The Preferred Experience : The Podcast
Welcome to *The Preferred Experience*, a podcast dedicated to exploring the art of exceptional living and meaningful connections around small town life in and around the city of Prattville, Alabama. Join host Will Barrett and producer Stacy "Millzer" Mills where each episode features insightful conversations with thought leaders, innovators, and everyday heroes who share their unique journeys and the experiences that have shaped their lives.
Through engaging discussions, the podcast delves into topics such as personal growth, wellness, creativity, and the power of community. Listeners are encouraged to reflect on their own experiences while gaining practical tips and inspiration to enhance their everyday lives.
Whether you're seeking motivation, wanting to learn from others' successes and challenges, or simply looking to enrich your perspective, *The Preferred Experience* is your go-to source for cultivating a life full of purpose and fulfillment. Tune in and discover how to create your own preferred experience!
The Preferred Experience : The Podcast
Episode 26 - Beyond the Radar With WSFA Chief Meteorologist Josh Johnson
Step into the eye of the storm with Josh Johnson, WSFA's chief meteorologist for 17 years, as he pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to forecast Alabama's wildest weather. Far from just reading radar screens, Josh reveals how his profession demands equal parts science, geography, and communication skills to keep communities safe when minutes matter most.
With candor and humor, Josh tackles the dangerous rise of weather misinformation on social media platforms like TikTok and Snapchat. These aren't just annoying distractions—they're potentially deadly diversions that force legitimate forecasters to waste precious time debunking viral nonsense during actual emergencies. His passionate explanation of why Alabama leads the nation in tornado deaths per capita will forever change how you think about severe weather preparedness, especially his urgent message for mobile home residents: "Save your miracle for something else."
Beyond the forecast, Josh opens up about his remarkable journey from weather-obsessed teenager to trusted meteorologist, including the pivotal moment when a job rejection from Fred's Dollar Store inadvertently launched his broadcasting career. Now, he's channeling his passion for mentorship into coaching youth football, creating a program designed not just to win games but to build character in young men through positive male role models—something he sees as increasingly vital in today's world.
Whether you're a weather enthusiast, a parent concerned about storm safety, or simply appreciate authentic conversations with people making a difference in their communities, Josh's insights will leave you better prepared for life's storms—both meteorological and metaphorical. Subscribe now and share this episode with someone who needs to hear these potentially life-saving perspectives from Alabama's weatherman.
preferred experience podcast, episode 26. Uh, we got it's special day. We've been trying to get this guy with us for a while now. He is a busy man, as you well know, a man that needs no introduction Josh Johnson, our chief meteorologist at WSFA for 17 years. Now, josh, welcome to the pod.
Speaker 2:You say it like that. I feel old. I'm glad to be here. This is awesome. I love the setup. I love everything about it. So thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Well, your schedule is something we've had to work around, because the schedule of a meteorologist is not a normal schedule.
Speaker 2:It is not no, we have an assigned shift, but outside of that shift, you know, the weather does not check my calendar before it happens. So Saturday, sundays, christmas, new Year's midnight noon, anywhere in between, and you've done them all, you're on. I have, yes, We've had Christmas tornadoes. We've had Christmas snow one time up in Alex City a little north of here. So just thinking back in the last 15 years, I can think of a lot of holidays or plans or trips that end up getting last-minute scuttled for the weather.
Speaker 1:So you've got to love it last-minute scuttle for the weather, so you've got to love it. And I learn about state geography by watching your first alert weather, because there's little towns I've never even heard of that. You're like calling out here and there. It's like where is that? And we'll look that up A population of 46.
Speaker 3:Hey look. Anytime Booth is mentioned on TV, at any time, there's always something bad going on.
Speaker 2:That's actually valid. Booth and Independence and Jones. I tell people our job is really part meteorology, part communication, part geography, Because I have to have the meteorology to look at the storm and see what it's doing. Then I have to have the geography to look at the storm and tell you where it is using places and landmarks that you know and understand. Then I have to have the communication to be able to tell you that in a concise, easy to understand way. So it really is. There's sort of those are the three kind of pillars of what we do. So it's not just science, it's not just public speaking, it's not just geography and maps, it's a little bit of all of the above.
Speaker 1:And you become kind of a I guess we'll call it a celebrity.
Speaker 3:Oh, of course.
Speaker 1:In Central Alabama. You know, in Birmingham they've got their James Spann.
Speaker 2:Sure yeah.
Speaker 1:The Spaniacs and Central.
Speaker 2:Alabama is Josh Johnson Spaniacs.
Speaker 1:I like that, that's good, I don't know if they say that, but you just did Spanamaniacs, spanamaniacs.
Speaker 2:I like that. I actually interned with him, did you really? I've known James since I was about 14 years old and I'm now 42, so you do the math, luckily I used football numbers there. So 42, 14. Everybody knows that's 28. Of course, four touchdowns, of course. But I actually emailed James when I was in high school in Jacksonville and said high school in Jacksonville, and said, hey, I think I want to be a meteorologist. And you know, they say never meet your heroes, right, but that man has never let me down, not one time.
Speaker 1:He seems like the genuine article.
Speaker 2:He's the real deal, yeah, and we've been friends and now kind of colleagues, you know, working in the same state, and he has really, really been a wonderful mentor to not just me but dozens of other meteorologists, not just in Alabama but across the country. So I like to say we're really lucky in Alabama we have a lot of not only very skilled meteorologists but skilled meteorologists who genuinely are good human beings and really care about the people they're trying to serve, and he's definitely one of them. I'm fortunate to have learned from him.
Speaker 1:And Spann catches some heat for some of the takes. He has right we all do On climate change, on the TikTok weather people, oh boy don't even get me going. I know you see that a lot. Oh yeah, that really kind of messes up the message you're trying to put out.
Speaker 2:right, it's a stick that goes inside the spokes of a wheel. You know the wheel's turning. That goes inside the spokes of a wheel. The wheel's turning, the wheel's turning, and then what happens is we get March 15th, the day Plantersville was hit. Every meteorologist in the country knew ahead of time this is going to be a pretty rough day, and people on TikTok and Snapchat and all these other platforms are sharing these outlandish crazy things about how many people are going to die today, and that's not something we can predict. That's never something we can predict. That's never something we can predict. It just unnecessarily scares people. So then, instead of me communicating weather information to the people I'm trying to serve, I'm now answering 150 Facebook messages asking me hey, I saw this thing on TikTok. Hey, I saw this thing on Snapchat, and I'm honored that you're coming to me to actually get the real information and I'm glad you are. That's critical thinking on your part, right? You didn't just say, oh well, that must be true, but it takes our eye off the ball a little bit.
Speaker 2:That's why every meteorologist you ever talk to probably going to be a little grumpy about that. And, by the way, those are the TikTok and Snapchat thing. Those are not like well-intentioned people that just happen to post the wrong thing in most cases. In most cases, what's happening there? Let's say me and you decided you know what, I want to make $5,000. How can we make $5,000? Well, I got an idea. What if we come up with Uncle Bob's weather page on TikTok and we'll make a video that says crazy alert, extreme weather, heavy snowstorm headed for Alabama on the 4th of July? Well, that thing's going to get shared 10,000 times because that's crazy. It has an absolutely 0% chance of ever happening, but it's going to get shared a lot and you and I are going to make her $5,000 and then we're going to delete the page, cash our check and then do the same thing again the next week under a different name.
Speaker 2:This isn't like organized crime is too strong a word, but this is like an organized process that these people are doing to take your shares, likes and comments and turn them into money using totally bogus, outrageous claims about the weather. It's insane, totally bogus, outrageous claims about the weather. That's insane. It's not like people think. Oh, it's some well-intentioned meteorologist trying to save people on TikTok. Most of the time if you see something crazy, it's not that. It's some well-motivated con artist trying to put some cash money in their wallet.
Speaker 1:But people will take that and then hear you come on and say, hey, this is going to happen today. And they hear all these TikTok stories of things that didn't happen. You say it's going to happen. They go oh well, I've seen this before. And then it does happen and people get hurt.
Speaker 2:People get hurt, right, yeah, and I mean we see that a lot. And then another effect of that is we all get lumped in together. We're all bombarded with information now social media and television and the internet, and it's just a lot. And so will you remember, a week from now, who told you what about the weather? Or will you just remember? You know, those weather people said, and then when they think weather people I've been here a lot of years, a lot of times they think me or James Spann in Birmingham or Brad Travis in Huntsville. So they think about these people and they lump us in with that and we have to say whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. We never said it was going to snow on the 4th of July, because we've got an IQ north of room temperature, like in Alabama 4th of July. Like I can't guarantee you much, but there's one it will never snow on the 4th of July in the state of Alabama. If it snows on the 4th, around here we've got way bigger problems than the weather forecast and TikTok.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:Something's gone totally wrong. The dinosaurs are coming back.
