1KHO 792: Weather Brings Out the Kid in All of Us | Chris Bruin, The Weather Channel

Summer gets busy fast. One minute you're easing into warmer weather and the next you're juggling sports schedules, swim days, camping trips, road trips, late nights around the fire and trying to keep the house from completely falling apart in the middle of all of it. And if you're a cat family too, there's still the everyday stuff waiting for you at home including the litter box. That's why Whiskers Litter Robot is such a game changer during busy seasons. It automatically cycles after every use so you're not constantly scooping or dealing with litter cleanup every single day. It just handles the dirty work for you and the Whiskers app notifies you about your unit like when a clean cycle is complete, when drawer levels are getting full or if the unit needs a 10 gym. You can always track things like your cat's weight and bathroom usage over time which makes it easy to stay aware of changes without having to constantly check in. Honestly during a packed summer having one less daily chore to think about makes a huge difference. Maintain your cat's litter while focusing on your growing family. Learn more about Whiskers Litter Robot models and starter kits today to get set up before the summer craziness arrives. Take an additional $50 off bundles with code 1000 hours when you shop whisker.com slash 1000 hours. That's an additional $50 off bundles with code 1000 hours at whisker.com slash 1000 hours. Welcome to the 1000 hours outside podcast. My name is Ginny Erich. I'm the founder of 1000 hours outside and I have a treat for you today for the first time in forever. Actually I don't even know why I said that. It's because my daughter is in this play Frozen Junior like tomorrow night and so she has to say in the intro for the first time in forever. So that's why I said it. It's like in my mind. But it is true. For the first time in forever a real-life meteorologist is here. Chris Brewin welcome. Hey thanks for having me. So you're telling me you haven't had a meteorologist on this show. No you're the first one. Really? Thank you for saying yes. So excited about this because when you really think about like what excites kids and they and getting them outside they are so into the weather. And I had heard from this woman her name is Hannah Myruyama and she talks about jobs you know different types of jobs that kids can have. Talks about career and college and you know what is your path sort of after high school into life. And she said that most people most kids but people in general like that they can only name five to seven jobs. It's like policeman nurse teacher and I think weatherman is one. But then you don't really know any of them. Like I don't know any. So can you talk about your path toward. That's a job I think people know about. Don't necessarily like say well I'm going to actually do it. Yeah. I think it's a job everybody would love to do at some point in their life. And then it just kind of when they're especially their kid because I know when I was a kid I wanted to be an architect actually and then I wanted to be a meteorologist and that was the passion from early on. And so I'm thankful I had that kind of mapped out throughout my childhood and you know early adult years because I know a lot of people don't know what they want to do. But it's funny. My wife and I will meet new people or new families and she's like you got to stop saying you know like I'm a meteorologist. It's like it's like they're expected to be like oh that's so cool. What do you do. You know because my wife is a T and her job is this is interesting. But everyone wants to talk about meteorology. Like oh your physical therapist. No I want to talk about meteorology. That's so true. Oh yeah. So in every conversation you're probably showing everyone up. I try not I try to not bring it up unless I'm asked because then it's like oh yeah. But then it's common to say oh what do you do for work. You know and then it's like well then I ask you what do you do. And I'm like I'm a meteorologist and it's like well whoa we are meteorology. I've never met one of those you know but it is fine. It is really fun. So I'm really thankful to be on this podcast. I'm a kid at heart too. I mean weather brings out the kid in all of us. I think everybody I mean honestly everybody's tied to the weather at some point you can try draw ties financially health wise you know just so many things people are fascinated and when no one has anything to talk about they always default to the weather right. It's everybody. But if I talk to you about the weather it's not because I've nothing to talk about. It's just because I love talking about it. OK so specifically you are an on camera meteorologist. So are there there's more than one type right. It's like some are actually you're on the weather channel. So people can watch you on the weather channel weekday evenings on Storm Center on Storm Center of all things on the weather channel. What's the schooling like. Like what's the educational component of getting to where you are. And then some people desire to be on camera. Some people don't or do some people desire but aren't you know can't find the spot for it. Yes. So OK a lot of things. You got to love math and science if you want to get to be a meteorologist even if you're not going to be on camera if you're going to be on the sidelines there's so many other realms to a meteorology. I mean you don't have to be on TV or on camera you can be in the private sector which a lot of companies hire meteorologists to come up with you know risk management to reduce loss or to help prepare or if there is big weather events they got to maybe have a good plan in place and that's become a big outlet for jobs. So that's really cool. Obviously the airlines have their own meteorologists. That's a huge tie in and then the government and everybody has meteorologists that are issuing the tornado warnings keeping people safe looking at modeling. So there's so many different realms that you can go in. It's not just introducing maps. Now I love maps geographies probably my favorite subject along with the weather. So I figured it would be a good fit. And yeah schooling you have to have the passion for it because it is hard. You got to go up through calculus three. I remember an ordinary differential equations in college. So if you can bear with it and persevere you can get to the end and it's a lot of fun. So is it one of those things Chris where the classes that you take like a calculus three do you give us the question that everyone has. Do you actually use them. No I don't. I don't. I don't. And honestly I don't think I could go back and pass anything any testing calculus three. I forgot a lot of it. Those things are helpful though if you are going to be more in the modeling or you're looking at the behind the scenes kinds of aspects of meteorology because essentially you're learning what the computers kind of do for you. And it's good to have that kind of knowledge because a lot of these equations. I mean goodness there you look at the wind chill equation. You got to know your math just to even get those or converting Celsius to Fahrenheit. Simple things like that. It's a lot of heavy math involved. And those things are fun. Those things are fun. But yeah I don't use that. I don't use calculus three on a day by day basis. But someone might. Someone might. Yes absolutely. Or if you know computers crash and we got to go back to old school