret. I worked there for over two and a half years. I wish I would have kept a journal because I met so many celebrities coming in and out of that door because it was an upscale high end resort.

00;12;47;02 - 00;12;49;19
Hal Needham
In South Florida. Like away, right? People.

00;12;49;19 - 00;12;50;02
Michael Serger
I mean.

00;12;50;02 - 00;12;50;14
Hal Needham
People.

00;12;50;14 - 00;13;10;16
Michael Serger
I mean, just, you know, Dan Marino would come up there every once in a while. You know, we had oh, my gosh. I mean, I talked for 50 minutes with Aerosmith out the front there. You know, they come in concert, you know, to play Fort Lauderdale. Yeah. They stayed there, you know, And yeah, it was just I wish I would have kept the journal I have.

00;13;10;16 - 00;13;15;14
Michael Serger
So, like, there's a lot of stuff I forgot, but just it was such a cool job.

00;13;15;17 - 00;13;21;13
Hal Needham
Yeah, well, that's amazing, too. And your people skills are so sharp, so that probably refined, right? You're like, just used to talking to anybody, right?

00;13;21;17 - 00;13;37;27
Michael Serger
Well, I think that helped me to do what I'm doing now because I was such a shy and introverted kid, and I still am in a way, you know. You know, I'm not you know, I have no problem talking to you. You know, it's you know, I'm very comfortable, but I still am in a way. And some people are surprised to hear that because I work in television.

00;13;37;29 - 00;13;38;09
Hal Needham
Yeah.

00;13;39;03 - 00;13;53;02
Michael Serger
But I think I really believe I needed that to help give me some confidence, because talking to people, this idea of, you know, being in the public eye, too. Sure. Sure. And I really think that helped me for this next step.

00;13;53;02 - 00;14;04;00
Hal Needham
Wow. So, I mean, and that's amazing. Like, what an opportunity. You're there. And again, another area of the country, you're doing something so different. But but really developing professionally and personally, even though you might not have known it.

00;14;04;00 - 00;14;23;20
Michael Serger
Yeah, exactly. And you know, it was just those those it was two years and seven months that I that I spent there. And I had an apartment, a cheap apartment that was kind of an older building. Right. Basically right on the beach in Fort Lauderdale. So if I work the morning shift, an hour shift went from 7 to 3.

00;14;24;00 - 00;14;31;06
Michael Serger
My drive to go to work was a long one. A Yeah, Fort Lauderdale and the sun's coming up over the over the ocean.

00;14;31;10 - 00;14;32;15
Hal Needham
Of Vanilla Ice is, you know.

00;14;34;02 - 00;14;35;21
Michael Serger
That's exactly right.

00;14;35;21 - 00;14;52;27
Hal Needham
Oh, no. It's, you know, South Florida is just so iconic and beautiful and just. Oh, yeah, yeah. But to live there and to be there. Oh, So I'm wondering, how does a doorman at a hotel resort in Fort Myers or I'm sorry, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, become a broadcast meteorologist in Tulsa, Oklahoma. How does this how did that happen?

00;14;52;27 - 00;14;53;06
Hal Needham
Yeah.

00;14;54;07 - 00;15;20;12
Michael Serger
So after a while, you know, working there at the resort, I realized that, okay, I have this interest in weather. I have not done anything with it. And and, you know, being on the East Coast, being in Savannah and Fort Lauderdale, you know, I watched a lot of tropical systems come through. I had to evacuate twice. And I was in Savannah from two hurricanes, you know, been through some tropical storms and some minimal, minimal hurricanes.

00;15;20;12 - 00;15;40;20
Michael Serger
But, you know, I loved tracking those tropical waves across. And so I had that interest in in being in the growing up in the Midwest. You know, I had the severe weather aspect. Sure. And I just could not get weather out of my head. I it was something, you know, going back to we just talked about as a kid that I just was fascinated with it.

00;15;41;02 - 00;15;56;06
Michael Serger
And so I realized, yeah, I'm I'm getting into my mid twenties and like, if I want to do this, I better do it now. Yeah. And so I started looking at going to school. I looked at University of Miami and I had no idea what you are. Miami's a private school.

00;15;56;18 - 00;15;57;00
Hal Needham
Yeah. Yeah.

00;15;57;00 - 00;16;14;28
Michael Serger
And, and so I toured the campus and met some of the department there. And because of my transfer credits, it would have taken me about three years to get the degree there. And that was nice. And start looking at schools. You know, they, I was going to have to do the whole four year degree because the transfer credits.

00;16;14;28 - 00;16;38;18
Michael Serger
But I looked at how much money it was going to cost me. I'm just like, I can't do this. Yeah, the tuition and know I don't want to be six figures. So I finish. So I start looking again. And my now sister in law at the time was just my brother's girlfriend was a basketball player, Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana.

00;16;38;22 - 00;17;12;05
Michael Serger
And she was telling me is like, Hey, take a look at Valparaiso. Yeah, they've got a program there. It's not, you know, at the time extremely well known. Sure. But they've got a pretty solid program there. It's coming up and coming. And so I made an appointment to go to go visit. And I. I loved it. You know, it was a smaller environment, I felt like in which for me being somewhat introverted and yeah, I felt like I could do do more than that if I'm in a crowd of people and yeah, get lost.

