Weather and Holiday Stress(Hour 1)

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Broadcasting live from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay, this is Night Light with Peach Wabba.

Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

a guy who loves to watch true crime, but only if it's shoplifting.

Pete Schwabba.

Welcome to Night Light, ladies and gentlemen.

I'm sitting here a wash in papers.

How's everybody doing?

I hope you guys are doing well.

Wherever you're joining us from in this day tonight, it's so great to have you.

Christmas is approaching.

We've got some Christmas talk tonight.

We got great guests, a fun question.

It's gonna be a really...

It's going to be an extravagant night here tonight at Nightlight.

With Peach Waba, Conrad Krieger is on the other side of the glass working the board tonight.

And how's it going?

I mean, it's going well.

It was nice and warm today, wasn't it?

It's all right.

I didn't go out.

Not really an outside guy.

Well, you know, I worked up a sweat in the gym, and then after I got out, I was like, wow, actually, it's pretty nice.

And that was where my winter get up.

And I had the window rolled down for a little bit just because I was so hot from the gym and it was like 40 Yeah, that's insanity and it felt it felt nice, you know.

Yeah, no, I'm with you.

I think I'm excited it should be a good It looks like it's gonna be a white Christmas.

I don't think it's gonna be that cold out at least I mean I could change tomorrow

Yes,

it

could.

And it's interesting because we will talk to our first guest tonight.

I'm really excited to have my first guest of the night tonight in the form of Juan Mace Michaels.

He is our Civic Media Weatherman and does such a great job.

You hear him probably at the top and the bottom of the hour keeping you informed on weather.

And we'll talk to Mace about what kind of winter we can have or we're gonna have this year.

I keep hearing cold and snowy.

But I'm excited to hear from the experts.

So Mace will be here at 535.

We'll ask him if it will be a white Christmas, maybe seek some confirmation.

And then we've got Rob Thomas here in hour number two to talk movies.

I saw a great movie last night and I'm so excited to talk about it.

I don't know if Rob has seen it, but I'll tell you guys about it in just a few minutes.

It's an outstanding film.

Probably will be an Oscar contention.

At least that's what I read.

And after seeing it, I can pretty much verify that it was absolutely a great watch.

And then we're going to talk some Christmas in Hayward in hour number three with James Nets.

Am I saying his last name right?

Yeah, looks like one of those names where it's kind of a no brainer, but it could be different.

Just like the basketball team.

The

Nets, but his is with a Z. So it's not like Nets.

It's Nets.

Just to be, you know, completely, just to cover all the bases.

So great guests and lots to talk about as Christmas is fast approaching, ladies and gentlemen.

I hope you're getting your shopping done and getting everything.

We have an interesting question tonight too that we're gonna put out to you guys because Christmas as great as it is and the holidays in general, whether it's Christmas, Hanukkah, New Year's, whatever, you know, they can be pretty stressful.

So we'll talk a little bit about that and all kinds of stuff.

We got Bears Packers again this weekend.

I have to say, this is so, this is so Schwabba.

Okay, so we had an outstanding Thanksgiving.

Like the kids come home, they both have great news.

They're both doing well.

We had, I don't even remember what happened.

I think the whole family got together.

Everybody had a blast.

And now Christmas is right around the corner.

I think I told you earlier in the week, we're going to go see Frank's Christmas show.

Love the Meyer Theater.

Also Frank and his whole troupe do an amazing job.

And my daughter calls today, she's got the flu.

So I'm like, well, do I go get her tonight?

Because I felt bad.

You know, you want your child to be at school and sick.

That's terrible.

But she's not a freshman.

It's like her third year.

And for selfish reasons, I'm going, well, do I really want the flu?

There's worse places you could be than a dorm room.

Come on, kiddo.

No, but she more or less offered.

And by Saturday, she should be out of the woods in terms of being contagious because I'm like, you know, I can't miss war.

I don't like to, if I couldn't do this show, I think I missed two shows last year because I was sick.

I did not get the flu shot.

Well, I learned my lesson this year.

I got the flu shot.

Do you get the flu shot?

No,

I haven't I haven't in over 10 years.

See, you're young.

And I never there were years that I didn't get it either.