ways math will be very helpful in that way. OK so then talk about the on camera component. Is it cutthroat. Is it a situation where there's like a huge pool of people that want to be the weather person. And it's just a small group that gets picked. There is. It's a small community of us on on air. And so there is you know especially as you get higher up into the broadcasting world there is only so many jobs. And so you've got to really refine that skill set. It's not so much just the meteorology component as it is presenting and communicating being honestly a storyteller. And my favorite aspect about it which is why I love at the Weather Channel is showing the weather in real time. Not just talking about what's going to happen and using the maps but actually being in the weather. That is the absolute most fun thing. And just like being in the worst of it the raw elements and showing what like a blizzard looks like when it's 80 mile an hour winds and two inch per hour snowfall rates or a hurricane or just a high wind event day. So was that always part of the dream. Like you're like OK I'm interested in this. I'm going to go into meteorology for you. Was it always the dream to be on camera. It was always. Yeah I think it was a dream to the dream job was to work at the Weather Channel. It's so interesting because I grew up watching the Weather Channel before going to elementary school and middle school and high school and I work along many of those guys that I watched in elementary school Jim can Tory B1. I still like have like pinch me moments. You know I'm like this is my coworker my colleague and I watched him when I was in fourth grade. And it's just it's so cool to learn from people who have been in the business so long. But yeah. But I never thought it would actually come to be honestly when I got older after college. It was just it was it was like oh it working out the Weather Channel would be cool. But I never thought I would actually be there. And one day I got a random email from the Weather Channel that had come across. So I didn't even apply. It was honestly a total godsend. And I thought the interview was one of the hardest things I've ever done. It was auditions and all this stuff. And it was a quick 24 hour trip to Atlanta. I was in Idaho at the time. And I did the best I could at the interview but I didn't know if I would actually get the job and I had to wait a month to finalize the to actually get the word back. And by God's grace here I am. Have they seen you. And that's why they reached out. Yeah they had come across some of the stuff I had done at my local station. I was out was the morning meteorologist in Idaho and Wyoming out by Jackson Hole and Idaho Falls. And so they had just come across some stuff. Honestly I don't know how it even went. You know it's not like I sent in my stuff and they looked at it as just a random email one day. Oh my goodness. Almost like you think is this real. You know. Is this real. Sort of a scam. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It kind of felt like is this really the Weather Channel. Like this is my personal email. Yeah. So then how does it work when you get there is there's probably a bunch of different types of jobs you could have there. You're with Storm Center and your weekday evenings. Was that always the case. So Storm Center actually that I'm on a new show now. It's called Weather Channel Live very original. And it's in the afternoon from two to six. Storm Center was like they're classically changing things. I have a complete wrong thing. I have Storm Center in the evenings and you're like no. I used to do that. Yep. That was my old show. And then we changed things around and now I'm on 2 to 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. generally. But we fluctuate. We switch gears a lot. So I'm kind of all over the place sometimes too. So that shows called Weather Channel Live and it's fun. We're heading out of winter into into severe season and that's when Storm is really sort of the kickoff and stuff. So. Oh yeah. So two to six. That's a long. You know it is interesting. That's a long time to talk about the weather. I always think about things like the news and weather and how it just can't. You're constantly having to come up with stuff. So is there a lot of pressure there or are you just kind of used to it. I'm sure there's a team of people. Yeah we have a whole team and it's all meteorologists at the Weather Channel because you know we're all weather all the time. It's not like we've got news and we've got other things. Oh it's all weather. So that whole hour. Now each hour is a similar format. So you're kind of following the same flow. But there's a lot of differences. You're following the weather. Some days are a lot more variability than others. Yeah. It's a wider day. There's a lot more. But it's become so second nature. It just kind of is go with the flow. We don't have anything scripted really our show. But really anybody you see when we're doing the maps and we're presenting we don't have scripts necessarily almost that entire time. We're just off the cusp. What's going on through our mind and kind of just having a conversation. Anybody yes absolutely. It's not like an anchor who's reading prompters and stories where you have a lot more details to have to get right in specifics. Sometimes if we're entering a more serious story or something we'll have a few bullet points or notes to help us. But most of the time it's just off the cusp. Oh what a job. OK so I a couple years ago was on the Weather Channel for like a very short interview which was a really real. Really. You should come back on by the way. Yeah. Well they've been trying to get it to happen. So it but it was awesome to talk about 1000 hours outside. It was a couple years ago. And it was a thing where it was like there's a big storm we have to reschedule. Great. It really was dependent on the weather. Whether you know it was just it was a segment like for a quieter day basically. It's like I know I get it. Yeah. There's a big like like this week we had the Blizzard. I'm calling it the Great Blizzard of 2026. I mean this will like shut down big cities. I mean people are still digging out. And that's when you know the schedule goes off to the wayside and it's all hands on deck. Yeah. Or like the ice storm that was down in the Nashville area. That was exactly where the trees were exploding. So I have always thought and I would imagine when people talk to you they say the same thing. And I would imagine that the majority of people think this. So when you watched you know in the past you you're hurricanes you know and you're like the street sign is flying by and the traffic lights are falling off and you know and there's the weather man. Yeah. Yeah. And you're like yeah why would somebody do that. No that's a good question especially you know we love that honestly we want to be out there and experience it. If you don't you know no one's being forced to go out there. We're all like volunteering put me here you know we're all and we have to spread the love around right. Everybody wants to be out there as far as like the meteorologists but we do it safely and we want to show people what these storms look like from a unique perspective. Also it gives people an idea of what's going on in their hometown. Maybe they evacuated and they don't know what's what's going on. It gives them some peace of mind like oh it's not as bad as it could have been or wow that water's coming up. I know where he