Speaker 1:It's going to get weird. Yeah, exactly, and so you mentioned, like, the meteorologists all across the state. Do you guys have like conferences where you get together and discuss these kind of things? When you get together, do you actually talk about weather or do you talk about other things? You're just tired of weather.
Speaker 2:Talk about weather. You meet very few people in this line of work who were like, well, it was either this or finance and I just chose meteorology because it sounded fun. There are usually people like me that have been obsessed with weather since they formed their first thoughts Like it's just like little kids, just obsessed with it and you learn about it and then now you're a meteorologist. So, yeah, we still talk about the weather.
Speaker 2:Conferences there's national conferences, there's regional conferences, Then there's local conferences, and it's a good thing to go to those conferences. You learn so much, a lot of the like. There's talks. You know they give talks and presentations. You learn a lot from that. You might learn just as much sitting in the hallway with your old buddy that you hadn't seen in a while and he says, hey, have you heard about this new thing that's happening? Oh, I didn't know about that. Tell me more. So those conferences, man, it's like weather osmosis, man, they're really great for us. And weather's a lot like a lot of other fields where the technology's changing so fast. If you don't go to conferences, if you don't commit yourself to continuing education, you're going to be left behind pretty quick.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and people want to talk about climate change and all these horrible weather events are happening more and more frequently and it's got to be due to climate change. I mean, some people, like Spano, said it's not climate change, it's weather. Right, but is it also possible that maybe we have much better tech to detect these things now that we know more?
Speaker 2:That's definitely part of it. Yeah, so a couple of things in play there. This argument has—this debate, this thing has become so politicized, and that's sad because there's a lot of people who don't have your—have the truth is not their number one goal necessarily, so they're going to say all kinds of stuff.
Speaker 1:Cash is the goal typically, and so—.
Speaker 2:That's right. Cash and control. Cash and control Exactly. And I say that in my opinion and this is just one man's opinion, I think that about people on both sides of this argument. There's some disingenuous arguments that get put forward. So what I would tell people is the climate is changing. We know that the climate has changed before in huge ways. I'm an outdoors guy. I love the outdoors, as just a general rule, I think it is smart for us to, within reason, limit the things that we pump into the air. I think that's just smart, right, right. I got to breathe that every day. You know Exactly.
Speaker 2:Now where it gets tricky is okay. What's the economic cost of doing that right, and what are you preventing climate change-wise if you do that? Because that's where we don't understand all of it yet. What is the correlation between, like, we see more heavy rain events now, we see wildfire a little more now, now tornadoes, so the overall tornado count is up. But the reason for that is better technology. We have radar now that allows us to detect really weak tornadoes that 30 years ago you would have never known hit. Now we can see the debris signature. In 1995, if a tornado EF-0 tornado hit out in Wilcox County, in the middle of a pine forest. Nobody would have ever reported it. We would have never known about it. Now we see the debris signature and we count it Okay, that's a tornado. But if you factor out those, if you say, okay, the EF0s that never got reported before, let's take those out and look at EF2, 3, 4, and 5 tornadoes, the number is totally flat.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Sure, because an EF2 tornado, even in 1995, that's going to be a strong enough tornado that eventually it's going to. Someone's going to notice, hey, all those trees are gone, or hey, my barn is gone, or it's noticeable, right? So if you factor out EF0s, the total count is essentially flat, which tells us maybe there's not a strong correlation between tornadoes and climate change, maybe there's a strong correlation between climate change and wildfire and drought, there's a strong correlation between climate change and wildfire and drought. And all of this, I would remind people too, all of this research, all this science, all this data, to a large degree is in its infancy, right, this has just started. Exactly, you know, we have how many years' worth of reliable weather data? Maybe 100. 100? And that sounds super long to us, but in terms of the planet Earth, 100 years is a flash in the pan.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so that's— We've had climate changes and shifts way before the first smokestack, correct?
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, so that's where I am on it. Is it climate changing? Yes, do humans contribute in some way to that change? Probably so. Right, there's billions of us and we pump stuff into the air especially—and this gets maybe off the path a little bit. But if you're really concerned about the amount of stuff being pumped into the air, you should really have a talk with your friends that work in the governments in China and in India and in a lot of these developing nations. The United States has done a really pretty fantastic job of cleaning up. I mean, you look at air quality in general. I'm not talking about CO2 necessarily, but it's air quality in general the 1970s versus today, it is much better in the United States today. So that gets into a lot of politics and stuff.
Speaker 2:What I tell people is look, climate's changing. Are we contributing into it as a species of humans? Probably to some degree. To what degree, I don't know. Is it connected to tornadoes and hurricanes and wildfire and drought? We don't know. How much does it drive those things? We don't know, is my honest. If my mother maybe put my hand on a Bible and answered that question, that's exactly the answer I give you. Those are my genuine thoughts. Look, I'm right about some things, I'm wrong about some things, but those are my thoughts on that.
Speaker 1:Sure, and you're right, we're the ones that get beat on. This country gets beat on more than anybody because of greenhouse gases and emissions, but we lead the pack. We're leading the charge for clean air and just cleaning up everything water, air, everything and India and China and places like that developing countries are just pumping it, pumping it, pumping it, pumping it, pumping it nobody wants to point the finger at them.
Speaker 1:So right, you know, the pendulum swings hard to the left and then it swings hard to the right, right, we're seeing that. That go back the other way right now. Maybe one day it'll settle in the middle again. We can all, we can all sing kumbaya right. Maybe, maybe not in our lifetime.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was about to say what about the hundred years we're talking about? It may be that, but you know, for me personally, I'm kind of in the middle on it. Like I said, I think, as humans, minimizing the amount of stuff we pump into the air is just smart. I'm talking about just not even to do with climate change. I like the way the pretty blue sky looks. It's nice.
Speaker 2:I like going camping, I like going hunting. I like going camping, I like going hunting, I like going fishing, I like doing all those things. So, yeah, we should limit that stuff. Sure, should we throw our economies back to the stone age to do it? Probably not, probably not. That doesn't make much sense either, does it? So, yeah, I think there's got to be a balance somewhere. Yeah, balanced, balanced thinking is a dying art.
Speaker 1:It is Well balanced thinking doesn't really get you paid right, that's it.
Speaker 2:That's it. That's it. No, yeah, you got to have these hot takes, hot takes, right? Yeah, cool, calm and balanced. Is you know, like I said, I can post a cool, calm and balanced post about a tornado event that's coming in three days and it'll get 100 shares and 500 likes. And the crazy person on TikTok wearing a weird shirt with a logo on it that's screaming into the microphone, beating their chest, is going to get 50,000 shares and likes. So you know Mark Twain had a quote about that A lie will circle the world three times before the truth has time to get out of bed and put its pants on.
Speaker 1:He was a wise man.
Speaker 2:He foresaw social media with that quote, I think.
Speaker 1:I bet you're exactly right. You're hitting it hard there. Well, you said you've been at WSFA now for 17 years, but that's not your first stop. Talk to us about your journey from Jacksonville, Alabama, where you're from Love it Great town Up here to Montgomery.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I started off I went to. First thing was I emailed James Spann and I said where should I go to college for meteorology? And he recommended Mississippi State, where he went. Went to Mississippi State. I'm telling you right. I was able to get a scholarship to go there and get all that paid for. So I went to Mississippi State for four years, had a fantastic time there.
Speaker 1:Starkville is a fun town very underrated college town Did they call it?
Speaker 2:Stark Vegas in Starkville, or is that just like something? No, yeah, we called it Stark Vegas. Now, back when I was there, there wasn't as much stuff, so some people would disparagingly call it Stark Patch.
Speaker 1:Right, that's how us at Auburn called it Stark Patch.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. But yeah, we call it Stark Vegas, stark Patch. The meteorology students at State would always talk about the Starkville force field. Seemed like no bad weather ever happened in Starkville, but we were the only ones going like, oh, I want to see a tornado. So everyone who lived there was probably pretty happy about that. So I did four years there. Now, interesting thing happened the summer after my sophomore year. So I'd done all my prerequisites and I'm getting ready to start meteorology the next fall and my folks had said you know, you got to get a summer job if you're going to stay in Starkville Like we're not going to float that. And so I was really late in applying for summer jobs. I waited until like May, which in a college town there's not a lot of businesses and there's a whole lot of unemployed 18 and 19-year-olds looking for work.
