Weather: The Ultimate Wild Card

Jen Carfagno (0:04)

We all love to think the outcome of a game comes down to talent, strategy, and maybe a little luck. But there's another player on the field that nobody can control, the weather. Wind can turn a routine fly ball into an adventure, heat and humidity can test athletes and fans, and a thunderstorm can send an entire stadium scrambling for cover. So, how much can weather actually influence the game, and what should fans know before they head to the stadium? Today, we're talking to Kevin Roth, a sports meteorologist who lives right at the intersection of weather and sports. We'll talk about forecasting for different sports and players, how weather affects performance and strategy, and how fans can be better prepared for whatever, whatever mother nature throws their way.

Kevin Roth, so good to have you on the Weather Geeks podcast.

Kevin Roth (0:55)

Thank you for having me. I'm excited to join and to talk about what I love.

Jen Carfagno (0:59)

You know, viewers of The Weather Channel are very familiar with you because you are a frequent guest on America's Morning Headquarters, friend of The Weather Channel for years. You have been joining us. So and you've been on Weather Geeks before, a long time ago, though. So I imagine a lot has changed both in the fact that we're now just a podcast here compared to TV, but also in your world. I'm sure a lot has changed. So we'll we'll get into all of that. But as you know, first question on the pod is, how did you become a weather geek?

Kevin Roth (1:29)

I started young. I, you know, when you're in middle school and people start asking you, what do you want to be when you grow up? For whatever reason, my answer was, I want to be a meteorologist. I don't know what triggered that, what caused that. But as I went through high school and then into college, I stuck with that answer.

I got a degree from Florida State and then a master's degree from Mississippi State in meteorology. And it's just what I've always loved. I've always loved science. I've always loved weather. And it's just a case of me continuing.

Why was weather my first answer? I don't know, but I stuck with it my whole life, and here I am, Jen.

Jen Carfagno (2:10)

Yeah. I mean, look, you need an, when you're a kid, you need an answer. And that was probably a favorable answer. People were like, oh wow, that's great. That sounds really cool. And they probably shepherded that. I mean, sometimes that's the way it works. But you obviously had a curiosity for it, because it's hard. You need to work with the masters. I mean, you have done your fair share of physics and calculus, for sure.

Kevin Roth (2:31)

Yes, a lot of work, but it's just such a fun job. And every day I wake up and I love what I do.

And I feel so fortunate to be one of the few people, work does not feel like work to me. I really, I would do it for fun. Like, I love this job. I love weather. I love sports weather. So I think that first answer was a good one.

Jen Carfagno (2:52)

Well, speaking of sports weather, I mean, you're kind of at like the optimal position to combine a lot of people's interests. There's so many people who love sports. There's so many people who are really interested in weather, whether or not they want to be a meteorologist. But there's a lot of armchair kind of sports reporters, armchair, on-camera broadcast reporters, you know, they like to talk about it. And you combine them both. How did you make that synergy? And actually, first, going back to when you decided you want to be a meteorologist, were you that interested in sports at the same time?

Kevin Roth (3:25)

Yeah, I would say weather and sports have always been my passions, but I never thought about combining the two until it just happened. All right, I am a traditional meteorologist, got the degree, went through the TV route. I've been all over the place. I work at ABC 13 in Houston now on TV.

But it was about 15 years ago when someone came to me and said, hey, I notice you're into sports. You're obviously a meteorologist. Would you be interested in forecasting for some of these baseball games and if these games would rain out? And I thought about it, and I was like, yeah, I think I could probably do that, and I could help a little bit. And it really blew up from there. It started as just forecasting for a few baseball games and rainouts, and it has turned into a whole career of sports weather and so much data and just so many interesting things that I never could have fathomed when I started.