is in my town. It gives people maybe a little bit more relatability. When they're enduring these things or maybe don't even live there. Maybe it's a place vacation the town that you love to go to every summer is getting hit by a hurricane. It's just relatable. The hurricanes are you know the top producing events but it's not just for people who live in Florida. It's the entire country watching why because they love to see the raw power of weather. Yeah. Yeah for sure. Okay so you grew up in Florida. Yep. Yep. So were hurricanes and hurricane preparation was that a part of your childhood. Yes it was. It's funny. Now I would never do this now but I used to just wish for hurricane as a kid and that I mean I don't know that's just the meteorologists in me. You know I'm I we I grew up in Naples and for the longest time we never I remember the 90s very quiet but then we had the 2004 and 2005 hurricane seasons and we had back to back years where we were impacted. And I loved it. I just wanted to see more. I wanted to be in the worst and you know at that point I already knew I want to be a meteorologist and such and you know my parents on the other hand very concerned about the house and now being a homeowner I have a whole new appreciation for those concerns. I wouldn't want a hurricane to hit where I live. That's for sure. Not now. But I grew up with that and it's funny grew up in Florida. I loved winter time. We always went to Indiana for storms and now the older I get. I appreciate the winter. The most severe harshest coldest winter. I love it. I love that. Honestly winter storms are my favorite to cover personally. So interesting the variety that you know that's the part of it that I think you know when you when you look across a nation the United States then you look across the world. It's like everyone is living in their different climates because you talked about in summer. So we live in Michigan. We come to Florida in the winter. Right. Because we feel like we're dying. So we come to Florida. We kind of rejuvenate. But because of a couple different conferences different situations we've occasionally been in Florida at the beginning of June and we're like this is so hot. Oh yeah. You have to. It like rains like almost every day. Every day. Yeah. But that cools you off. That's that's that's that's why it's sustainable. Yeah. So like in Michigan you're like oh we should go inside but nobody goes inside they just like sit through the rainstorm and then it ends. So you talked about how the summer your summertime thunderstorms pop up like clockwork. This is what you're used to as a kid. You're used to the hurricanes. You're used to these summertime thunderstorms. How did you end up in Idaho. As we move towards summer everything starts to look a little different. The schedule loosens up. There's more time outside more travel more life happening. And that's a really good thing. But it can make consistency a little harder to maintain having something flexible that supports learning through those changing rhythms can make a big difference. And that's where I excel fits in so well. I excel is an award winning online learning platform offering interactive practice in math language arts science and social studies from pre K through 12th grade. It adapts to each child's level keeps them engaged and gives parents clear visibility into progress. What I really appreciate is how simple and organized it is. Everything is laid out by grade and subject so you can quickly find what your child needs. Whether that's staying sharp over the summer or getting a head start for the next year and because it's personalized kids can move at their own pace which helps keep momentum going in a natural way. Make an impact on your child's learning get I excel now and 1000 hours outside listeners can get an exclusive 20% off I excel membership when they sign up today at I excel dot com slash 1000 hours visit I excel dot com slash 1000 hours to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. So that's where the job took me kind of have to go wherever you get a job essentially and that was a great opportunity. It was a weekday morning meteorologist position and it was an Idaho and the funny thing is when I got that offer. I was like I don't know much about Idaho. I only had like Napoleon Dynamite was my only reference Idaho. I was like that's not a state I want to live in. But honestly after living. I did. I lived a three years. It's actually where I met my wife and we got married and It was the I fell in love. People think Idaho is like Iowa. You know and I was beautiful to don't get me wrong but it's not. It is the West mountains galore. It's the gym. It's a hidden gym essentially and it's beautiful and mountain weather coming from Florida and having a forecast in the mountains. And live through the harsh extremes of winter. I didn't even know you know growing up in Florida. We we don't use firewood but people chop their own firewood and have to prepare like for the winter. I didn't even know they still did that. That seemed like an old thing and that was a big ministry we did at our church in Wyoming and it was so cool. We'd hand out firewood for people who may be in need or couldn't do it themselves. And so it was just a really cool experience. I learned a lot. I learned how to drive through winter weather. Boy oh boy everything. Yeah. It's only the strong can survive essentially. I mean you're Michigan. You know you know Well I would imagine that would have been shocking. But if you like the weather probably a cool shocking experience to see how different it is for people that are live in the United States live in the same country. But have such completely different weather experiences. When I do a pod I do podcasts on Thursdays and so I already talked this morning to this lady named Michaeline Ducleff who has a phenomenal book coming out called dopamine kids. And she was talking about how kids like they have this fundamental need to create and some kids really like to do little nitty gritty crafts and things and she's like and some kids like really big body movement and she was like I realized I'm a big body movement type person. She's like I love chopping firewood. You know so That is fine. Yes. What an interesting thing that it's something that you don't even know exists. Like when I go down to Florida. I'm always like have you ever heard of this thing called hot chocolate. You know Right. So I think it's really interesting that you grew up in Florida. You know and you're experiencing all those storms but then you get this one job in Idaho and dealing with all of the the winter weather. So for kids that are listening in that are super interested in the weather. Yeah. Or maybe are more intrigued after listening to this conversation. Are there things that kids can do that don't have that sort of technology to look out and you know what your kids be looking for when they're looking out the window or if they're just interested in storms. I mean I've got kids that are like I think it's going to rain today. Oh yeah. Let's talk about that because you know before technology there was this thing called persistence forecasting. That's what it was called and we actually learned this in college but There's a lot that you can tell just by looking outside and analyzing your conditions of what the weather may do ahead of time. Now it takes some training. You want to know like OK if you have a South wind you know temperatures are going to warm up if you have a North wind. It's