00;17;12;05 - 00;17;13;17
Hal Needham
And back in your home state of Indiana or are.

00;17;13;17 - 00;17;16;04
Michael Serger
You back back in my home state, opposite end of the state from where.

00;17;16;04 - 00;17;16;18
Hal Needham
I grew up.

00;17;16;18 - 00;17;40;14
Michael Serger
But back in my home state. And if I told myself if I got accepted, I was going to do it. Now it's also a private school, not as expensive as as Miami, but I was going to be a little less in debt. Sure. Yeah. And and it just felt like it was the right fit. And and plus, with the transfer credits, I could do it in two basically two years and a summer session.

00;17;40;14 - 00;17;48;08
Michael Serger
And they had a broadcast meteorology degree. Yeah, sure. So I want to point that out too. Yeah. Because that's I figured if I was going to do it I was going to do the project, right?

00;17;48;20 - 00;17;59;20
Hal Needham
Yeah. So it seemed like everything aligned. You could be closer to your, your brother and your future sister in law, right. Because they were there in that area. So it seemed like things aligned personally. And then you really like the program and went for it, huh?

00;17;59;21 - 00;18;18;09
Michael Serger
Yeah. It's basically what happened. And I can remember, you know, I got accepted and I was like, I'm doing it. And my cousin at the time lived in West Palm Beach. And so when I was moving back to, you know, moving back to go to school, he rode with me. Yeah, from West Palm Beach, just to go visit family.

00;18;18;18 - 00;18;30;03
Michael Serger
And I remember we're driving along and I'm telling him, like, Troy, like, what am I doing? You know, I'm moving to northern Indiana where it's cold in the winter and I'm going to leave all this.

00;18;30;03 - 00;18;36;23
Hal Needham
Cold and cloudy, leaving the palm trees being are they does anyone have a surfboard for, say, oh, scuba gear? Well, be this.

00;18;36;24 - 00;18;38;12
Michael Serger
Like, what am I doing.

00;18;38;20 - 00;18;43;17
Hal Needham
Man? But I would imagine getting on campus, getting in that environment, taking those first classes, you're like, wait, this is where I meant I.

00;18;43;17 - 00;18;53;28
Michael Serger
Was I was so pumped, you know? And it was kind of weird, you know, Now I look back at it and, you know, it wasn't. But at the time when you're in your mid twenties and you're going to these classes with some 18 year olds.

00;18;53;28 - 00;18;55;09
Hal Needham
Sure. Sure. You feel a lot older.

00;18;55;09 - 00;19;01;04
Michael Serger
You're older. Yeah. You're like, oh, man, I'm the old guy on campus, you know, I'm that guy. Yeah, but. But it worked out.

00;19;01;09 - 00;19;16;16
Hal Needham
I mean, that's really cool. So and then obviously, you're back in a part of the country where severe weather becomes more of an issue. Actually, northern Indiana, even lake effect snow in the wintertime. And then you're dealing with your tornado threat, hail threat. You know, you're not in hurricane country anymore. So and then, you know, how did that work?

00;19;16;16 - 00;19;22;08
Hal Needham
So you're at the elbow and then now you're in Tulsa. Was that was that your first job, Tony? Did you work there? But not my first job.

00;19;22;29 - 00;19;44;01
Michael Serger
So I had some great opportunities while I was at Valspar. One of the other reasons why I went there was they had a storm chaser team. Okay. Student Storm chaser. Oh, awesome. So they had a a program to basically they it was a class. Yeah. Wow. For ten or 11 days, tapping on how the weather pattern worked out and the students do the forecasting.

00;19;44;08 - 00;20;02;05
Michael Serger
That's awesome. And they pick the target area and obviously we have a professor or two there to kind of help guide us along. But that was my first storm chasing experience. And sure, that's one of the big reasons right there. And the other reason why is they have a great relationship with WGN and Tom Skilling in Chicago. Okay, great.

00;20;02;05 - 00;20;12;07
Michael Serger
And so my last semester there, I interned at WGN. So two days out of the week, I was, oh, wow. Driving into downtown Chicago. Sure. To an intern there. So that's.

00;20;12;07 - 00;20;22;01
Hal Needham
Great. You have that connection with the Chicago market and then you're your center there in the upper Midwest, where you can get easily out to Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, a lot of these areas where the severe storms fire, right?

00;20;22;01 - 00;20;38;28
Michael Serger
Yeah, We didn't do a whole lot of chasing. We I can remember we did go out on some local events like across northern Indiana. Yeah. But you know, during school, unless you're there in the summer the you know our season there is a little bit later so it's kind of out of out of school. Sure. Sure. Unless you're there for the summer.

00;20;39;07 - 00;20;49;27
Michael Serger
But that's kind of what, you know, really got that fast. But I never knew. And you're going back to your question, You know, how did I end up in Tulsa? You don't really know where you're going to go. You know, you get the.

00;20;49;27 - 00;20;50;11
Hal Needham
Degree and.

00;20;50;11 - 00;21;04;08
Michael Serger
You get degree and you're just trying to find a job. Sure. Sure. And and it's not that so much of a case now, but it definitely was back then. When you graduate and you want to go into broadcast meteorology, you're going to go to a small market. Sure. You're not going to make any money.

00;21;04;08 - 00;21;04;16
Hal Needham
Yeah.