Speaker 1:All the good ones are gone.
Speaker 2:All the good ones are way gone. So I go around Starkville and I go to the sporting goods store and I go to Walmart and I go to I'll never forget Fred's Dollar Store. I got rejected by Fred's Dollar Store and I'm like man, this is tough. So I went back to mississippi state to the climate lab, literally after getting my, to the people, the fine people, the friends in starkville, telling me thanks, but no thanks, buddy, higher standards yeah right, the bar was any lower, I'd have tripped on it. And so I go there and my friend, uh, gina wade, was in the climate lab and I, she says what's up? And I said, well, I can't find a job anywhere, I think I might have to go back home. And she, oh be terrible, I don't want you to go back home. Blah, blah, blah. So I kind of have a little gripe session with her, but I can't believe I can't find a job. Well, I walk out of the room, leave and go home.
Speaker 2:Unbeknownst to me, the phone rings in the climate lab and that's just like a generic number If you call Mississippi State Weather at that time it the phone and there's a voice on the other end of the line that says hi, this is John Johnson. I'm the news director at WTOK Meridian Mississippi. Do you know of anyone looking for a job? And Gina says well, what do you know? One of my dear friends just walked out of here looking for a job. And so John was the news director at the number one station in Meridian Mississippi. Great, great guy. He just passed a couple of weeks ago, and so she got John's information and I called John and I had never had a weather class in my life. But he said do you have a tape? And I said I'll have you one tomorrow, because that was my way of saying no, I do not have a tape. And so I went to the climate lab and put together a resume tape just as fast as I could and drove it down there to him and he hired me on the spot, I guess, taking some initiative.
Speaker 2:But I often think about like what a God thing that was. You know like that if the fine people at Fred's Dollar Store had told me sure, when can you start, I might not be sitting here right now, because I started that was for a weekend weather job while I was still in college. So I did. I went to Mississippi State Monday to Friday and then worked in Meridian, about an hour and a half away, doing the weather on Saturday and Sunday nights. Yeah, then came back to school. Wow, I did that for most of my college career senior, junior and senior years and then that station, right as I graduated, their chief meteorologist left for a different job and I said what do you know? They were like Joshua, do you want it? I said, sure, yeah. So I became a chief meteorologist when I was 22 at WTOK Meridian, mississippi.
Speaker 1:That's kind of young for a chief meteorologist.
Speaker 2:It was right, I was making it up as I went for sure. Now that weather team back when I was doing weekends, I will tell you that weather team the chief meteorologist was Wes Wyatt, who's now the chief meteorologist at WBRC in Birmingham. The morning meteorologist was Jason Simpson, who's now the chief meteorologist at NBC 13 in Birmingham. And I was the weekend meteorologist, now the chief meteorologist at WSFA in Montgomery.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:And so that's what we talk about, that. Looking back, that was kind of like when Alabama had Derrick Henry and all those stud running backs on the same team. Now it was third string. For sure I was not Derrick Henry, but yeah, wes and Jason are really, really talented meteorologists. So I became chief of Meridian, worked there for three years, then went to a job in Atlanta at WXIA-TV 11 Live in Atlanta, georgia. The news director there was a fellow named Cal Calloway, a really nice guy who had worked at WSFA before.
Speaker 1:Now, was that his actual name, Cal?
Speaker 2:Calloway, cal Calloway. I'm not sure if it's his legal name or not Born for news, if that's your name.
Speaker 2:And he was a news guy. He was no-nonsense. Nowadays, especially in all forms of media, there's there are like the true blue believers that are like I'm a, I'm a straight laced news guy. And then there's the hot take guys right, and Cal Calloway is a straight shooter, straight. He's a right down the middle, which I love. I love working for Cal. Well then there was an opening at WSFA and I was tired of Atlanta. The station was great. The weather team. There was an opening at WSFA and I was tired of Atlanta. The station was great. The weather team there, chris Holcomb and Flip Spiceland and Paul Osman, steve Adamson great, great guys. News director was awesome, but I just living in Atlanta like I love visiting Atlanta, but living there- it's tough.
Speaker 2:No, yeah, and my mom you know my mom's from Jacksonville lived there her whole life. I don't know that I ever got her to wrap her head around. She would ask me how long does it take you to get home from work? And I would say, well, it's either somewhere between 15 minutes and an hour and a half. And she said I don't. I said well, it just depends on the traffic. Like if there's nothing on the interstate, I can zip right home, but if it's so I got tired of it.
Speaker 1:Five miles.
Speaker 2:I think it was about seven and a half. I lived at a. I wish I still lived there because it wound up where the Braves Stadium is like.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, yeah.
Speaker 2:It'd be a long walk, but it's walking distance. I said, man, if I lived there now I'd be at every Braves game. Yes, you would be. But so I came and interviewed at WSFA with a. Scott Duff was the news director at WSFA at the time he passed away this past year. News is a stressful business. On news directors as I'm telling this story.
Speaker 2:I'm thinking like gosh. That's now. John was up there in age. Scott was a younger fellow, but a very good man, very good boss. Worked for him for a long time, did morning weather at WSFA from July of 2008 until April of 2015. Then got promoted to chief meteorologist in April of 15 and have been there this. Well, it's April now, isn't it so?
Speaker 1:yeah.
Speaker 2:I think my first official day as chief meteorologist was April 27th. We picked that cause it was a big tornado outbreak anniversary that I'd covered Um. So the marketing team and all of them said we need it, we want to, we want to launch you on that day.
Speaker 1:So Tuscaloosa event.
Speaker 2:Tuscaloosa Lake, martin got hit um rainsville yeah, there's, you could. Smithville, mississippi, there were. That was just worst tornado day in my lifetime, in yours. So so, april 27 2015, until present, wow so yeah, that's, that's a.
Speaker 1:That's a long time in one place for a meteorologist it is, I mean, there seems to be like a carousel. It does you and Spann. You guys have the staying power. So what's the secret?
Speaker 2:Marrying an understanding wife would be the first thing I'd tell you, because it's going to be a lot of. We're at dinner and I got to go, or we're supposed to be going to the beach and I can't. I'll be there two days later. Or hey, honey, I'm coming home at two in the morning and you know I always joke around like I'm the only you know to predict the weather. We use something called computer models, and one of the best ones is the European. And I'm probably the only guy who doesn't get divorced. If I come home with makeup on my collar talking about how I hung out with a European model all day, you know, like for me that's just kind of another day, like I was all by myself the whole day, but the makeup's mine and the European model is a computer.
Speaker 1:Well, here in Alabama you got to be able to know about tornadoes, hurricanes, floods I mean the whole gambit, right.
Speaker 2:You do. And to answer your question about staying power, mary, understanding wife is thing one. Thing two is you got to love the weather because in Alabama you're going to get it all. I mean, since Christmas in Alabama alone, we've had 60 tornadoes to get it all. I mean, since Christmas in Alabama alone, we've had 60 tornadoes, two snow events, one of which was at the beach, two straight line wind events that knocked out electricity to over 200,000 people, two cold waves. Record heat of 90 degrees in April. That's since Christmas.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So four months worth of weather around here is four years worth of weather in a lot of places.
Speaker 1:Exactly, and how many first alerts does that trigger? So far this year it's been a bunch.
Speaker 2:Yeah and by the way, I'm glad you brought that up we have the first alert weather days that we do, and we have a criteria for all of that. A lot of people say or think, like you guys are just hyping the weather, you guys are just making it up. It's not. We sat down, looked at the science and said, okay, what are the days that are most likely to destroy property or cost us human life, and how can we develop scientific criteria to where that will trigger some sort of mechanism that gets people's attention to let them know hey, this isn't your normal weather day, this is something you need to be paying attention to. And so we have a spreadsheet. It's a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. That's about the size of this background. It's every weather thing you can imagine Heat, wind chill, severe weather, tornadoes, drought. Anything that we think could destroy property or harm human life triggers that.
Speaker 2:And so I think this year I know we had one, both the snow days, and I say snow days, for most of the first one, for most of our area, was not a snow day. There was some icing up in Alex City. I actually went up there and was live in that, but it got really, really cold right after that, like enough to burst your pipes in your home, which that triggers our mechanism too, because if you ever had burst pipes in your home, that's a $10,000 to $15,000 visit. That's no party. That's no party. So we thought that people need to know about that. So the snow and ice days then we've had, I think, four or five severe weather days that have triggered it. So I think we've had seven or eight first alert weather days since Christmas.