going to get cold. Cold air is dry air. Warm air is moist air. So if you're getting warmer temperatures it's likely going to bring it you know maybe moisture from the South. So that's why it's bringing it rains a lot. It is. Yes. And then you have. Yes. My goodness. Wow. Even just recently it's we're recording this in February. It's Michigan. We're covered in snow but a couple weeks ago it warmed up for a day or two into the 40s which everyone wears shorts. Big deal. And it feels balmy right. But it rained and I was I really had the thought like why does it always rain so much in the spring. So the warmer weather is bringing in the moisture. Yes. So warm air is more moist cold air is more dry. So drier is heavier. So cold air sinks to the surface right. Warmer gets lifted. So when you look at if you want to. This is what they did back in the you know 1700s 1800s. If you see high clouds. So maybe it's a sunny day. No clouds in the sky. The next day you start to notice high clouds start to come in. You can estimate within two to three days you're going to have a big storm system. And there's a reason there's actually reasons behind that. Like the cloud moisture starts way up there high in the atmosphere and then you'll start to notice the clouds getting lower and then you'll get your status clouds or your storm clouds or whatever it is. It's not perfect but it does give you an idea of what could be ahead if you all you have is just the surroundings around you. Yeah. I talked to this man who has a whole thing around clouds. Gosh I wish I could remember what it's called. But he has an email that you can get every day. It's like a cloud a day. Yeah. He talks about it might even just be called that. But like you know there's like cloud bows and there's fog bows and basically what he said was there are so many things going on above you that you would see remarkable things if you just looked up more often. Oh yeah. Or have you ever had a window seat on an airplane. It is amazing when you're flying at it's like a whole other world up there in the clouds. Obviously we get clouds on the ground is called fog. So that's you ever wondered what it feels like to touch a cloud. That's what it would be like. It's whenever it's foggy outside that's a cloud. But there's I mean there's so many ways. I guess there's so many angles. I feel like you go like learn just with weather. Right. It's like you have to be flexible. And I hope people is asking what's my favorite weather. That's a hard question. I don't think I have a favorite. I mean I have a preference maybe of what I like to. But I like all weather and I'm a man of extremes. I'm I'm. I'm you know like what's the word I'm looking for. You know maybe not the popular opinion but I love it all. It could be 100 degrees outside and I want to go outside. It could be minus 20 outside. I want to go outside. There's never a moment where I don't want to go outside. It doesn't. There's never a bad weather day essentially. But it does help you to make the most of what you could. You know make the most of what you're giving it's funny because weather is the one of the most complained about things in the world and People I'm sure now especially being February people are complaining about the cold. They're ready for it to be warm. They're ready for summer. But then you get a week of eighties or nineties and they're like this is hot. I don't like this. People are always want what they don't have right instead of just being content and just being thankful. And then when you are you endure that winter boy does summer feel so much more you enjoy it so much more when you get those more pleasant days. That's a joke a life. It's life advice. Yeah. You know the weather helps us to become grittier and yeah to look at things as not with not wishing away not wishing away the seasons. In fact just the other day I was talking to someone who was we were talking about that. You know spring is on its way and they were like oh the bugs. That was the first response. You know you're like yeah each season offers it's pros and it's cons. And if you can look at it as you know not good or bad you're going to get outside more. Exactly. Okay so talk to us about some of the historic storms that you have covered. Oh boy. Let's see. OK. Just off the top of my head the most memorable for me and probably my favorite was a blizzard in North Dakota. It was three days long and they had winds in that 60 to 80 mile an hour range they picked up three feet of snow and you know North Dakota they're hardy folks they can handle. Winter weather but I mean it's shut the city down and this was a we couldn't even leave the parking lot. I mean it was so much snow people were getting set you can even drive around town. Nothing was open. But I loved it. I loved showing the weather there in the the Great North and by the way it was in mid April. So it was like one of those situations where it was like spring had already arrived. People were voting just the last week prior. And then they have this blizzard right before Easter and it was this that will be one I will never forget. And one of my favorites to ever cover there in North Dakota. Obviously hurricanes make the rankings there. They're they're an experience but they are a lot more stressful. Obviously you lose power. You have nothing to eat and we're in the throes of that too. I mean we have to prepare and you know we'll be at hotel sometimes a hotel close or gets damaged and we've got to find a place to go. I remember one morning it was Hurricane Sally. It was maybe six seven years ago and we were up till midnight and it was really starting to get get bad and I was just exhausted. I've been talking in the rain and in the wind for hours. My voice is hoarse and by the time we were done we were just a couple blocks from the hotel. I just parked on the side of the street in front. There wasn't really anywhere else to park and didn't even think anything of it. We were in downtown Pensacola and we were about you couldn't even see the water but we were probably six seven blocks from the bay. And when I woke up in the middle early in the morning I looked out my window and all I saw was water everywhere around the whole hotel. I thought the first floor had actually flooded and I look at my car and the water was up to steering wheel in the car the rental car. And I was like well I'm not getting around anymore. We were literally in the storm surge. The whole town had the downtown area had taken on so much water. It was surreal. It was an experience and the hotel didn't get flooded thankfully but it was really close. It was weird to be surrounded by water. Oh I'm sure. Wow. All these notable storms. What's interesting and I wouldn't have thought of is that beyond the storms and those sort of cataclysmic type blizzard events you also are doing the solar eclipses. Oh yes. And now the next one's in the U.S. is not until I think it's 2040 something but I got to experience to that was actually one of my first live shots at the weather channel was back in 2017. And I got to they sent me to Jackson Hole for that eclipse and oh man. I'll tell you what did you ever get to see one of the eclipses the last few years. Well we are in like I'm you know I've got friends that are all about the totality. I don't know. You know I had friends that went to Oklahoma for this last one you know they in you had a rent a place and you had to get it if you didn't get it early you're not going to get a spot. So we've always seen like a partial and