But it's so I have never had a reaction to it.

It's like, I'm just going to get it because last year it was the one year I didn't get it and I got the damn flu.

And it was horrible.

So I think I missed two shows.

I think we put a rerun on.

I'm just trying to avoid that.

So yeah,

we don't want

the flu going around the house.

I don't do it because I

Every time I get it I get sick instantly.

I think that's a myth.

No, I actually it happens.

You know what vaccine gives you horrible symptoms is shingles and I don't think you'll have to get that for a while.

Yeah, I think I got one when I was a baby or something.

The

shingles shot?

Maybe that's not one of them.

Wow.

I had one like when I was 40 and I thought I was gonna die and I'm like if actual shingles is worse than this and supposedly it is Because they last like 12 hours.

It's brutal, but apparently you do not want shingles.

It's even worse So I will get I will get that again, but I had a flu shot with that and I thought that was the flu vaccine That was making me that was giving me the flu because the symptoms are similar But it was shingles because everybody that gets the shingle shot is like yeah, it's pretty bad, but

Or at least those that react to it some

day,

but

they say

you don't want shame.

It's not as bad as

shingles I just have to get over to my fear of needles and then maybe I'll do it again.

Oh,

is that the

reason?

It's that and I feel like I get sick every time I take it so

I don't

I used to like have

this attitude where like I'm gonna I'm not scared of needles I'm gonna watch the needle go into my arm and I could it was no big deal and now as I get older I'm the biggest wuss.

I don't want to see that

Every time I've had to do something with the shots or getting my blood drawn, I look the furthest away I can.

There's no way I'm looking at someone putting something in my vein right now.

It's

different though.

When you get a shot, when they draw blood from right here, that's a more sensitive area.

I can't watch that.

But they're going to jab at it.

I'm a mountain of muscle, dude.

If they put a needle in my shoulder, I barely feel it.

So I'll tell you this right now.

Yeah, I You know since I moved to Green Bay I got I had to go to get a new Doctor, you know, yeah, and I've been putting off getting my blood drawn for almost almost a year and a half now

Blood for what?

Oh, just to get a basic blood test.

Yeah

blood test and I every time it gets close.

I'm like, oh No, I can't do it

Wow

Yeah, this time it was I actually had to come into the studio.

So I was like, well, I can't come in today

Smiling about it,

but just don't look it still feels weird because they're in such a weird place

and sometimes I

can't find the vein And

you

feel like a you know a taboo doll or whatever one of the voodoo doll, you know

Well last time I did get my blood drawn.

I didn't have any sugar or anything after it and I tried going upstairs And I almost had it I was fainted on those stairs

Oh, wow, that's terrible.

That's another reason I don't do it.

Just get it done, dude.

All right, we've got this.

And then I'll tell you another thing I'm not going to do.

This scares me more than getting my blood taken was a friend of mine on the way down today.

We were talking about a newscaster who he's friends with who I remember.

And she is like one of these type A, live life to the fullest extreme.

She has jumped out of an airplane 2,000.

times no thanks it's like you're trying to have an accident like you do it once because I we may have talked about this before when I was like 21 that's kind of macho and I thought oh I have to jump I have to do a skydive once that lasted for about three weeks and I'm like I'm never I don't know I don't know if there was like an accident the news or something or the shoot didn't open but I know I would get the guy who

is distracted and going through a divorce or something or his wife's cheating on him and he forgets to pull a latch or pack the shoot or something.

I know that would be me.

I am not doing that.

And all these people say, uh, YOLO.

Of course I like skydiving YOLO baby.

And it's like, you know, that means you only live once, but all the more reason not to skydive.

If I, if I know I'm going to be reincarnated, sure, let's go do it.

But one life.

No, why would I but two thousand dude, that's like You're trying to die.

I Get that there's a rush.

Yeah, get that it probably feels great, but no way

That's I mean I like riding roller coasters because of the thrill that I get.

Yeah, that's a

better alternative

Yeah, I mean it's still dangerous.

Is it?

Yeah, well, you know derail

Just to like to scream an eagle at Great America or six flags.

