Last July, a slow-moving storm stalled over our region and dropped an historic amount of rain – up to 12 inches in just 24-30 hours . Roads washed out, Amtrak stopped running, and several counties declared a state of emergency. What happened, and what does it tell us about the weather ahead?

Atmospheric scientist and National Geographic Explorer Dr. Anton Seimon returns to Morning Coffee to make sense of a remarkable weather year. Drawing on decades of observing Hudson Valley storms, he’ll unpack the July floods and other recent weather extremes, the role of a warming climate in making them worse, explain what this winter’s strengthening El Niño could mean for us, and share the latest on global climate trends. Bring your questions: the second half of the session is open conversation.

Bio
Dr. Anton Seimon is an atmospheric scientist and National Geographic Explorer based in Columbia County. He teaches in Bard College’s Master of Science in Climate Science and Policy program. A tornado researcher and veteran storm chaser, he led the National Geographic–supported El Reno Survey, a crowd-sourced study of the largest tornado ever documented, and spends each spring on the Great Plains studying how tornadoes form. Beyond the valley, he coordinates long-term monitoring of climate change impacts in the high Andes of Peru and has worked with conservationists to plan for climate change in tropical Africa using Earth system models.