it is really remarkable. It is I will say your friends are on to something about totality though because the experience is so it's so surreal. The first time I saw it it was unbelievable is overwhelming honestly the temperature drops 20 degrees especially if you're in a dry climate. I remember the wavy shadows and we were high up top the mountains in the tea time so we were watching it come from far off in the distance and you could see the shadow kind of come coming right towards you so quickly and then it gets dark the you know the crickets chirp and everything. And then it was so amazing when we had the last eclipse couple years ago I got to do it in Maine and I was like I told my wife and we had our first son at the time. I was like you guys are coming with me you guys are going to experience this is so cool and it was an experience and that one was totally different. It's crazy how different they can be that this one that that one I remember the wavy shadows of the shadows of the leaves and like you could see all the crescents on all the leaves and everything and it was just so surreal. It really is it's an experience. Yeah that's what my friend said like you have if you've experienced it once like you're going to want to go to all of them like she has shirts made for their whole family but if you've only seen the partial you're kind of like oh. You're like yeah that was it that's what everyone's traveling about it's like you know it's a whole different experience when you get to be in to talent. Yeah. Okay, so one of the things I love that you do beyond talking about the weather and being on camera meteorologist for the weather channel is you talk about parenting. You have videos online people can find them advice for dads and you talk about different ways that we can look at nature and take the lessons that nature teaches us. And apply them to our family so I would love to talk about a couple of those one of the ones that you talk about is when there are trees that are never exposed to the wind. And you would think oh that's great like I don't want to have any trials in my life like it would just be easy. And that trees that are grown in a greenhouse or even different plants that they really don't thrive so can you talk about that topic and how that can relate to parenting. Yes, and it's funny you bring that up because we have two trees we live on a bluff here in Georgia and we get a lot of wind really windy when they get windy. And we have these two trees they're fairly new but boy do they get rocked and rolled. But you know they're building up strong roots right you have to go through that those trees are going to be a lot stronger when they're exposed to the wind versus being protected. This is why when you clear cut a forest and you leave a few trees those trees that have been protected by all those neighboring trees are now more likely to fall over because they don't have strong roots. You have like a mind blown like a shocking moment but that is something to think about when you're cutting down trees and for it like the ones on the edge are usually a lot stronger the ones that are exposed to the wind. That's why you'll look out at that huge oak that's sitting all by itself in the prairie or maybe along the golf course and boy if those trees could talk they would have a story to tell. But it's the same that can be true where the storms are unavoidable in life you can't hide from them you're going to have to build those strong roots. They might come at different times for anybody you know you might go many years and not have to face those and then all of a sudden boom you get blasted with a wave of just hard trials and storms. But it's building you up and it's preparing I think there's so much that kids can learn when they see their parents go through difficult trials or when they themselves can go through it's not to protect them from the difficulties of life it's to give them the ability to navigate those with wisdom and truth and the knowledge to be able to stand firm when they are in those dark moments and storms in their life. It's so isn't it interesting that there's all these parallels I think a similar one would be wildfires do you ever go to do you ever cover that. So we do I don't I haven't actually covered a wildfire personally but we do have a few on on staff that do go out there's a whole different gear that you need and there's a whole different kind of process and training wildfire coverage is interesting and is probably one of the more dangerous because of the erratic behavior but. It's just as severe and those wildfires are crazy but they have their place there they're so catastrophic right but they create new life in these forests and you know it's sad when that encompass the whole town or maybe a neighborhood that was right there and all those homes have been burned down and they've got to pick up from scratch because that's not easy to do. And same thing with floods and everything else is really depositing nutrients and so many other things there are pros but there's a lot of cons to. Yeah yeah so I love it that you talk about these different parallels we have a spot that we like in Michigan it's tornadoes they're not super common. And actually I have never in my in my entire life like known of a spot where one touchdown except for there's one along I 96 when we head toward leasing and there's a spot where tornado touchdown in it's kind of like a farmish area but. Both sides of the freeway it's like the trees are just snapped and it's bizarre looking and it's been that way for years I mean you can't fix it. It just you know I think they came through and like took out all the brush but every single time we drive by it's a reminder of the power of those storms. And how it can just affect things for a really long time but I do love this parallel of you know for the wildfires and for the different storm you talk about the deserts in life and trees that aren't exposed to the wind. That the challenges and hardships we face are beneficial in the long run. They force us to reassess our priorities and strengthen our resolve and deepen our faith. Talk to us talk to the dads that there's dad listening in a mom's you but you are you're big on camping. Bet oh yeah back packing in particular. Both honestly and we've got a trip coming up in a couple weeks that I'm about to take my son I have another buddy who brings his son and our sons are four and three they'll be about about to be five and four. And they've already done several miles before and like I have a whole slew of places I want to take them I'm like I can space it out I don't have to do it all when they're three and four years old we can wait to. No space it out every year I like to go on two camping trips a year one in the spring and one in the fall and it is so much fun. But I'm thinking about OK I'm like so we're planning on going to North Carolina the limbo gourds beautiful spots. I'm like overwhelmed with the opportunities that we could have and it's not easy. If we were to backpack these are pretty rigorous trails so I don't want to over commit to something and it's March so you can have some really cold weather or it can be really warm. So as we're planning we're not going to shy away just because of the weather but we are going to have alternative. So if it's like really cold or really rainy we're still going to go but maybe we'll do car camping and then heights short hikes throughout the period if it's nicer weather maybe we'll do more of a backpacking