That's like a wooden one

That is the I've been I've done that ride so many times and every time I feel like my back hurts after it's like my back is just oh It's in pain, but I'm like it was worth it

Yeah, you're lucky if you get out of there with a question.

Hey, let's get to our night like question of the night.

Let's talk about the question.

Okay, question.

Question.

Question.

Question.

Question.

Okay, I have a question.

Questions.

This question.

Question.

Question.

Questions.

What is the most stressful thing about the holidays?

So I found this thing, it's all about stress.

and what people stress out the most over, but the holidays as fun as they are can be very stressful.

So that's our question tonight, folks.

Unload, get this off your chest.

What is your, what stresses you out the most about the holidays?

855-752-4842, 855-75 Civic, you can also text us on the app.

or if you're watching the radio on the stream on YouTube, Facebook, or X, go ahead and drop us a stream comment there.

And if you're there, give us a like or a follow if you're so inclined.

But let us know what stresses you out the most around the holidays.

Kind of got an answer?

Shipping and handling.

Explain that.

Well, you know, it's that time of year where you're coming around late gift shopping a little bit, kind of.

Leaving it to the last minute.

I believe today's the last day that it's like you could get your gift before Christmas.

Oh, really?

Yeah, I believe it's today, but if you're like me, you left one gift to the last moment, and you remembered it today.

Just one.

And then you look on the website that you got a link for, and it says, all right, it's $40 for this, but the shipping is international.

So guess how much that was?

40 bucks.

And it's not even going to get there.

There's

no

guarantee.

Exactly.

Paying as much as the actual cost of the item.

That is nuts.

So I'm like, what's... So, you know, I had to go to the Amazon and fire away on there and hopefully get it before Christmas.

Oh man,

that is

brutal.

I was hoping, I mean, it is my fault still, but it's still what it costed, no matter what time I looked at it, $38 for shipping.

That's so weird because, and that's your brother's father-in-law.

Yes, that's a lot of coin to drop on a distant relative.

Like maybe I do that if it's my actual father-in-law.

I'm not trying to.

No, he's a great guy.

I'm

sure he's a great guy.

That doesn't mean you're going to empty your pockets.

I'm just kidding.

Yeah, that's a lot.

Yeah, so I mean the other gifts that I got before, like it's like, oh, you have to reach this amount of money to get free shipping.

You know like some of those websites.

Oh like well if you have prime.

Well, no it was I didn't buy any gifts besides that one Amazon this year So I went to this one website and I was like yeah, all right, so if you do $60 Yeah, you get for shipping but the item I bought was $50 so well Either I get another item more than the shipping cost right there.

I think you know what's gonna cheer you up when we come back after the break

And, uh, you're gonna hear a story I'm gonna tell you about a guy who tried to escape in a cop car.

But he was nude.

That's coming up next, folks, and we'll read some of your texts.

It's Peach Waba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

You're listening to Civic Media.

Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.

Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.

Welcome back.

I'm Pete Schwab, and this is Night Light.

Great to have you here, folks.

Mace Michaels is coming up after news, weather and sports.

At the bottom of the hour Mace will be here at 535 very excited to talk to him.

This will be his first time on the show Rob Thomas coming up an hour to to talk movies and James Nets will be here photographer James Nets talking about Hayward What's the event called a Hayward Christmas?

It's just Christmas and a word Christmas and they have so many different events using Justin

Hayward.

So yeah, and it's so picturesque It's so beautiful there.

So we'll talk we'll talk about that with James and our number three

I saw this movie has been mentioned a lot as an Oscar contender.

It's called Train Dreams.

I hate that it's on Netflix because I do feel like Netflix does not want people to go to theaters based on what I've read.

And they put a movie in a theater for about a week and then they put it on Netflix so you can watch it in your living room, which is how I watch this.

Very good movie, Train Dreams, Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones.

I don't even want to say too much because I don't want to get, you just should watch it.

It's just a nice movie.

It's a drama.

There's no, not any heavy action or anything like that.

And we'll talk, I don't know that Rob Thomas who will be here in hour number two has seen it yet, but I am going to ask him about it.

I really, really like the story.

It's just about a guy who built the railroads and he was an orphan and it's about his life.

and the people he meets building railroads, some of the tragedies he sees.

