Translating the climate with Bernadette Woods Placky

Translating the climate with Bernadette Woods Placky

Author: Gemma Plumb & Aisling Creevey June 3, 2026 Duration: 42:05

In this episode of For the Love of Weather, Gemma and Aisling are joined by renowned meteorologist and climate communicator Bernadette Woods Placky. At the time of recording Bernadette was the Chief Meteorologist and Climate Matters Director at Climate Central. She has since moved on to a new role.

Bernadette shares her journey from studying meteorology at Penn State to becoming an Emmy Award-winning TV meteorologist and the first female meteorologist in Baltimore station history. Bernadette tells us how conversations about the weather are as much a national pastime in the US as it is here.

The discussion dives into Climate Central's groundbreaking work on climate attribution science, helping people understand how climate change is influencing the weather events happening around them right now.

We cover quite a lot of other topics including

❄️ Forecasting snow is rarely straightforward, even in regions where snow is common.

🌪️Tornadoes

⛅Favourite clouds

🌡️Dew point often tells us far more about how weather feels than relative humidity.

🌍 Communication is a climate solution.

🌡️ Attribution science now allows scientists to quantify how climate change influences individual weather events.

📈 Climate solutions are advancing rapidly, but progress still needs to accelerate.

🗣️ Everyone has a voice and can contribute to climate conversations and action. We learned a lot from our chat with Bernadette. She is doing tremendous work in helping to educate as well as shaping conversations around weather and climate.

You can find Bernadette on LinkedIn ‘Bernadette Woods Placky’ as well as on instagram.

If you want to hear a little more weather and climate chat - please hit subscribe, like and share with a friend. You can follow us on social media - @fortheloveofweather

You can subscribe on Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ForTheLoveOfWeather

Resources Mentioned

https://www.climatecentral.org/

https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters

https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-shift-index

https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/ https://www.met.psu.edu/


Ever find yourself actually enjoying a rainy afternoon or wondering why a certain cloud looks the way it does? You're not alone. For the love of weather is the ongoing conversation between meteorologists Gemma Plumb and Aisling Creevey, who have spent over fifteen years forecasting across the UK. This podcast captures the kind of deep-dive chats they've been having for years, moving far beyond simple small talk. They pull back the curtain on what weather really means for our daily lives, drawing on a surprising range of experience. Their professional paths have seen them predicting conditions for everything from major music festivals and national rail networks to agricultural harvests and even ice cream demand, giving them a unique perspective on how the atmosphere connects to the ground beneath our feet. Each episode feels like sitting with two experts who are still genuinely fascinated by their subject, discussing the science behind a storm front, the challenges of a long-range forecast, or how a shift in the wind can change an entire industry's plans. It's a look at the patterns and stories in the sky, grounded in the reality of jobs, life changes, and a shared curiosity that hasn't faded. Tune in for a human take on the forces that shape our days.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

For the love of weather
Podcast Episodes
Victoria Beckham, the weather and philately - meet Alina Jenkins [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:05
Fun fact: Alina went to college with Victoria Beckham and lived with her for a year when she was 16.And if that didn’t grab your attention Alina was an actress and dancer. She went on to become an award-winning presenter…
From weather satellites to graveyard orbits - it’s Jenny Rourke [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 40:13
Jenny is Head of the Real Time Service and System Operations Division at Eumetsat in Germany. She has a wealth of experience in weather and now weather satellites, previously working for ECMWF and the Met Office.Eumetsat…
Meet Helen Roberts - The first Socio-Meteorologist with the Met Office [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:22
Helen Roberts has a breadth of experience in weather forecasting and is the Met Office’s first socio-meteorologist.Helen’s fascination with ‘Big Science’ started as a little girl in the southwest of England, looking at s…
Dr. Emily Fairfax on nature’s rockstars the beavers. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 51:01
Dr Emily Fairfax is an ecohydrologist. She is an expert in beavers and describes them as rockstars in climate mitigation.Beavers are nature’s wetland creators, providing natural solution to droughts, wildfire risk as wel…
Modern farming in a changing climate with Jonathan Lukies. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 34:16
Jonathan Lukies says he is lucky as he has always known what he wanted to do. As a young boy he lived on a farm, absorbing everything his grandfather and father told him. Today he runs Cammas Hall Farm, always working to…
Leo Hickman with a fascinating insight into the Carbon Brief [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:16
It was an absolute privilege to talk to Leo Hickman the director of Carbon Brief. The Carbon Brief is an invaluable and trusted resource for the latest development in climate science as well as energy and climate policy.…
The Beast from the East and the Polar Vortex - Meet Dr. Simon Lee [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 54:24
It's time for a brand new season of For the Love of Weather podcast and Aisling and Gemma are thrilled to have made it to season five.Our special guest tonight is Dr. Simon Lee. Simon is an expert in the polar vortex, mo…
Meet Dr Ganga Shreedhar, behavioural and experimental economist. [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:46
Dr Ganga Shreedhar was an absolutely fascinating guest. She is an assistant professor in behavioural science at the London School of Economics. Ganga is an applied behavioural and experimental economist studying how to c…