trip and be more exposed. We do have to cross a river which I hope mom's OK with but we don't want to put ourselves in danger if it's raining and that river becomes a lot more dangerous. We need it to be dry for at least a week or and during. OK. How do you pick your places. How do. I want to go. There's places in there's play you know I just went to the Sleeping Bear Dunes and I was amazed. How much say there is. And it just yeah and I climbed one of those up. This was during a winter storm right before winter storm and I was. Interesting. You went to the. Yeah in the winter. Yeah nobody goes in the winter. I know I was like where are the footprints. Where are the where is everybody. I thought it was like the dune everyone like and it was it was it was an adventure. I'll tell you that. But I just like I feel like social media has really exposed people to places they never knew about and even places here in the US. We're loaded with the most beautiful places. True. After living out West we just love whenever we take trips to go out West. We just did a family vacation to Seattle and Washington early in February. And that might be a people probably are like why would you go to the Northwest in February. Like that's the off season. That's when they get most of the rain. It's cold. It's rainy. It's damp. But you know what you can do it for very cost effective if you want to take a trip because if you go when everyone else goes it's fun. But we can have just as fun in the rain. I'll tell you this. I was looking forward to experience those atmospheric rivers that come in off the Pacific Ocean. But we only had one day of rain and we actually have warmer temperatures there than here at home in Georgia. So we were you know just thankful to have such a nice stretch of weather. But we were down for it regardless. I mean it's the rain force. Don't you want to be in the rain force when it's raining to see it with the ferns and the it is incredible. And their kids like they can jump in the puddles. The beach is like you don't go to the beach the sunbathe in Washington. You go to explore driftwood and build bonfires on the beach and do all those kinds of things. And we have two boys and so they just loved it. And with it being 60 they actually got to play. You know we didn't go in the water. The water was very rough. But they got to play in the sand and you know all those things. So as far as picking places I just love. I love doing different things. But I mean it can be the same thing just going at a different time of year to a different season. Seeing the same place in the winter time versus the summer or the fall or the spring. It provides so much difference and just cool serene settings. There's so many places I have. I want to go to the boundary waters. I want to go you know Mount Katahdin and Maine and all these places. I love that you brought up the sleeping bear dunes. I love that you brought up going places when it's not the typical season. I wouldn't have thought of that when it's not the typical season to go. But even in Michigan when the lakes freeze when the great lakes freeze. It's so cool looking. But nobody really goes. They only go in the summer. Well you get solitude for one. So I love that. And also the same thing goes with playgrounds. I bet if you go to a playground on a rainy day certainly a snowy day there's not going to be anybody there. And I love the fact. I'm like take a towel dry it off or bring rain gear. And you know it is a little bit more effort and work. You know when you come home if you're damp you got to get all the clothes off. Put them in the dryer or you know go hop in the shower. But it does. You know if you if you go on a sunny day that's fun. Everyone does. Everyone goes on a sunny day when it's 65 or 75 degrees. Everyone's at the playground. You can't even get a turn on the slide. There's so many people there. Right. But if you go on a rainy day you probably get that whole place yourself. So it's funny because like I get some people don't have the same excitement about 20 degree night and getting the kids outside. You know. But it can be in small little increments. You can do small little changes just to you know 20 degrees is hard. If you have a one year old or a 10 month old and getting them dressed I get it. But one thing I've learned to do with our son and we have we don't get the cold nights like you do in Michigan. So our cold nights are few and far between. So I like to take full advantage because we only have about 10 of them a year when we get really cold like it gets down to 15 degrees. And usually when it's cold here it's windy. So it makes it even more uncomfortable. But we'll run outside right before bedtime. I'll tell my son I'll be like let's go do 10 laps around the driveway. We'll get all cold. We'll move. We'll go breathe that crisp air right up in your nose and it's just as refreshing and invigorating. And then we'll come inside and we'll go get all tucked in bed and get all warm and cozy in bed. And it can be a short little exposure not a long ordeal. And same thing with the rain. If you know you're about to take a shower let's go in the rain get wet. I mean even as adults that makes you feel like a kid. I'll tell you what we just got a trampoline and it was snowing the other day. It was kind of like spitting snow and it doesn't matter how cold it is. If I want to go on a trampoline my son will be like yeah let's go. It doesn't you know when we'll go jump on the trampoline you'll get so cold you'll come back inside or if it's raining get wet and then go hop in the shower and make it you know it doesn't have to be this you have to go be outside the whole day just little exposures it changes your mood too. When you get outside you just feel better. Wow you're just showcasing you're showcasing that all of the weather is exciting and there's something for you. What a cool way to bring up kids. I love that you're getting the like a little kid out backpacking. So you said gonna be four but this is not your four. He's gonna be five and then you said gonna be five so he's four which means and this is not the first time. Oh no and we we took him camping on his first time when he was eight months old and not backpacking just a simple car camping trip in the in the Smokies and then we've done some more elaborate adventures out west the Grand Canyon. You know other places and we've got stories to tell me I gosh I've got so many but but I he's he's not a lot of kids his age can do the same thing just because we've exposed him at such an early age and maybe I push him a little bit more and he's a boy and I want him to be I want him to be able to handle those difficult these things but not you know I always try to make it conducive for him because I'm thinking of like okay what a long straight path is going to be boring for him he's going to get old dad why are we still walking two miles in this you know but a path where you have to climb ladders and then it's changing you get to go through the woods oh and then we get to go through the beach and then we oh we get to go up the mountains so thinking like oh you know he could go forever if it's constantly engaging and constantly changing scenery like all the time you know and then he'll learn to appreciate those longer pouring stretches as it gets older. Yeah I think it's wonderful parenting we're on the other end of it like where we've got kids that are teenagers and I am so grateful that like they have gusto you know or that they have capacity that they