Hi, everybody. Obviously, the weather has been a major topic of conversation in the news because of

these historic floods that we've seen in Texas. And we're going to continue to cover that

story, but I saw something recently in the Washington Post

by a journalist and meteorologist I really admire. It turns out I've actually been following him

from some time. So this is exciting to be able to speak to him today. And here's what the post said,

and this is why we're having this conversation today. It says tropical moisture will continue

to pull across central and eastern states in the days and weeks ahead as a heightened risk for flash flooding continues.

So what we saw in Texas obviously was, again, a historic event, flash flooding.

But what got me about this post is that it's forward-looking, that this could be something

that we can see in more places.

And part of reporting on this and wanting to make sure that we're aware, I reached out to

Ben Noll, who is a meteorologist, and also the global weather writer for the Washington

Post.

And we're lucky enough that he's joining us from New Zealand, which, by the way, I just have to share, Ben, with everybody that when I was trying to figure out the time zone difference, you really stumps me.

You know, I've done a lot of interviews, a lot of different time zones, but this one got me, Ben.

So why did you tell us that story first? How did you get involved in meteorology? And why New Zealand?

Yeah, thanks so much for having me today. Yeah, about 15, 16 hours into the future,

depending on where you live in the United States, this time of the year. So the next day,

it is here in New Zealand. So I have been forecasting the weather ever since I was a young kid.

I grew up north of New York City. So for me, what I caught the weather bug from the blizzard of

1996. And that is, you know, a storm that dropped maybe two feet of snow in New York. And ever since

that moment, there was like something, a flip

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