Speaker 1:Oh man, and it always comes. You know I'm sure you get the message like you're messing up my show. I was watching, I was watching so-and-so or the game was on and I watched Josh Johnson and I was like I'm trying to save you, schmuck.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know I have had enough people who have buried their loved ones figuratively and literally cry on my shoulder about it that I do not care about interrupting your favorite show. Right, not even a little. I will lay my head on the pillow that night and sleep like a baby, and I don't mean that as any form of disrespect. It's just when you see what these things do to people, you watching a show becomes really secondary, really fast.
Speaker 1:Who cares at that point?
Speaker 2:Sure, yeah and um, you know? One thing I always tell people is this you know, in the meteorology world I always tell our young people this, because a lot of people come up to us and they say you know, hey, that tornado, you saved me. And I always make a point to say no, I did not, you saved you, I gave you information, you acted on it. You being saved was between you and the man upstairs Exactly, I'm just a vessel of information, brother. Because what happens is, with young meteorologists and I think all of us fall into this to some degree people tell you that it makes you feel good about what you're doing and you think, oh, wow, okay, it's not an arrogance thing, it's just like, oh, I'm achieving my mission, this is really great.
Speaker 2:And then a tornado hits and kills 15 or 20 people. And then you have to reckon with that, because if you've accepted that you're saving people, when a tornado hits and kills 20 people, now you're having to accept that. Well, why didn't you save them? And that's a dangerous, dangerous slope. So I remind our young people a lot. Look, you are not divine in any way. You are a vessel of information. You give the information in the best way you know how and as persuasively as you can. But at the end of the day, it's up to the person that hears it to act on it, save themselves and have some understanding too that with what we do, if an EF4 tornado hits a place where a lot of people are, there's going to be some bad stories that come out of that, that you're going to be completely powerless to stop.
Speaker 2:No matter how prepared you are, no matter how prepared you are, no matter how prepared the person was, no matter what they did. There's some situations where it just it's your time to go. It's your time to go, sort of thing. And so I tell our young meteorologists and this other meteorologist that I try to help mentor don't be very careful about accepting credit for saving someone's life, because, a you really didn't, you gave them the information they saved themselves and some prayer probably helped out. And B what happens if you don't? Because that's a heavy load that you're trying to resolve, that mentally and psychologically, that'll take you down a dark path.
Speaker 1:Well, I know one of your big things is preparedness, Absolutely. You harp on it all the time. And because you harp on it all the time, we have a bag that has our helmets in it, our flashlight, our weather radio. Oh I love it All that stuff. And it just stays in the corner of the garage ready to go. And you know who else put that together? Our kids helped put that together. Because of the work you do in school. Yes, we've got to get this stuff together.
Speaker 1:So thank you for that, for the message I mean. I know it's not something that's part of your job, but you made it part of your job of going into the schools and sharing the message of preparedness.
Speaker 2:It is. And I talk candidly with the kids and say look, you are now going to be the foot soldiers. You go home today and ask whoever you live with your mom, your dad, your grandma, your grandpa, your aunt, your uncle, stepmom, stepdad ask them what would we do if a tornado was coming towards us? Do we have a plan? Because I can ask them that question a thousand times, but if you ask it once, all of a sudden their wheels are going to start turning and say wait a minute, I need a little better plan. And in Alabama, we are number one in tornado deaths per capita. Number one. Number one In Alabama, Not Texas, not Oklahoma, not Kansas, Not Tornado Alley. It's Alabama, it's us. Number two is Mississippi. Wow, Mississippi could have April 27, 2011, happen again tomorrow, and they still wouldn't catch Alabama. That's how far ahead we are.
Speaker 2:My goodness I didn't realize it was like that In a category you don't want to be ahead in. So that's the reason I've done that in the schools for these last 17 years is we've got to change the numbers there, and there's a lot of reasons for that, whether it's self, some of them are not. We have a lot of our population lives in mobile and manufactured homes, and this is a big one for me. Look, I have immediate family members who live in mobile and manufactured homes. I have nothing against them. They are fine homes.
Speaker 2:Here's the problem with them it's the way they're connected to the ground. It doesn't have anything to do with the home itself. The home is great, but the home sits up and it has these straps that go down into the ground that you know in Alabama, a lot of our soil is acidic. Those straps have corroded underneath the ground and you never know it until a tornado hits, or the tornado is strong enough that it just pulls the strap right out. Right, it has nothing to do with the home. If you went right now, you and I drove over Glenbrook, one of these nice subdivisions in Prattville, and we picked a $700,000 house and we picked it up and threw it over on its side, it would be completely and utterly destroyed, absolutely. It has nothing to do with the home itself, it's the way it's connected to the ground. So that's in Alabama we have a lot of that. So on days like March 15th, where it's a really big weather day we know it's going to be a big weather day we tell people look, just make arrangements to be somewhere else, just go have a spend the night party, have a video game day with your kids at your grandma's house, aunt's house, uncle's house, because if we want to get that number down, that's where we're.
Speaker 2:That's really the secret sauce in this, because the overwhelming majority of our tornado deaths in Alabama are from people in mobile manufactured homes, and it's not the home's fault itself, it's the fact that it gets rolled off or it gets thrown through the air. And then what happens is you're inside of that and now the refrigerator and the couch and the television are flying through the air at you because it got rolled over. It's upside down, and at that point you're going to need a miracle to survive that. And what I've started telling people is save your miracle for something else. Don't use your miracle on that, get out of that mobile home, put that miracle in your back pocket. I believe in miracles. Save it for something else. Man Win the lottery. If you get sick, get better. Save your miracle for something else. Don't use it on that.
Speaker 1:That's wild, and you realize we are number one in deaths per capita. That's unbelievable, isn't?
Speaker 2:it.
Speaker 1:I never even thought about that.
Speaker 2:And it's complicated. There's mobile homes. There's a lot of our tornadoes that are at night. We have a lot of pine trees, rolling hills and rain-wrapped tornadoes In the plains. They have less moisture, they have fewer hills. They have fewer big trees. In Kansas it's daytime. I can see the tornado coming from 40 miles away. In Alabama I smell pine trees and now I'm in the air. It's just like that. If you don't have a weather radio, if you're not paying attention to WSFA, if you're not plugged in, you're not going to get a lot of warning, you're not going to hear it a lot of times, you're just going to hit.
Speaker 3:I know one of the things that you harp on a lot about is the pockets of radar coverage in the state. There are places that are just not covered properly.
Speaker 2:That's exact. Well, I guess it's been three Sundays ago now. We had an EF-1 tornado hit Wilcox County. Actually, two EF-1 tornadoes hit Wilcox County without a warning. They had an EF-1 hit the middle of Camden three years ago no tornado warning. So the way this works is the closer you are to a radar, the better data you have, because the earth is curved and radar sends out a straight line.
Speaker 2:Despite what you may hear on TikTok, the earth is curved. It actually is a globe. It actually is a globe. Yeah, it's an oblate spheroid is the scientific name of it all. A globe. Yeah, it's an oblate spheroid is the scientific name of it all.
Speaker 2:So imagine if you had like a big beach ball and you set a pencil on top of it. Out at the edge of the pencil there would be a big gap between the end of the pencil and the beach ball. It's the same thing with radar. We've got radars near Birmingham, tallapoosa County, mobile, jackson, mississippi, columbus, mississippi so that leaves this giant low-level gap out in West Alabama, wilcox, marengo, perry, parts of Dallas, choctaw, sumter, green Hale and we have been working with our elected officials for a while now to try to fix this. We did convince the federal government to lower the tilt of the radar coming out of Birmingham and Mobile. That has given us about a 10 to 15 percent improvement in low-level coverage. So it's a good start.
Speaker 2:But the actual answer is going to end up being a radar placed in West Alabama or East Mississippi, a big, strong radar. There have been some radars you've probably seen about on other media outlets and I will not name names that are in East Mississippi and West Alabama. Those radars are a much smaller, weaker system and when it rains on them their range goes down to a very small amount. We need a National Weather Service grade full-on big daddy radar. In West Alabama I'm working with I will give a lot of credit to all of our congressional delegation is engaged on this bipartisan support for this, so they're continuing to work on it, but the wheels of government turn mighty, mighty slow.
Speaker 1:Yes, they do. I guess they'll say, the pushback is just not many people living there.