have grit you know we've talked about that already that word but that because there are really exceptional things that you can do and we've not done even anything remotely like probably what some people do but we did this river trip down down a river in Utah and there is it's like a five day thing and you sleep on the side of the river and tense and it's not hard because someone does all the work like that sounds amazing I mean it was amazing and and I think that the youngest age is five and you can spend this five days with your family the youngest kids five and there's all these kids and parents and you just have all this downtime no screens because nothing works oh yes no and the stars at night I mean it's just exceptional but they have one so they have it's called cataract canyon where it's you have to be 12 because the rapids there's rapids and it's like a little more dangerous and then they have one you can do in the Grand Canyon and there's one in Idaho on the Stamman River and so there really is a lot to look forward to as your kids get older in terms of adventure if they have the foundations there so for a parent that's listening and has an eight month old and was and is like I wouldn't even consider camping I mean I would say these things actually are really good they're gonna set you up really well for lots of adventures to childhood and then as they move into toddler phase and you're talking about hiking or little small backpacking trips how do you assess the capacity and when you plan for that you're like okay how far could my two year old go how far could my three year old go obviously you know you know your kid they live with you but I would love if you could give some advice for someone who's listening and thinking oh maybe I should try that yeah okay that's great topic my wife is really good at balancing out so I'll have an idea and she'll help it make it more realistic so she says she's really got I might be an overachiever sometimes so definitely listen to both sides and they see there are lots to be learned but okay so being flexible I think it's good to have a goal in mind and we you know we took our son backpacking down the Grand Canyon and we had the goal to be like we're gonna make it down and up in one day he would I was carrying him on my backpack and I like a challenge and but the trail was so icy and so cold the first half and then it was the most muddiest trail I've ever seen that it really slowed our progress down and we only made it halfway and that was okay and we didn't want to endure it anymore we wanted we're like we got our experience and boy do we have a story to tell but being flexible I remember the first time I took my son hiking and I planned a longer trail maybe about five or six miles I didn't know how far we would get but I was like let's just see how it goes and this was when he was three and I was like we'll see and I wasn't gonna carry him so I was like okay well just see how far we go and and honestly he did the whole thing I was I was proud dad moment right there but I did not anticipate him to be able to go as far as we did now it took us a long time but we made the whole day you want to give yourself time don't if you're in a rush you're trying to cram as many miles that mentality's got to go when you have kids it's not gonna happen save that for your you know your own time or you're doing your with friends and other adults but there you see things when you slow down that you don't see when you're speed you know speed enough God bring a lot of snacks so planning is key especially with younger kids you want to make sure because even if like a eight-month-old like we have our eight month old and I'll carry him on the backpack I love it and he is he's not walking but he's looking around seeing these stains and he's piecing and he just thrives he smiles so big and it's crazy and so you bring snacks you have a lot of picnic time you bring oh we bring the hammock and I'll tell you with kids that is the best just a new you know and you can just set it up anytime you swing they get a nice break I mean we'll listen to songs and music and and we'll just that we'll have a you know plenty of that you know usually we'll get to a spot like here's where we're gonna hear it and then we rest and then we work our way back or whatever if it's a you know half and half but it really is suitable for the kids it really is you'd be amazed at how much kids can do if you give them the opportunity to I think a lot of people shy away because they think their kids might not be able to do it instead of just trying it but being flexible and also kind of going in prepared you want to have the snacks you don't want to just wing it you want to make sure they're comfortable if it's colder you want to make sure they have the jackets and you know we've got snowshoes for our boys because you know if it's 20 degrees we're still getting outside you know they don't know any different if you don't make a big deal out of it they won't make a big deal out of it either wow and I like the part about the expensive time there's a trail by us it's two miles it's called the Wild Wing Trail and you can feed songbirds out of your hand it's people there for decades it's real special and it's just kind of like this flat it's at this metro park and it's a special experience though it's a really fun trail and I remember the first time that we took our kids I was like two miles it'll take 45 minutes and it took four hours so I learned you know if you got toddlers and they're gonna be looking around at stuff and they might fall you're gonna stop for a snack it's like a half a mile in an hour exactly half mile to a mile an hour so as long as you're not rushed you can stop and swing in the hammock and pass out your snacks and there's something to be said about endurance it's like one of those qualities that you know it's not gonna show up on your ACT SAT test but it's going to give you a different quality of life if you have endurance and you can start that when kids are really young and allows them to experience so much more of life as they age I love that I think that's gonna be incredible encouragement especially here heading into the spring and summer where people are planning their trips it's like you know maybe you can do more than you thought oh yeah I think that's wonderful okay can we wrap it up you also are a man of faith and you talk about these parallels between nature and faith and I know not everybody listening has the same faith but I just thought it's really beautiful one of the things that you talk about is shade and you talk about Psalm 121 that were kind of covered and that's going back to the trees there's a lot that we can get out of the trees actually I just talked to this woman her name is Christine Kane and she wrote a book called the faith to flourish and the entire book is centered around the olive tree and she said something like besides people in God that trees are the next most mentioned thing in the Bible I believe it I believe it interesting so and I know that you like to talk about your faith and I think there are like beautiful encouraging hope filled parallels so if a tree if the tree is a good one to talk about the shade or if you have another one well I think about it this way how kind of God to provide shade on a hot summer's day like you if you and it when you go experience other places that maybe don't have trees like the desert you realize how valuable shade is and how much refreshing it is it's also a