00;21;05;07 - 00;21;09;17
Michael Serger
And you basically just kind of earn your keep and then you try to move up.

00;21;09;18 - 00;21;19;20
Hal Needham
Yeah, sure. I've heard that you kind of start at a small market, maybe not primetime chefs, even just doing what you can, getting your foot in the door, showing your potential, and then things start improving from there.

00;21;19;20 - 00;21;20;22
Michael Serger
Yes, exactly.

00;21;20;27 - 00;21;30;11
Hal Needham
Yeah, that's really interesting. So here we are at a storm chaser summit. I know, like your passion is for the meteorology and getting out there. Do you get out a lot, you know, and do some chasing? Yes.

00;21;30;11 - 00;21;50;13
Michael Serger
And so the fortunate thing for me is my first job brought me to North Texas. Denison, Texas. We covered southern Oklahoma and north Texas and I sent out so many applications across the country and the only one to call me back was was was K ten television and Denison, Texas. And I was like, yes.

00;21;50;22 - 00;21;53;10
Hal Needham
That's I mean, and for our listeners, you could have.

00;21;53;10 - 00;21;53;17
Michael Serger
Died.

00;21;53;22 - 00;21;57;28
Hal Needham
Ali Yeah, right. You could have ended up in New Hampshire or maybe or California or. Right.

00;21;57;29 - 00;21;59;27
Michael Serger
I sent stuff to Oregon, up to.

00;22;00;02 - 00;22;01;11
Hal Needham
New York, and here you are in Tornado.

00;22;01;11 - 00;22;03;08
Michael Serger
Alley or I am a tornado alley. Yeah, they are.

00;22;03;14 - 00;22;10;25
Hal Needham
Right on the Texas Oklahoma border. Perfect. Yeah. You couldn't ask for a better. It was perfect. Yeah. Wow. So how long were you there along the Red River area?

00;22;10;25 - 00;22;25;09
Michael Serger
So I worked there for two years and seven months. Oh, great. I had a three year contract, but I was able to get out a little early. Yeah, because of the opportunity that came up in Tulsa. So I would have been 2005 to April 2008 when I was in Denison.

00;22;25;09 - 00;22;29;00
Hal Needham
What was it like moving to moving and forecasting in Tornado Alley?

00;22;29;21 - 00;22;47;11
Michael Serger
I absolutely love it. You know, it it it could be especially early on, a little intimidating, especially when we'd had some of these severe weather events like, Oh my gosh, you know, I've got to be on top of this, you know, and I didn't have a chance to do a whole lot of chasing my first couple of years.

00;22;48;02 - 00;23;11;23
Michael Serger
You know, I mostly stuck to being in the studio. I did get out for my first tornado was April 21st in 2007. So not my storm chasing days without. But I never, never saw a tornado. Yeah, but that was just a happen to fall on a Saturday. Wasn't going to affect our viewing area locally. And I went out to Texas Panhandle and got a tornado there, so I had a chance to do some chasing.

00;23;11;26 - 00;23;26;12
Hal Needham
Michael, is it me or are people in general in Tornado Alley like very well-educated? I've been in grocery stores and her grandma's being like, I don't know if there's enough wind shear to, you know what I'm like. They're they're talking about this stuff like very knowledgeable just in the grocery store. Yeah.

00;23;26;12 - 00;23;52;18
Michael Serger
And I think that, you know, I've found in my experience, they are more knowledgeable here than you might see in other parts of the country because it is something that, you know, I have no problem talking about wind shear when I'm on the air, like, you know, the ingredients we need it storms. I you know, I want to educate in a way I don't want to like overcomplicate things.

00;23;52;23 - 00;24;01;29
Michael Serger
I want to educate people, too, in the same sense that so they understand. And I think just it's one of those situations. The more you know, the the better your off.

00;24;01;29 - 00;24;19;04
Hal Needham
Sure. Sure. Yeah. Information really is power to help you in this case. Really make life or death decisions for a lot of the listeners. I mean, if you live in tornado country, sometimes you really have to be underground to survive. You know, it's not even enough just to stay home. Right? Right. This isn't like an ice storm. This is it could actually kill you in your home, right?

00;24;19;04 - 00;24;39;18
Michael Serger
Yeah, absolutely. Now, one thing I always try to explain to, because, you know, that is very true. But even on the highest risk days, the odds of a tornado hitting your exact home, your exact spot are still very small. And I try to explain that because there's a lot of storm anxiety out there. Sure.

00;24;39;19 - 00;24;40;08
Hal Needham
People get really well.

00;24;40;08 - 00;24;56;24
Michael Serger
People get really worried, you know, if there's a high risk of tornadoes and that really, you know, I used to take a call from a from a viewer any time we had any sort of risk of severe weather and you could just tell they were really afraid, really afraid. Yeah.

00;24;57;15 - 00;25;06;02
Hal Needham
Let's say there's a severe weather outbreak that may happen towards the end of a week like Thursday. Friday. What is your week look like? Like how do you start messaging that through the week?

00;25;06;02 - 00;25;35;03
Michael Serger
So I, I love that opportunity because it's this is my this is my passion. This is what I've always loved. I do my best to explain the threats that are out there, hopefully in a very understandable manner. What we could be looking at, timing wise, you know, if it's early on in the week, you know, say it's a monday and we're expecting something Thursday and Friday, I always, you know, try to be like, you know, it's still three days away to give.