Speaker 3:I know with my app that I have on my phone I pay $10 a month for the best radar app you can get, is it?
Speaker 3:RadarScope Yep, that's great. Yes, love some RadarScope. Well, and the great thing about it is you can actually see the level of the radars. Like you switch to Birmingham View, it's like going from. If you go from not not knocking montgomery, but if you go from montgomery's view to birmingham's view, it's like sd to hd, I mean it's it's a lot more detailed, a lot more so it's like you're not in montgomery's view no, I'm what I'm getting at is.
Speaker 3:What I'm getting to is is how much difference is that as far as the radar, the big main radar for the National Weather Service in Birmingham versus the one in Montgomery?
Speaker 2:Well, technically they're the same radar, but I said technically for a reason. There's a lot of Montgomery's got some issues. One it's like the National Weather Service in Birmingham is a half a mile from the Birmingham radar. Yeah, it's like the National Weather Service in Birmingham is a half a mile from the Birmingham radar. Yeah, they are constantly tweaking all sorts of the data from that radar to make it look good. Montgomery has tree issues. The Montgomery radar, by the way, is not even in Montgomery or Montgomery County. It's in southern Tallapoosa County, out close like Noda Solga area.
Speaker 1:That makes sense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, go figure. Well, the thought process with a lot of these is put it because the radar, the other blind spot a radar has is directly overhead Right, can't see straight up. Its maximum degree is 17,. I think 17 degrees still, so there's a cone above it where it can't really see anything. So the thought is you don't put the radar right in the middle of the city, you put it outside of town, like the Birmingham radar is at the Shelby County Airport down near. Calero yeah, same kind of concept.
Speaker 1:Seen that. Yeah, yeah, can't miss it.
Speaker 2:It's like miniature Epcot right there on the way to Birmingham. You look up like there's the RV place and then there's the radar right there.
Speaker 2:It's still a huge thing, Yep looks like where trees are growing up around the Montgomery radar and the government. That gets really sticky because I'd have to go look and see how the Montgomery radar is, but I know the Columbus Mississippi radar. They had issues because the landowner someone other than the federal government owned the land that the trees were growing on and he told them go kick rocks. And the trees kept getting higher and higher and higher and blocking the radar and you would think there would be some sort of eminent domain process you could go through there to like not take the guy's land from him but say, hey look, we got to cut down these trees but we'll pay you for your trees.
Speaker 3:But yeah, people are going to die.
Speaker 2:But yeah, right, this could be life or death man, but that's starting to happen. Now around the Montgomery radar we're starting to see a little beam blockage from the trees. That's the big reason you can't, like I told you earlier, to help in West Alabama, we lowered the elevation of the Birmingham and the Mobile radar Can't do that in Montgomery because then you'd be, you'd have a pine cone radar, you know, and nobody needs that. So, yeah, so radar's complicated. I will give huge props to our local, county, state and federal elected people. They are all really engaged on this and all really want to see it happen. I will say, in this specific federal spending environment, probably we may be waiting a little longer, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So you know, look right now, yeah, right, yeah, that's the thing it's all going to Right, yeah, we'll just.
Speaker 2:All of that changes, all that change. You know that changes from month to month, year to year. So, um, the right people are engaged on it, right people are working on it and eventually we are going to be part of a comprehensive, thorough, effective solution to that problem in west alabama.
Speaker 3:I'll leave it at that one of my favorite things about radar is um everything is X and Twitter are the people that are bound to determine they'll, they'll, they'll take a shot of a race, of something happening on a radar scope. All the government's throwing chafe out in the atmosphere to to disrupt the weather. You could see it clearly on the radar popping up. Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah. The whole chemtrail thing to disrupt the weather. You could see it clearly on the radar popping up, yeah, oh yeah, yeah, the whole chemtrail thing.
Speaker 2:Chemtrail thing is really crazy and like chafe. Sometimes they do that. On occasion they're not doing weather modification, they're testing to figure out what kind of stuff they can use to hide planes. Yeah, like that's a military operation, that's like that's legit and they're doing it and they usually will put out a statement and saying, hey, we're doing this, it's at all. But of course the internet has no time for that kind of nuance.
Speaker 1:Come on, Josh. You know they're affecting the weather. You know they're doing it intentionally, right. I mean, we have a weather control machine. We used it in 2005. The space lasers, of course. The Jewish space lasers. The Jewish space lasers and the weather modification tool that Bush put to hurt Louisiana and deter Katrina.
Speaker 2:Had nothing to do with the fact that a giant hurricane moved over the Gulf current in the middle of August, when it was at its hottest temperature in 30 years.
Speaker 1:That's semantics. Yeah, right You're just talking, crazy Just talking crazy.
Speaker 2:I will talk a little about that, because that's a big deal Weather modification. So here's the deal. The only type of weather modification really that's even being attempted on any level is called cloud seeding. It's where you take silver iodide crystals, load them up in a plane and if there is already a cloud and if that cloud already has enough moisture to produce raindrops, and if it was going to rain anyway, that process can increase rainfall amounts by some small percentage Depends on which paper you read. It's between 5% and 15%. So if it was going to rain an inch now, it's going to rain 1.05 inches.
Speaker 1:Is it worth it?
Speaker 2:Well, that's why you don't see it anymore. This was a thing that came about in the 70s and 80s and now the people who are mainly trying it are like the governments of like the United Arab Emirates, qatar, in the Middle East, where they've got to figure out a way to get some more rain right, and even a small difference going from an inch to 1.05 inches for them is actually maybe worth it. Plus, they have more money than anybody on planet Earth, true, but most American, both governments and private entities because think about this them is actually maybe worth it. Plus, they have more money than anybody on planet Earth. But most American both governments and private entities because think about this too big ag these days, a lot of agriculture is not family farms anymore. A lot of it is really big, massive, multinational, multibillion-dollar corporations. If they thought there was a way to make it rain and they could get their profit margin up, they would do it. They'd probably be done already. They would do it. I mean, look at Wall Street. That's the one thing about Wall Street. It is utterly and completely relentless. Yeah, If it finds a way to make more money, it will do it. That's what capitalism does. They tried it and they figured out. This is not worth it. We're getting a 5% to 10% increase in rainfall when it was already going to rain.
Speaker 2:That's the thing, is this whole process. Cloud seeding has no ability to create rain. It has no ability to create clouds. It has no ability to stop rain. It can make it rain a little more when it was already going to rain Now. So when people send you crazy things about cloud seeding, that's the God's honest truth. Everything I just said, that's it. When they send you stuff about chemtrails no, it's just no. First off, do you have any idea how many people would have to be in on something like that? And you think none of them are going to tell their wife and then get a nasty divorce and the wife's going to come tell people. They're all going to be able to keep it a secret, similar to the moon landing, right, yeah, right. How many people would have to be in on that, right? Have you ever tried to keep a secret before?
Speaker 1:I have tried and failed many times.
Speaker 2:Many times right. And the funny thing, the number of people who know a secret never decreases. It can only increase, and it usually does so exponentially. So chemtrails, by the way. I can look at the weather balloon data from Birmingham every day and tell you if contrails so that's what you're seeing are contrails. I can look ahead of time and tell you there's going to be contrails in the air today, and if it was a government conspiracy, no one would be able to predict that. So it's actually really simple science. It's really straight laced.
Speaker 1:It's hot and cold.
Speaker 2:The plain exhaust, right? Yeah, the plane exhaust. If there's enough moisture and the temperature's just right at the right altitude where planes are flying, that exhaust is going to cause condensation and you're going to get a little ribbon of clouds. That goes along with it.
Speaker 2:It's nothing new, it's nothing weird, it's nothing sinister, and I get it. It's hard to know what to believe nowadays because there's so much crap out there, but I have no motivation to lie to you whatsoever. I'm happy to give everybody my W-2s. You can see that I'm not part of the Jewish Space Laser Fund. I don't get any kickbacks out of this.
Speaker 1:You just have to be really bored to come up with this stuff.
Speaker 2:They do and they prey on people because, like I said, it's hard to know what. It's sometimes hard to separate truths from fiction nowadays.
Speaker 3:Yes, I mean, if they had any control over chemtrails like that, do you think there would have been any in Young Guns? No, they wouldn't.
Speaker 1:No, they would have made sure to. You weren't supposed to see that. You weren't supposed to see that Right.
Speaker 2:Great movie though.
Speaker 1:The Young Guns 2, better than 1.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Always. I think that's just standard. All right back to the future. How do we rank those?
Speaker 1:I'm a two, one, three.