reminder to slow down we can't we we get tend to go especially the older we get we want to get as much done as we can having kids slows you down in a big way it humbles you but also it's on those hot days cold days as well you know you can't do it all and those extremes your body gets fatigued and you need time you need breaks you need rest it's a humbling thing but it's also a reminder just to pause to think about the goodness of God and all that you you could be anywhere there's so so many things that point it's you know the Claire's glory and so the trees the shade on a hot summer's day I love that parallel that that visual because there is it's like you know God's protecting us it's it's compared to the shade on a hot summer's day where you know we're under his shelter of his mighty arm and there's so many things and even I remember too I just appreciate the weather is so humbling you know you see the power of God a thunderstorm obviously a hurricane a tornado there's this awe driven obviously it's dangerous it's scary too but there is this power that wow we have a God who's so much larger than us the heavens the Claire's his mercy and his glory and and it's the rest in that truth and those things are real life reminders on a day-to-day basis throughout the seasons of life yeah I want to read the Psalm 121 because this is what you were referring to and I just think the nature parallels are everywhere I lift up my eyes to the mountains so you got to be outside right if you're gonna get where does my help come from my help comes from the Lord the maker of heaven and earth he will not let your foot slip he watches over you will not slumber indeed he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep the Lord watches over you the Lord is your shade at your right hand the Sun will not harm you by day nor the moon by night the Lord the Lord will keep you from all harm you will watch over your life the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forever more I mean that's one one small passage and there's so many nature parallels in there well I and it's funny you bring that one up because just off my head that's a memory verse of mine that I recite daily and I think especially if I'm going through a hard situation have a hard conversation or something I gotta remind myself I think about okay I look up to the mountains from where does my help come from and then I remind myself my help comes from the Lord he created all of this why would I be discouraged why would I be down why would I be worried he made all these things I can trust and so it is humbling it gives you peace when you see that you look at a mountain also I love climbing mountains boy getting to the top is so humbling us as little humans you look at a how you're like man I want to go climb a mountain that can't be that hard and then you get to the top and you realize that was so hard and then you see like the taller mountains like Mount Everest or something like that and just how difficult it is to get to the summit and the most extremes it's so crazy but also just humbling and it really kind of reminds you that okay I'm not in control even if I want to be I can make plans but the Lord directs my steps yeah it's so easy to just be inside all the time but if you are in a situation where you need help and you look and you see the majesty of the world I love that passage too because you know you've got the mountains right which are this grandiose thing that if you live in Florida and in the past there would have been people that would have and even today maybe you never even see the mountains you know maybe live in a certain area you stay in that area and you don't leave and so you don't see the mountains you don't see that grandiose thing but maybe you see the sky you see the clouds but then it also talks about the shade so I just love that it's like the passage includes this huge grandiose majestic thing and also the Lord is your shade and so when you have children this is one thing that I have really found is that if we're supposed to talk to our kids about spiritual truths like it says in Deuteronomy 6 you know when you walk by the way and when you lie down and you're kind of supposed to talk about these things it's it's forced and awkward if you don't use nature but yeah use nature and you take that one passage of Psalm 121 you can talk about it on a scorching summer day or when you found the shade and you get to oh you know there's this passage so I love what you're sharing I love all that you're doing and I love that there is a meteorologist a real-life one on our podcast Chris thank you so much for saying yes thank you for spending this time with us I hope you have a wonderful trip in North Carolina we always end our show with the same question what's a favorite memory from your childhood that was outside wow so many I guess I would say and this is funny this is probably what got me into hiking and wanting to be outside when I was in middle school our family was in the smokies and we went hiking and we got lost which if you know me I'm the navigational beacon but it was at the time it seemed like a pretty dire situation we've been hiking for three hours and we were no we thought was a loop trail and we were nowhere we're like we don't recall this and there was a lot of signage and so I remember we didn't have any food we were starving and I just remember my shoes were like two sizes too small so I was getting the that my just blisters and I just was thinking and I was funny because I was with our cousins at the time we can reference back to that trip and ever we just last now but at the time it felt like wow we might get stuck out here and we're like clapping because we hear wolves or you know we hear coyotes and it was just like a movie scene but it was funny going through that that may have deterred a lot of my family from hiking but that actually draw me into what more and so it was just going through that I love the the bridge that had one railing and you were exposing other side but our parents were like we shouldn't go on that that looks dangerous and so you know I just remember thinking like oh but it would be I think it's the sense of adventure of exploring the unknown going to see things you've never seen before yeah there's that sense of adventure that can be had I mean you can make an adventure anywhere it doesn't have to be this most elaborate place it can be oh I want to go run down this the part of town I've never been in before and I want to go run 10 miles or do something different you never done just you just get you out of your comforts under challenges so there's so many things you can do even just within a few miles of your home yeah so that's why I remember what an adventure and to the point that we talked about a long earlier in the conversation that that's kind of a disaster any parent would be like that was a disaster my kids were complaining we were lost and that's what you remember because it was exciting and it fosters a lot of adventure for you exactly I love that I love that's like the wind and the storms and the things that are hard they actually deepen your roots Chris what an honor thank you so much for being here well thank you for having me tell people where they can find you obviously they can watch you're not in the evenings in the afternoons weather channel live and also on Instagram yes and Instagram CRISPR and broadcast all right that's where they can find you thank you so much for being here thank you for having me it's been an