00;25;35;03 - 00;25;35;19
Hal Needham
Them a heads.

00;25;35;19 - 00;25;48;22
Michael Serger
Up, a heads up. It's you know, we don't know exactly how this is going to evolve. And a lot of times that far in advance, you don't know how the atmosphere will line up or are we going to deal with supercells or you're going to, you know, deal with a linear situation where you've got a line of storms coming through.

00;25;49;27 - 00;26;02;17
Michael Serger
But then as we get closer in time, the messaging will become a little more clear, a little more precise as far as timing, the types of storms that we'll be looking at and the threats that may come with it.

00;26;02;29 - 00;26;12;28
Hal Needham
So what about the morning of a big outbreak? I mean, you're looking at everything's looking really primed for Thursday afternoon. You do a lot of morning forecasting. It's Thursday morning. What are you telling your listeners?

00;26;13;02 - 00;26;36;26
Michael Serger
So I am telling everybody to one of the words I always and I think a lot of people use this, but be weather aware. One of the situations where you want to have your phone with you, get any alerts possible that may come across, whether you have a no, a weather radio or, you know, now with cell phones, you know, these alerts will come right to your phone, which is which is huge.

00;26;38;01 - 00;26;55;27
Michael Serger
But I always try to explain to people to pay attention to what the weather is doing. Don't get caught off guard, because that's, I think, the most important thing as far as know, the danger that I don't want to say it is a danger, but just be aware of that. All right.

00;26;55;28 - 00;27;00;12
Hal Needham
So, yes, this could be a real threat this afternoon. Yes. Stay. Stay connected.

00;27;00;12 - 00;27;08;10
Michael Serger
However you do. Exactly. Yeah. Exac. Everybody's going to have their own way of how they do that. But however you do that, you know, make sure your stay connect to what's going on.

00;27;08;10 - 00;27;17;26
Hal Needham
When there's actually, say, a tornado on the ground, there's actually maybe a big hail event, something like that. How are you messaging in that actual when when it's really so dynamic and it's actually happening?

00;27;18;12 - 00;27;38;26
Michael Serger
If we've got a tornado situation where, you know, and I've had it, where I you know, where I'm on, I do mornings and I've had tornado warnings on the ground in the mornings, you know, I'm I try to be as clear as possible, You know, make sure you are in taking your tornado precautions. You know, and here in Oklahoma, a lot of places don't have basements just because of the soil.

00;27;40;10 - 00;27;51;20
Michael Serger
So you know, interior room away from windows. You know, if you get underneath something, get under something, you know, that message will come out a lot.

00;27;51;25 - 00;27;59;22
Hal Needham
I've heard people say in hurricane country, sometimes a bathroom can be good. You have pipes in the walls. Usually it's more interior. Yes. Is that true in tornado?

00;27;59;22 - 00;28;13;01
Michael Serger
Because it's very, very much. Yeah. If basically you want to put as many walls between you and the outside as possible, because the debris will still come through those those outer walls. We've all seen pictures of two by fours, you know, ending up in somebody's.

00;28;13;01 - 00;28;18;10
Hal Needham
Home because you're in an interior closet. Maybe that two, two by four came through the window, but then it didn't get to you.

00;28;18;10 - 00;28;23;26
Michael Serger
Yeah, exactly. So it just adds more barriers to slow stuff down. Yeah. From getting to, you.

00;28;24;00 - 00;28;40;10
Hal Needham
Know, that makes it makes a lot of sense. Like a we were talking about some of the social science side of this, both with hurricanes and tornadoes. Just how you know, why people don't evacuate from hurricanes, why they might not shelter in a tornado, you know, and you were bringing up some really interesting comparisons. Can we talk a little bit about that?

00;28;40;10 - 00;29;15;10
Michael Serger
Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think that, you know, we're learning as broadcast as is really starting to come up over the last few years. You know, I attend other conferences. I've had the fortunate I've been very fortunate to listen to Dr. Laura Myers University, Alabama. She's done a lot of social science research really started with the with the super outbreak in April of 2011 of how the general public basically takes in weather messaging from broadcasters.

00;29;15;10 - 00;29;34;08
Michael Serger
And and we have really tried to work to improve that message to make sure it gets clear and understandable to the public and we talked a little bit about, you know, tornado warnings, like why, you know, if there's a 21, why you take cover, you know, why you know.

00;29;34;08 - 00;29;35;28
Hal Needham
Why isn't everyone taking immediate action?

00;29;35;28 - 00;29;58;09
Michael Serger
Why isn't everybody taking the action? And, you know, I think we have to kind of as a meteorologist, you know, think about, you know, for example, we've got we're here at the storm chaser summit. Fire alarm goes off. How many people here in our you know, we're in the conference room, the fire alarms going, How many of us are like, oh, we need to run our site immediately, Immediately, right outside.

00;29;59;01 - 00;30;01;24
Hal Needham
Probably nobody. Nobody can look around.

00;30;01;24 - 00;30;16;17
Michael Serger
Yeah, look around. You guys see? Okay. Do I see a fire as a smoke? You know, you're going to you're going to kind of analyze, you know, what's going on around you to see if you're in an immediate threat. Even though that alarm's going off, you're going to see, okay, what's going on? You're kind of.

