About This Episode

On Feb. 7, 2013, the night before the Blizzard of 2013 (aka Winter Storm Nemo), Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Eugene Mirman stopped by The Bell House to talk about the weather. Dr. Adam Sobel, professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia, was on hand to explain what causes hurricanes, from the Coriolis force and the jet stream to asymmetrical temperatures and tides. Together with comedian Michael Showalter and musician Questlove from The Roots (Jimmy Fallon’s in-house band), the StarTalk Live crew toured the most infamous storms of our century, including the great Galveston Hurricane, the Perfect Storm, Andrew, Katrina and Superstorm Sandy. They also discussed the science of weather forecasting, the categories on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, and whether we could – or should – redirect a hurricane.

NOTE: All-Access subscribers can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: StarTalk Live! Storms of Our Century (Part 1).