Tyler Jankoski is a broadcast meteorologist communicating the forecast on daily basis. Dakota Smith is a atmospheric science graduate student studying the carbon cycle. Different careers, different perspectives but both are “weather junkies” at heart. Join them every Thursday for their conversations on various topics in the weather and climate enterprise. Listen to their podcast on iTunes or at TheWeatherJunkies.com. You can follow them on Twitter (@thewxjunkies) or on Facebook (facebook.com/weatherjunkies).

• Tyler Jankoski – Tyler Jankoski joined the NBC5 First Alert Weather Team in January 2017 and is happy to be forecasting the weather in New England and northern New York. Tyler grew up in Bristol, Conn. and he’s been studying Connecticut weather for more than a decade, especially wintertime Nor’easters. Tyler is a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University, one of the nation’s top meteorology schools. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in meteorology and was honored with the Department of Meteorology’s Service Award for his contributions to Campus Weather Service.
• Dakota Smith – Dakota Smith is a third-year graduate student in the Department of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University (CSU). His research is focus­ed on using remotely sensed data to improve the modeling of land-atmosphere interactions in seasonal grasslands. Growing up in central Maryland, Dakota was fascinated with the powerful nature of severe storms and nor’easters. To learn more about the atmosphere, Dakota attended Pennsylvania State University to study meteorology. Now he’s finishing his work towards a Master’s degree while also taking on a teaching assistantship.