00;30;16;17 - 00;30;19;13
Hal Needham
Skeptical because maybe you've seen a lot of false alarms in your life.

00;30;19;13 - 00;30;45;04
Michael Serger
Yeah, you're like, oh, some. I probably pulled the fire alarm. You know, it's not even not even it's a false alarm. Sure. You know, And so we see that in other aspects of life. It's just human nature. And so I think that that's something that we have to be honest about, you know, in how to approach that, especially if, you know, it is a dire situation.

00;30;45;05 - 00;30;53;07
Michael Serger
You've got a giant tornado on the ground and and you're trying to get that message out to for people to take cover.

00;30;53;07 - 00;31;09;05
Hal Needham
I know historically there were often like really broad warning areas. In fact, they would warn a whole county. Right. So maybe a tornado is going to clip the southern edge of the county. But there historically, they were maybe warning a whole county so you'd get maybe hundreds of thousands of people are under a tornado warning, but not really in the threat.

00;31;09;10 - 00;31;18;23
Hal Needham
Are there things that we're trying to do to kind of, you know, detail the geography a little bit closer, maybe with more more targeted watches and warnings?

00;31;18;25 - 00;31;35;17
Michael Serger
Yes. And so there's a few things that that have happened in the past. And we see that now. If if you know, you know, anybody that has radar and it can pop the part, those warnings, they're on you, on your radar. You see now we've got polygons. You know, it's not just the whole county that gets alerted. And you mentioned that was a big problem.

00;31;35;17 - 00;31;58;00
Michael Serger
You know, if you've got a fairly large county, but the tornadoes in the far southeastern part is just going to clip the far southeastern point, the kind of where you're alarming 95% of the county that doesn't need to be alarm. And so there was a lot of false alarm rates. And and that does it kind of goes into what we were talking about, how that, you know, people remember, oh, we tornado warning and sure, nothing never happens, never happens.

00;31;58;00 - 00;31;58;25
Hal Needham
Too many false alarms.

00;31;58;25 - 00;32;19;19
Michael Serger
Yeah. And so that they've done the National Weather Service, done a great job trying to narrow that down. One of the other things that is kind of in the works now, you know, the way warnings are issued, you put the polygon on there and then when the tornado, the rotation gets toward the end, the polygon, then you issue another warning.

00;32;19;19 - 00;32;33;08
Michael Serger
I got you. And so what that can do is like say you're just outside, but in the in the path in the way it's moving. But you're just outside of that tornado warning. But now that next morning is not issued until it's much closer to you.

00;32;33;14 - 00;32;35;04
Hal Needham
Right. You know, you're just outside.

00;32;35;12 - 00;32;43;14
Michael Serger
Is inside of it. And so now there's work being done that the tornado warning will move with the tornado With the tornado.

00;32;43;14 - 00;32;45;05
Hal Needham
So everyone gets at least, I don't know, 28.

00;32;45;06 - 00;32;56;21
Michael Serger
Yeah, exactly. Because you are going to have that little like move a little, you know, hop, skip, jump that, you know, not everybody's going to get the same warning time depending on where you are in the morning.

00;32;56;23 - 00;33;11;24
Hal Needham
So I have I don't know, 15 years of with hurricanes. Last year was my first year really doing tornado chasing and with my friend Jeremiah Long, we're up in South Dakota and there's a we're in a tornado, one storm, it just popped up. We got like 4 minutes to take cover and all of a sudden the sirens are going off right now.

00;33;11;24 - 00;33;21;02
Hal Needham
So, again, I'm kind of new to tornado chasing. How often will there be, like audible sirens? Is that like universal? It happens everywhere in the Midwest and plains, or is it is that selective?

00;33;21;02 - 00;33;32;28
Michael Serger
It most everywhere in the Midwest, in the plains will have some sort of a science and that you may get out into some smaller communities that don't, but even most of smaller communities do.

00;33;32;29 - 00;33;40;08
Hal Needham
What do you think about that? I mean, how far are those audible sirens going? Is that giving too broad of a net or is that good? Is that is that more targeted?

00;33;40;08 - 00;34;02;22
Michael Serger
I think one of the things that that is if you ever watched James Spann out of Birmingham, Alabama, broadcast meteorologist, just one of the best out there and he's kind of brought into light and I think a lot of us now are trying to bring to light that we have to remember that those are outdoor warnings. They're not meant for you to hear on the inside to give you warning.

00;34;03;16 - 00;34;06;15
Michael Serger
And so they're great. If you're outside.

00;34;06;16 - 00;34;12;01
Hal Needham
Someone's on a tractor, they don't have their smartphone. They're just out working in the field and all of a sudden there's a tornado sirens.

00;34;12;01 - 00;34;35;27
Michael Serger
Yeah. And, you know, and now, especially in the day and age of with how we have phones and cell networks and stuff like that, you know, we can get even better ways to get warnings. But, you know, I'll hear and you'll hear like, oh, the sirens didn't go off. And it's great, you know, for what it was, you know, back when they you know, in the sixties and seventies.

00;34;37;07 - 00;34;41;25
Michael Serger
But now with new technology, use that new technology to get to get your alerts and warnings and.