Speaker 2:Yes, thank you. It's nice to meet another correct person.
Speaker 3:What you got on back to the future rankings oh, it's two, one, three, two and three All day long.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love all of them.
Speaker 1:Look, but it makes you start to believe in time travel. When they predicted the 2015 world series would go to the Cubs and it did, who would have thought that? Maybe they knew?
Speaker 3:Hey, speaking of which I saw I saw a little reels pop up the other day talking about the one of the one of the vehicles from back to the future was they showed it in like three or four different movies. That's that's. That's a prop for a future vehicle, the.
Speaker 1:DeLorean. It was the truck right, the blue truck, it was in Overboard, it was in Back to the Future and it was in like two other movies.
Speaker 3:No, no, no. This was an actual futuristic-looking vehicle when they were in the future, not the DeLorean.
Speaker 2:Not the DeLorean. Oh, this was like a side vehicle when they went to 2015.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's been in like three or four different movies sci-fi movies 2015,.
Speaker 2:no flying cars, no hoverboards.
Speaker 1:So disappointed.
Speaker 2:What are we even doing?
Speaker 1:Well, we did kind of make hoverboards, but they have wheels on them. Right, yeah, I hate that. It's not a hoverboard. Stop calling it that. I know it makes me, If you cannot. It is a toy. It is not a lightsaber.
Speaker 2:That's correct. I love you, disney, but no, you're lying and our kids are like I want a lightsaber. I'm like, well, if it can't cut that eye out.
Speaker 3:It's probably all kind of things.
Speaker 2:I would walk in here with a half an arm and a quarter of a leg probably, but can you imagine like trimming trees, like doing yard work?
Speaker 3:You're just out there with the lightsaber, oh no man, oh man, that Boston butt would just be perfect.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it would be charred on the outside. You could steer a stake with that. Yeah, get a little rib out there.
Speaker 1:This is why people in the South can't have a lightsaber. We would not use it for its proper purpose.
Speaker 2:We would absolutely not. We would not, because if we got it in the South, you're going to end up having small ones at Dollar General. Everybody's going to get one, that's right, and the next thing you know it's just going to be panic and bedlam in the street.
Speaker 3:Could you imagine a Timu lightsaber?
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, it would shoot through your hand.
Speaker 1:I've gotten three messages from Timu while we've been sitting here.
Speaker 3:They're trying to get it all in under the tariff? What?
Speaker 2:about Shine. Are you on the Shine? Sheen, sheen. That's it. I'm sorry, I always say it wrong. My wife's going to watch this and fuss with me that is the female Timu, it's unbelievable man. These packages come and it's like an everyday thing and I'm like yeah, don't worry, it was only three dollars.
Speaker 2:I know that's what she said she's like why are you, why are you worried about it? It was, it was nine dollars. I said, carrie, it was stacked up six feet tall she's. I know it was nine dollars. Wow, that's. I mean. Actually I'm gonna fist bump you on that. One boo, that's pretty good. Two wares out of it, so be be, it yeah right.
Speaker 1:Disposable clothes.
Speaker 3:All my TVs and monitors straight up Wish.
Speaker 1:There you go Now. Wish was the forerunner.
Speaker 3:Yeah, wish was a Woo-hoo and sheen. Yeah, only veterans know Wish.
Speaker 2:Only the OGs man.
Speaker 1:The discount OGs know about Wish.
Speaker 2:Wish was the best, hey that 24 one.
Speaker 3:The brackets look like they're mounted. That's the one I take to the stadium. I leave the brackets All backwards.
Speaker 2:I think you've got a dislocated bracket, my man.
Speaker 3:Well, it's only got one screw holding it in.
Speaker 2:That was an extra $10.
Speaker 3:It was missing screws when it came in.
Speaker 2:I just got it to where it would work it. Those who can't see it. It's mounted on the wall but the floor brackets are still on it, but they're they're pointed. It looks like a football player who had a really bad acl the reason why it works.
Speaker 3:It works well because you can press against the wall and they fall back in with it okay, I don't think dr james andrews could fix those legs, brother like that's a that's the real deal, man hey, speaking of football, you are together on a new venture, aren't you?
Speaker 2:I'm so excited about this.
Speaker 1:You're about to be a football coach.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm coaching a 12U football team in Proudwell. It's associated with the City of Proudwell Youth Lines, right? So they're breaking into sort of two divisions this year competitive and recreation. Competitive is going to play your Pike Road, greenville, selma. The recreational league is going to play more of the kind of YMCA type level teams. The Recreational League is going to play more of the kind of YMCA-type level teams. We're doing a competitive team.
Speaker 2:So if you or someone you know happens to be a 10-, 11 or 12-year-old football player looking for a great experience, email me. It's jpjohnson93 at gmailcom. What we're wanting to do this year is build an experience for these kids that are playing with us. Build an experience for these kids that are playing with us. So we're going to have outside guest speakers come in and talk about leadership and decision-making and doing the right thing and doing the right thing the right way and accountability.
Speaker 2:We're going to do team-building exercises. We're going to have pool parties. We're going to go to the lake. We're going to go. We're working, we're partnering with the Prattville YMCA. We're going to go to Tuscaloosa and tour the stadium and the indoor facilities and locker room. I'm working on setting the same thing up at Auburn this summer. So I want this to be something, because one thing that's happened with our young people is they lost a year to a year and a half of socialization because of COVID. We're all in our houses and they're picking away on Chromebooks instead of learning how to interact with other people.
Speaker 1:That'll end up being one of the worst services we ever did our children.
Speaker 2:It's tough, man. It was tough and look, I'm not second guessing anything that happened. We all make the best decisions we can with the information we have at the time. Right, I get that, but it really did from a social standpoint, like our son was in kindergarten first grade. Those are your first years where you're learning how to interact with a room full of people.
Speaker 1:Daughter was the same way.
Speaker 2:And so that's when I look at this team. I think we're going to put together a fantastic team and win some games, but we're really going to. We're going to help create some better sons, brothers, grandsons and, eventually, better daddies and granddaddies, because we're going to help use football as a venue and a vehicle to teach them about life and that's awesome and I've got a great staff.
Speaker 2:You know, look, I'm kind of like the general manager, I'm the head coach on paper, but I've got a guy who played at Ole Miss who's gonna be on our staff. I've got a guy who played college football who's his dad was actually a head coach. Uab was office, was offense coordinator at Georgia, offensive line coach at Alabama and Auburn. Wow, they're going to be with us Like we're putting together a great group of great men who know a lot about football but also are great people who are going to help mold these people, because we have an epidemic of young people who are missing out on positive male influences, positive male role models, who are missing out on positive male influences, positive male role models, and we're going to do everything we can to help, at least in this community, on our team, help give them those people.
Speaker 2:And this is the kind of thing like I always say if I'm your friend, I'm your friend for life. And so these kids that come play on this football team, you know we're going to be with you for life, all the coaches me when it comes time to need. You know we're going to be with you for life, all the coaches me when it comes time to need you know, college letters, recommendation, or you're looking for that first job. Call me back, coach. Remember what I played for you all those years ago? Yeah, I need some help. Okay, whatever you need, I'll be there. So that's the kind of relationships that we're trying to build on our team.
Speaker 1:So man, Josh, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:I'm so excited about it. It's really my passion project. Now the only rule is you can't be going to the seventh grade as far as eligibility goes, so you've got to be 10, 11, or you can be 12 years old, but you can't be going to seventh grade and you can't turn 13 before November 1st. So if you have anyone in your family who's in that wheelhouse jpjohnson93 at gmailcom we will take excellent care of them and I will give you my personal word they will be better sons, better brothers and eventually better daddies one day because they came and hung out with us.
Speaker 1:You said it, man. You said the epidemic of just kids without male role models. I see it, and I see it more in this county than I ever have before. It's just kids being raised by a single mom. It's tough. It is hard, and if they can glom onto somebody that's going to show them how to be a man early in life, it's huge. It is irreplaceable.
Speaker 2:And you know it happens for a lot of reasons. You know, sometimes it's a two-parent household and dad works 80 hours a week. Yeah, and look, I'm not faulting him. He's putting food on the table, that's what he has to do. He's doing what he has to do for his family. But we're trying to help kind of fill that a little bit, and church can do that. But you see the numbers about church there are fewer people going to church nowadays.
Speaker 1:Actually since 2020. Go, figure, go, figure Go figure.