00;34;42;03 - 00;34;48;12
Hal Needham
It's more targeted right. Would you say like your cell phone map, your whatever watch warning you're going to pull out from the National Weather Service.

00;34;48;12 - 00;35;08;04
Michael Serger
In different communities will have different reasons to sound the alarm. You know, it's and, you know, obviously for tornado warnings, but say we have a high end severe storm, you know, 80 plus mile an hour winds. You know, for some communities, that's a threshold, too, to sound the alarm. Gotcha. So you're going to have different reasons for those alarms too soon.

00;35;08;11 - 00;35;13;29
Michael Serger
And again, it's not meant to be heard inside your home. It's mainly for people that are outside.

00;35;13;29 - 00;35;24;11
Hal Needham
What about like people sleeping at night? Like it's a tornado comes through at four in the morning. Are there like does Noah have like a watches and warnings that would go off like notifications? And yes.

00;35;24;17 - 00;35;43;24
Michael Serger
There's a and I don't know, unfortunately, I don't have any off the top of my head. You know, like our our app for our station certainly has an alert system that they and if you're no matter where you're listening from, I'm sure your local television station will have some sort of app that can get an alert sent in and a lot of that's done.

00;35;44;12 - 00;35;55;25
Michael Serger
So, okay, so it's pretty targeted. So it's pretty targeted. So if you're in that warning box and or, you know, severe thunderstorm of warning box, that alert will will be sent to you.

00;35;56;02 - 00;36;02;09
Hal Needham
Like all this this upcoming season. What does it look like for you? Do you think there'll be times where you get out on the plains to do some storm chasing? How does it look?

00;36;02;09 - 00;36;19;22
Michael Serger
I think so. And, you know, we had one of the talks yesterday, you know, how the season might play out. And this is one of the things I've been looking at. You know, we're kind of transitioning maybe out of this La Nina pattern and it may work out that it potentially could give us a fairly active season in the plains.

00;36;19;22 - 00;36;36;02
Michael Serger
And so my job and what's really cool about what I get to do on the morning meteorologist it's on the air but if we do have severe weather locally in eastern Oklahoma, we actually have two counties in southeastern Kansas that we cover as well. I am the primary meteorologist out in the field of storms.

00;36;36;04 - 00;36;38;20
Hal Needham
So you do you get some field time anyway just for your local region?

00;36;38;21 - 00;37;03;13
Michael Serger
Yeah, just for just for work related purposes. And so I am kind of curious to see how this plays out this season. I in my mind, I'm thinking I will be out quite a few times and then I also like to chase for fun. So I kind of have a range during the week, you know. So, you know, we cover more eastern Oklahoma and southeastern Kansas in the in the Tulsa television market.

00;37;04;03 - 00;37;23;04
Michael Serger
But if there's a dry line set up, you know, western Oklahoma and I don't have to worry about storms coming into to to our market east, I'll go out and chase it during the week for fun. Yeah and I always hope for Friday and Saturday setups like in the Oklahoma and Texas Patriots where I can get out there and just it's.

00;37;23;04 - 00;37;24;09
Hal Needham
Accessible if you have a day.

00;37;24;09 - 00;37;35;13
Michael Serger
Or two if I have it yeah it's I can get out there you know I go out there no time and yeah chase and storms and enjoy a storm chase weekend and come back and I'm back to work on Monday. You know I'm.

00;37;35;13 - 00;37;49;25
Hal Needham
Thinking your computer graphics must be like amazing with your background in art and computer. Right? Because like, I'm amazed how much time I spend time making graphics and that's not even my background. You have this academic background in a computer aided design and in art, right?

00;37;49;25 - 00;37;53;08
Michael Serger
Yeah. And I've never realized that I would actually use it. You know.

00;37;53;20 - 00;37;54;24
Hal Needham
It probably helps me quite a bit, but.

00;37;54;24 - 00;38;16;01
Michael Serger
It's helped me quite a bit because a lot of it, you know, a lot of the weather graphics there, there are a couple of companies out there that that are kind of dominating the weather graphics market right now, and it's basically what I was doing. You know, a lot of these are 3D software programs that are geared toward whether do.

00;38;16;01 - 00;38;21;03
Hal Needham
You see some graphics sometimes here? Like I could do a better job of that myself. They do customize a little bit sometimes. I mean.

00;38;21;12 - 00;38;39;11
Michael Serger
Some some of the systems are the custom to customize. It can be a little difficult. Sure, I got a little bit more work, but they have a lot of preset stuff that's already in there that you can that you can throw in there, but you can have a little fun with it. Yeah, And I, I, I heard of that one.

00;38;39;11 - 00;38;46;05
Hal Needham
I have heard of art is just having the eye for it too, and knowing what looks good and you know, and then yeah, I'd imagine you get some choice in that how you want to present, right. Yeah.

00;38;46;06 - 00;38;58;05
Michael Serger
Yeah. Just to. You know what I want the, you know, the text to be on this graphic or, you know, just trying to, you know, I know I'm going to stand here. So where I'm going to place all this, you know, there is kind of that idea of like, okay, I want this to look kind of good. You know.

00;38;58;17 - 00;39;01;26
Hal Needham
Like, how can people find you on social media? How can people follow your forecast?

00;39;01;26 - 00;39;32;10
Michael Serger
Okay, so I work at at Cage. RH at two News Oklahoma Channel two K Jerry Edgecomb is is the website for the station. I have a Twitter just Michael Sager It smells like Bob Seeger, ACG VR So am I c h LCG or just look that up. You'll find me on Twitter. On Instagram. I am m Sager ACG r w x and then on Facebook you can just find michael sager.

00;39;33;05 - 00;39;34;21
Michael Serger
You can find me on on Facebook.

00;39;34;23 - 00;39;48;10
Hal Needham
Got you. I'm sure a lot of our listeners going to want to follow you through to especially severe weather season. Do you have any last thoughts to leave with our listeners? So when you think about severe weather, especially like a storm season firing in the plains, any last thoughts to leave with our listeners?

00;39;48;12 - 00;40;20;00
Michael Serger
You know, I think that, you know, if you're listening, you're probably you probably have a passion for the weather, you know, and one of the things that I have really enjoyed being here at the summit is just getting to meet other people with that share that same passion. Sure. And if you are out there and you're listening and and you're maybe a little younger and you're not sure if this is a journey you want to take and you're having some uncertainty, just know.

00;40;20;01 - 00;40;33;13
Michael Serger
I also had that at the same time. You know, I went to when I graduated high school, I didn't even go into this. Yeah. And it's and it's never too late to pursue whether if that is your.

00;40;33;13 - 00;40;41;06
Hal Needham
Path, that's a really good perspective. We might have 22 year olds out there that are like, I should have gone in the weather and I did a story and you pivoted and got into it.

00;40;41;06 - 00;40;51;03
Michael Serger
Yeah, it's never too late. And I think I don't know what the statistics are on it now, but I know it's pretty high. Like how many people do not work in their first degree if that you know.

00;40;51;05 - 00;40;57;22
Hal Needham
That's right. So you can still pivot. You know, there are schools that work with older students, right? Like nontraditional students.

00;40;57;22 - 00;41;12;01
Michael Serger
Yeah. And and it was kind of in a way when I when I was nervous about going back to school because I was older. But when I got there, I felt like this is my second time around. I felt more like, okay, now I know what I.

00;41;12;01 - 00;41;17;05
Hal Needham
Need, my older students. I want to say older, even mid twenties, right? You're more focused. You know what you want to.

00;41;17;09 - 00;41;18;02
Michael Serger
Yeah. You're a better.

00;41;18;02 - 00;41;18;15
Hal Needham
Student.

00;41;18;15 - 00;41;22;15
Michael Serger
Yeah, exactly. You know, I was, you know, the first time through, I was kind of naive.

00;41;22;15 - 00;41;25;16
Hal Needham
I was like, Oh, yeah, you just don't know. You don't have the confidence, you know.

00;41;25;24 - 00;41;36;08
Michael Serger
I want to, you know, do well. And I was fortunate to do, you know, well that first time around. But at the same time I was just so naive to what, you know, to what I needed to do after. You know.

00;41;36;12 - 00;41;47;21
Hal Needham
Michael, very last question. I have this picture in my head, which may not be true. I picture everybody from Indiana as a basketball fanatic. You're wearing an Oklahoma City Thunder sweatshirt. I What level of fanatic are you?

00;41;47;22 - 00;41;51;16
Michael Serger
I enjoy. It is so true. Have you ever watched the movie Hoosiers?

00;41;51;16 - 00;41;52;22
Hal Needham
Yeah. That's what made I think.

00;41;52;23 - 00;42;11;17
Michael Serger
And so I'm from a very small town of 500 people in in southern Indiana and basketball. I mean, it just rules in Indiana. And and, you know, you got it. You got the basketball go there on on your bar, you know, and you.

00;42;11;17 - 00;42;13;04
Hal Needham
Can't escape it everywhere.

00;42;13;04 - 00;42;17;00
Michael Serger
It's like it's is as soon as you're born a doctor gives you like, hey, here's your basketball, you know.

00;42;17;11 - 00;42;20;22
Hal Needham
So it's really true. See, this is yet another thing we're learning here.

00;42;20;22 - 00;42;31;13
Michael Serger
And and there is a they used to not have a class system in Indiana. It was all the schools were going for the state tournament. They were all in the same.

00;42;31;13 - 00;42;32;16
Hal Needham
Group mean if you're small school.

00;42;32;16 - 00;42;45;02
Michael Serger
If you're in a small school didn't matter you were in the same group and in you know they ended up going to a class system which I think it has worked. Boy, when they made that switch, everybody's like, no, even the small towns, you know.

00;42;45;08 - 00;42;45;29
Hal Needham
They want to compete.

00;42;45;29 - 00;42;49;05
Michael Serger
We want to compete with the with the with the with the big ones. You know.

00;42;49;05 - 00;42;49;24
Hal Needham
It is serious.

00;42;50;00 - 00;43;10;18
Michael Serger
It was it was just it was such a fun atmosphere. I still enjoy the game of basketball. You know, being in Oklahoma for so long now. I try to get to a few Thunder games and never played competitively. They I, you know, I, I could dunk a basketball back in the day. I'm a little too old now. I could shoot pretty good from three and.