Speaker 1:I always thought, you know, I've been very active in my kids' lives. My son is 16, now Nice, but I mean I always thought like he'd come to me with everything and it's not really that way. I mean, as interactive and as involved as we've been in shaping these kids, they still need other influences in their lives that are positive on them and praise God, he's found that in his youth group and in his small group leaders. You know sports wasn't really his thing, but he's found it in other places, which that's the name of the game is figure out how to find it and find it Exactly, find your spot and any way these kids can find male, strong, positive, male role model leadership. It's irreplaceable. Thank you for doing that.
Speaker 2:Strong, positive male role model leadership. It's irreplaceable. Thank you for doing that. I'm excited to do it. Our team is about two-thirds of the way full. So if you know someone, get in quick, because tryouts are coming up May 15th and then my team will probably be full as tryouts are starting. So we've had a really good response to it. I've posted about it a few times on social media.
Speaker 2:So now I will say this if your child has never played football before, we're playing in the competitive league. That means playing time's not guaranteed. That means they're going to get a lot of hands-on coaching. It's going to be pretty intense. If they've never played, come play the recreational league. Or if you think they can handle a little extra coaching, send them my way. There's multiple avenues. So if what I'm saying about football is a little maybe intimidating, you go. Well, my son's never really played before. There's an avenue for them to come register again. You can go to. Just if you just go to Google and search Prattville Youth Lions football registration, you can find the link. I think it's PrattvilleYouthSportscom. You can go there and register and get your kids involved with it, and there's. So we've met a lot of great people through our adventure through Prattville Youth Sports already and it helps. It definitely helps Because every kid reaches an age where, no matter you could be the best father, best bonus dad, best whatever Every kid reaches an age where the people that are raising me don't know anything.
Speaker 2:And they need to hear it. They don't get it, you don't get it and they need to hear it from outside voices and they need some outside perspectives, and that's what we're trying to do.
Speaker 1:That's what I get Like.
Speaker 2:Hey, mr So-and-so told me this today I can tell you that for three rest of your life, you know like it's kind of funny the way their brains work.
Speaker 1:It is so it is tough being a dad I'm telling you fun though best. It's the best thing, it's the best adventure you'll ever take coolest job in the world, man, yeah absolutely.
Speaker 3:hey, man, I'm gonna tell you, this weekend, me and john carter, I set up the uh, the um inflatable screen out in the yard, wrestlemania night one, night two, we had it on the big screen out in the yard. He had his tent set up where he had his tent open and he was sitting in his tent watching the WrestleMania.
Speaker 2:Did you catch an invite to this or not? I did not get an invite. Funny thing, me neither.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was posted on Facebook for anybody that wanted to come out.
Speaker 2:With a screen that big. Maybe he could have found a spot for us to sit. There's plenty of room on a screen that big, maybe he could have found a spot for us to sit.
Speaker 3:There's plenty of room on a screen that size.
Speaker 2:I'll bring my own chair man. Hey, you had all a booth, had all a booth, all 90 of them out there, yep 90.
Speaker 3:Nine Nine On a good day.
Speaker 1:They all brought a friend, that's if nobody's in the hospital.
Speaker 3:That's pretty good.
Speaker 1:Oh man. But hey, I wanted to say the first alert weather forecast when you come on, first alert. I mean, over the last few years you guys have gotten more and more and more entertaining, and this last one with you and Amanda, it was almost like a comedy routine. Amanda is funny, she is.
Speaker 2:Great sense of humor.
Speaker 1:She was throwing zingers in there the whole time and you're trying to play it straight and I was like I could see it in his face, like Josh is trying to hold it together. He's trying his best.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, I think you have to do that to some degree because people are sitting at home, they're anxious. We've been telling you about something that's trying to kill you for three hours. You're exhausted hearing it, we're exhausted saying it. And look, I understand it's a serious thing and we don't ever want to take it lightly, but when you can weave in some lighter moments, I think that's good for everyone. Involves mental health, not just us doing it but you watching it. I think that's good for you.
Speaker 2:Like, I don't think it's healthy for me to yell at you for three hours about something trying to kill you. I know I wouldn't want to listen to that. I'd change channel eventually. It's going to be exhausting for you. It is, it is, but you can't, you cannot let that ever affect it. You know, and this last one, march 15th, I was coming off a really tough case of the flu. Yeah, like I mean I had gotten medical attention that week to try to even be able to do to go Saturday and I kept, I kept coughing and coughing and people were complaining about me coughing and I'm like I get it, I'm just happy there's air in my lungs, man. But yeah, that one was a tough one.
Speaker 3:Exactly how much coffee or whatever caffeine does Amanda use?
Speaker 2:Because how does somebody stay that high energy? Okay, I'm about to blow your mind. She doesn't drink caffeine. Good, grief. She does not drink coffee. She's never had a soda in her entire life, it's true? Wow, and I'm like girl. If you ever went to Starbucks, I don't know what would happen. Like spontaneous human combustion. Like old school Robert Stack, unsolved mysteries. Like we're just bursting into flames in the kitchen.
Speaker 3:She starts moving so fast she goes into her own dimension.
Speaker 2:Yes, right, yeah, you're now multidimensional, amanda, that's a first alert. For sure, I will issue a first alert whether year, if Amanda tries coffee, the whole year is just first alert.
Speaker 1:You know, gosh, you said Robert Stack and my mind went straight to that song. I can't listen to that song. The Unsolved Mysteries thing, oh, dude man.
Speaker 2:Creepy.
Speaker 1:To this day. That's like tall brown trench coats. That's a trench coat. I can't do it. I can't do it Stop it, stop it.
Speaker 2:Well, no, my college roommates this is funny, you mention this. When I was in college at Mississippi State, my college roommates knew that I was terrified of that song and one of the roommates was a computer science major. He win vnc remote access into my computer while I was sleeping and I had these big boss computer speakers while I was sleeping, two in the morning, totally dark. He win vc, vnc's remote access to my computer, loads that up and hits play. And so I'm laying there dead asleep middle of the night. And it's just, you know, you know the do. Yeah, oh, it's so creepy it gets me a chill now, yeah. And then he's walking out with a trench coat and, like the variety of stories too, you know, it's like a woman goes shopping and never comes home. Did aliens hide gold in roswell? What's the government hiding for you? And susan has met her brother, larry, but he passed 10 years ago. Is this a past life?
Speaker 2:Next, on unsolved mysteries, and I'm dude. Those are four very different stories One, two, they're all pretty interesting, and three, they're all a little scary. Right.
Speaker 1:And all real, apparently Right, yeah, right.
Speaker 2:Well, they're unsolved, so I don't even know if they're real. And then the best part was the end of it would go update and it had the us the corner of the screen thing, update. And then it would go to the woman. You know the lady, I can't remember her name. I'm such and such in the call center, bob, and she would call him bob, and even as a kid I was like his name is robert he is a form. You put some respect on mr stack's name right now um I was an airplane.
Speaker 3:Give him some respect he was hey, the, the unsolved mysteries cameo in basketball is one of the all-time greats.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, Basketball is obscure.
Speaker 2:That's a good one.
Speaker 3:I can't quote it, but it was, I'm trying to figure out.
Speaker 2:I remember there was a connection in here, the Unsolved Mysteries call season, or the call center. There was a woman, I can't remember her name. She married someone famous, the cop. Yes, right, yes, and I'm trying to look this up, and this is one of those things that you just randomly fall across on the internet one day and for the life of me I can't remember what it was, who it was. Yeah, and the internet's not helping me right now.
Speaker 1:No, the internet in here is terrible. Millser, Thanks a lot.
Speaker 2:You got any of those? You got any Wi-Fi extenders?
Speaker 3:on Wish, yeah, wish.
Speaker 2:Oh, keely Shea Smith was her name. She met a dude at the beach randomly one day at the beach and they got the beach and they got married and the dude's name is pierce brosnan. She married pierce brosnan, james bond. She made james bond small world. Right, it is, that's amazing.
Speaker 3:I'm telling you so anyway yeah, yeah, think about that during during that time you had you had robert stack, you had you had a um walsh from yeah, matt walsh had Walsh from yeah, matt Walsh, matt Walsh, john Walsh, john Walsh. Yeah, matt Walsh was totally I mean they A different guy.
Speaker 2:We all grew up just terrified, oh yeah, yeah. And they were scary, I mean like their voices were just they must have wanted it. Robert Stack. He could read the phone book to me and I would be. I wish we could bring him back. He could be the intro guy for our First Alert Weather Days. Today is a First Alert Weather Day.