00;43;10;28 - 00;43;30;19
Hal Needham
I had to ask anybody from Indiana to see we're in this much time. We've been with Michael Sager here at the National Storm Chaser Summit in Oklahoma City area. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Thank you. Really excited to follow you this severe storm season as well. And just keep updated with what you're seeing in the field, what you're seeing on your forecast from from Tulsa, but beyond as well as you travel around the plains.

00;43;30;21 - 00;43;33;14
Michael Serger
And I'm assuming you're coming out chasing this spring.

00;43;33;14 - 00;43;35;17
Hal Needham
Yeah, I'm going to be out, I think at least a couple of weeks.

00;43;35;19 - 00;43;40;09
Michael Serger
Okay. And we'll definitely have to try to catch up if hopefully we cross paths for sure.

00;43;40;18 - 00;43;52;06
Hal Needham
We've been with Michael Sager here on the track podcast, recorded live in the Oklahoma City area here in early February. Again, the heart of severe weather season, really March through, I guess, May and June. We'll just have to see how it plays out this year.

00;43;52;11 - 00;43;53;00
Michael Serger
Absolutely.

00;43;53;01 - 00;43;54;24
Hal Needham
Thanks, Michael, for coming on podcast. Really appreciate.

00;43;54;24 - 00;43;56;09
Michael Serger
It. Thank you so much for having me.

00;43;56;24 - 00;44;24;01
Hal Needham
Well, Michael, that's a lot of great content that we covered here on the podcast. Let's look back at three points that really stuck out to me in our conversation. The first is the overall perspective that it's never too late to get involved in science. Michael's unconventional path through an undergrad degree in art, working as a doorman at a hotel in South Florida and then getting a degree in meteorology in Indiana is proof that taking an unconventional path into professional science work is totally possible.

00;44;24;16 - 00;44;47;24
Hal Needham
This is a theme we've covered several times on the Geo Track podcast. You may remember in episode 40 for answering career questions from a high school student. I shared a bit about my story, like how I was a baggage handler for an airline when I was 30 years old. Before I turned 40, I had a doctorate in the field of climate science and was flying to Germany to present at a conference this theme of an unconventional path to science work.

00;44;47;24 - 00;45;14;26
Hal Needham
Also stands out in Episode 31 Creative Paths to the Sciences at the Event Conference. In that episode, we hear the story of several scientists that took creative and unconventional paths to arrive where they are today. But perhaps you're 32 years old, you have two kids, your finances are super tight and you're saying there's no way I could make a career change now, while that might be true for you right now, there still are choices you can make to get more involved in the weather and science community.

00;45;15;06 - 00;45;43;14
Hal Needham
You can become a Skywalker in severe weather spotter, providing critical observations to the National Weather Service during severe weather outbreaks. Or you could become a rain and snow Observer submitting daily observations to the cocoa Roads Network, which helps hydrologists forecast floods. Involvement in the weather community is a great opportunity as well. I met Michael at the National Storm Chasers Summit, where participants were a mixture of professionals and hobbyists who all have the same passion for extreme storms.

00;45;43;29 - 00;46;17;02
Hal Needham
The National Tropical Weather Conference is another amazing community offering weekly online conferences during hurricane season. You can get involved in that community from the comfort of your own home. So the big picture here is that it's never too late to become involved in the weather community. The second take home point I thought was really important was Michael's advice to take shelter in the most interior room of your home if you're threatened by a tornado and do not have a storm shelter or basement or a way to get underground, strong tornadoes can cause exterior walls to fail or even project debris through windows and walls.

00;46;17;10 - 00;46;39;10
Hal Needham
So the more walls you have between yourself and the outside, the safer you're going to be. Michael helped correct a false perception. I had. You can hear in our conversation, I suggested that people need to be underground if they're threatened by strong tornadoes. He helped us understand that because of soil types, not all homes in places like Oklahoma actually have an underground storm shelter or a basement.

00;46;39;23 - 00;47;01;29
Hal Needham
I had not realized this, so I was thankful for Michael's perspective on this topic. As you can see, a lot of times on the podcast, I'm learning right alongside of our audience and always very thankful for knowledgeable guests like Michael that can help us see more realistically and understand what's really going on there on the ground. Finally, I really liked what Michael shared about staying weather aware when severe weather threatens.

00;47;02;15 - 00;47;31;13
Hal Needham
He mentioned how tornado sirens were really designed to be an outdoor warning system, whereas today's smartphone technology can provide more precise and targeted warnings. Consider signing up for severe weather notifications from your most trusted weather source to keep you alert if you're in the path of a tornado. I really like what he said as well about improved tornado warning guidelines that will essentially make tornado warnings roll with the advance of the storm to ensure that people in harm's way will get adequate, adequate warning time.

00;47;31;19 - 00;47;56;13
Hal Needham
I hadn't known about this before, but I think it's a great advance in the technology. Well, thank you again, Michael, for coming on the podcast. We're really excited to follow you this upcoming storm season. The heart of severe weather season is during the spring in the plains states and through portions of the Midwest and Southeast. Dealertrack will be providing several more podcast about severe weather, hail and tornadoes as we approach this storm season and also on social media.

00;47;56;17 - 00;48;14;08
Hal Needham
A lot of our video content will be right there during the heart of this upcoming storm season. A special thanks as well to our geo track marketing and production team, as well as you, our faithful listeners like Michael Sager Advise, Stay weather aware and we'll catch you on the next episode of the Geo Track podcast.

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