Speaker 1:Could you or a loved one be in the path of a deadly tornado? Possibly these answers and more on the next First Alert Weather Podcast.
Speaker 2:Someone could solve a mystery. Maybe it's you. I remember as a kid sitting there going maybe it is. I'm going to go look around the shed out back and if there's somebody hiding, maybe find it. Maybe this dude from vermont that swindled that woman out of all of her money is out back by grandpa's shed spoiler he was not, no, he wasn't still unsolved still unsolved to this day hey, but this is not the unsolved mystery of what happened to the shovel.
Speaker 3:Well, I don't, know't know, that's what I'm saying. You go behind the shed, you find the shovel, that's true, I solved that mystery, mystery solved there you go, there you go. Update, update Shovel found Shovel.
Speaker 2:found. Didn't find her, but we found the shovel. Found the shovel.
Speaker 1:Not where I was. We didn't recognize them.
Speaker 2:Because I put them there to blame the aliens, so my granddad wouldn't be mad at me.
Speaker 1:Well, josh, this has been fun, this has Love having you here. Great having you part of the community as well, for so many years, love this community.
Speaker 2:This is a great place.
Speaker 1:This is a great place to raise kids.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Raise a family and just work, live and play all at the same time.
Speaker 2:Love it.
Speaker 1:It's just anything you and I want to offer this to you as well. I know you're starting this football. You're going to be the head coach of this football program. If you need any help, you can reach out to me. I don't know if you know this, but I coached two years of Y-Ball and we won two games in those two years and lost 12. Okay, that's beside the point. There were two victories. Did you have fun? Oh, absolutely not. Oh, okay, but 2-12 is tough.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's tough to have fun at 2-12. That's tricky.
Speaker 1:No, but if it weren't for parents, it would have been a blast. That's what.
Speaker 2:I hear that's what I hear On our team we're going to have a contract for the parents to sign and just sort of go over some ideas about.
Speaker 3:Well, just to give you an idea, will coached my son. I like basketball, right, my son don't play sports anymore.
Speaker 2:He's like this is enough, I've seen all I need to see. This is not for me.
Speaker 1:JC was the greatest at defense Right, I mean against the opposing team and our team If he felt like he wasn't getting enough rock he'd just come get it and lay down on it curl up.
Speaker 2:That's funny. I'm holding this for at least 30 seconds. Nobody's getting it. We're in the triangle offense and I'm the triangle.
Speaker 1:We had a lead Like JC go get the ball and nobody's getting it, I got it.
Speaker 2:It's a jump ball. It's the best you're going to do. That's right, that's funny. Well, hey, thanks for having me. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:We enjoyed having you here Anytime and before A lot of people don't know that Chip is a master poet, a poet laureate, probably before too long. Probably be the next, what do you call it when the president gets the inauguration? Probably the next inauguration with his poetry and of course, the motivational minute with head coach Donnie Burnett and you know Donnie Love Donnie Donnie's, another pillar of the community.
Speaker 2:He is love him.
Speaker 1:So let's go. I haven't heard this yet, you haven't heard this yet. You haven't heard it either. You're going to be amazed by the poetry. I can't wait. So Mills will hit that.
Speaker 5:Fans. This is Chip Powell with Poetic Justice. You know, last week we did a little quick poem. I didn't have much time, but today I've got a little time just to kind of remind you of where I've been, what I've been doing as far as poetry is concerned, and back in March I had the opportunity to attend the Alpine Wyoming Poetry Festival on elk chili cook-off. Let me tell you, the poetry was great, but so was the elk Nothing better than elk chili and it was really, really delicious. But, man, met some fantastic people and met some. Several people from Scotland were there.
Speaker 5:You know everybody knows that about the Stanza Poetry Festival over there in St Andrews. It's been around a long time, you know. In fact I was going in 2020, but just like everything else COVID got us couldn't make it Want to still try to get there. I mean, it's one of the best in the world and you know, if you get a chance to go to St Andrews, it's considered the country's leading poetry festival. Man, I'm looking forward to going to that for sure. But you know, the other thing is we have a special guest that Millser and everybody Will's interviewing, and Josh Johnson, the guy that lets everybody know what's going on in the weather world and of course it just didn't take me long, you know, to put together a poem just for Josh and what he means to this community and how he really prepares you for the bad weather and what a good dude. But anyway, here it goes.
Speaker 5:In a toggle county where the rivers flow, weatherman Josh Johnson steals the show With a smile and a map. He takes to the screen, guiding us through storms. Ever calm and keen. In a toggle, the thunder rose, loud Lightning crackles. A storm gathers its crowd. Stay indoor, folks, he calls with a cheer. Let's ride out this tempest. I'll keep you right here.
Speaker 5:But then comes a warning from Vita's sweet town. Tornadoes are swirling, dark clouds coming down With urgency clear, he points to the path. Seek shelter, stay safe. No time to laugh In Billingsley's chill. The snowflakes begin A winter surprise. A soft, gentle spin. Bundle up tight, he tells us with glee. Let's make some hot cocoa and watch it with me. Through thunderstorms, twisters and snowflakes that dance, josh Johnson stands ready, giving safety a chance. With heart and with passion he guides us each day In a Talga County he lights up the way. I'm sorry, I messed up a couple times because I kind of got a little emotional. That's the way I feel about Josh Johnson, wsfa, always right there and ready. Look forward to meeting him, and I never met him before, so it's pretty cool. But anyway, josh, appreciate what you do, man. I hope you enjoyed the poem. Thanks again for another great edition of poetic justice with chip powell.
Speaker 1:Thank you he's really remarkable that's I look something we can get, that. We can get that printed and framed for you if you like that's the.
Speaker 2:I've never had a poem written about me before, so this is a first for me and I'm deeply honored and can't wait to meet Chip and high-five him and tell him thank you.
Speaker 1:We don't think an LSEC cornerback is capable of stuff like that, but I guess Can't judge a book by its cover.
Speaker 3:You know, the old story was when Chip first went over to Auburn. He goes into Coach Dye's office and Coach Dye sees the the uh, the five, six, 120, 135 pound defensive back wanting, wanting to uh play uh college football. Son, don't you think you need to do poetry? Well, it inspired chip so much he did both wow, that's a good, a good motivational speech then yes, it is.
Speaker 1:And speaking of motivational speeches, let's hit that motivational minute with Coach Donnie Burnett.
Speaker 4:This is Coach Donnie Burnett, and here's today's motivational minute. If you know Josh Johnson, you know what a great guy he is and a fun person to be around, and I wish him the best in his new endeavor with the 12U football team. But this is a quote that's very fitting for Josh Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine. This is Coach Donnie Burnett, and that's today's Motivational Minute.
Speaker 1:Heat. What can you say about such men?
Speaker 2:Nothing, I can't even begin to describe it.
Speaker 1:We walk, love them both. We walk in the garden of their turbulence.
Speaker 3:The Motivational Minute is so motivational it's never more than 45 seconds.
Speaker 2:He didn't need the whole minute.
Speaker 1:In and out.
Speaker 2:If you got a whole minute it would launch you into space. Yeah, so he just wants you to be kind of fired up. By the way, heath, actually that's another thing we're doing on our team is we're going to incorporate elements of the seventh and eighth grade football teams at Prattville Junior High their terminology, their play calls some of that into what we're doing, so that the kids on our team are next year or the year after they've got kind of a leg up. They know that's huge, they know the offense, they know a lot of what's going on.
Speaker 1:Move faster when you have to think less.
Speaker 2:No, that's 100% it. I want you running. I don't even think about it, it's second nature. Coach Donnie b's already helping me a good bit on that and, uh, coach riddle's going to jump in there too a little bit. And uh, show me some stuff and help me out a little bit.
Speaker 1:So very good, well, good men we could we? I guess there's so much more I would love to talk to you about, but I can't monopolize all your time we can do a volume two. Some we need a volume two oh, absolutely, this is the devil, yeah right and we got onto unsolved mysteries and
Speaker 2:back to the future and there's still stuff we don't even touch Right and we got onto Unsolved Mysteries and Back to the Future and there's still more we didn't get into.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we didn't even scratch the pop culture surface.
Speaker 2:No, we didn't.
Speaker 1:Maybe next time we'll just devote most of the time in Volume 2 to pop culture.
Speaker 2:I think that would be a lot of fun. Do that sports. We can go for days.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Well. That's going to wrap podcast Stacey Mills. Behind the camera I'm Will Barrett and this has been chief meteorologist and head football coach Josh Johnson, and we say to you all good night, god bless and go. Lines Outro Music.