He marries a wife and they have a daughter.

And that's all I want to say.

It's just great.

I cannot recommend this movie enough, though.

It's just a straight through drama and it's only an hour and 45 minutes long, which it's not a short movie, but it's not some of these epic movies or where they tell the story of a person's entire life can be three hours.

And you don't need that.

This film does like all the important parts.

and talks about his friendships and he experiences tragedy and all that kind of stuff.

And then I just love the way it ended too.

It was so good.

And just a great drama, so I highly recommend Train Dreams on Netflix.

Very solid film.

If you're looking for something to watch in your living room.

So yeah, I saw this con.

This was in Denver.

The police in Commerce City had an eventful weekend like usual, but this time there was one arrest that stood out from the others.

The Commerce City Police Department shared some of the most significant incidents that happened over the weekend, and they posted this on YouTube.

There were 300 calls for like drunken driving and that kind of stuff.

But there was one guy who tried to sneak into the grounds of the police station, and he was trying to steal a patrol car.

He took a police car, he got it, took it out, they had a very short chase, they pulled him over and discovered he had no clothes on.

There's a lot that's wrong with this story like stealing first of all stealing a car wrong stealing a cop car Stupid moron with no clothes on even dumber Like You know and then he's covering himself like they pulled him over and he covers up.

It's like

I just thought he wanted to be naked.

Like, all of a sudden you get shy?

You just stole a police car in the nude.

I love that phrase, in the nude.

There was a comic that used to do a joke.

And every phrase with, in the nude.

I was taking the garbage out last night, in the nude.

But I just thought this was so crazy.

And they booked him with, for third degree, motor vehicle theft.

Second-degree criminal trespass and driving without a license.

There's nothing, there's no mention here of indecent exposure, him not wearing any clothes.

I think they're like, all right, this is enough, I think.

Yeah, I mean, being naked is, it's inappropriate, I suppose, but it's not like you're hurting anybody, maybe you're hurting our eyes.

That just sounds like the, he wasn't, no mentions of like he was drunk or anything?

Not that I see her and you know what strange like I expect this kind of behavior in Wisconsin.

We like to drink

Well, I mean so you said it was in Denver, right?

It was outside of Denver Commerce City.

Oh, okay.

Well, the Commerce City Police Department could have been a packer fan could have been a Packers fan

Just left over

you

know ticked off He did it for Micah.

He took his clothes off to try

to rob

a Colorado cop car

I don't know.

I love stories like that though.

Mike Siegel who's been on this show several times always says there's nothing funnier than a naked guy because something went wrong.

Like there are perverts and that's not cool, but like typically I saw this uh real the other night on uh Instagram and this soccer player hit this crazy goal and he ran up and he jumped on the fence and his teammates run over and they're like you know

grab an atom and they pull his shorts down.

So he's like on a fence with everybody staring right at him and his shorts go down like.

Oh no.

It's always something that goes horribly wrong.

So there you go.

Our question of the night folks is what stresses you out the most about the holidays?

And I'm going to steal an answer.

I've never, I don't think I've ever done this willingly a nightlight before, but Jenny Brand, our colleague here at Civic Media, who does a great job.

I was thinking this over and I read her response and I was like, yes, that's it.

And she said the unnecessary expectations we put on ourselves and the occasion.

And that's a great answer because, you know, you want the holidays to be great.

We look forward to it.

It's like, oh my God, it's going to be great.

So-and-so is coming to town.

We're going to do this.

And something always goes wrong.

It never seems to go as planned.

And I think a big part of trying to get through the holidays is accept that and just go, ah, whatever.

The bar is low.

Let's just have fun.

And we used to, when we traveled a lot, it was like when we were coming back to Wisconsin, I was like, oh, it's going to be snowy and beautiful and the grandparents and the cousins.

And then while it doesn't snow, it rains and then the cousins can't come because they got sick and then whatever.

So I thought that was a great answer

from our colleague,

Jenny Brandt, and I'm going to steal that.

And Daniel Wheeler also said, agree, you can't manage others, but you can manage your own expectations.

Very well said.

What

about you, Conn?

Oh, you already said

that.

Shipping and

handling.

Is it more the shipping or the

handling?

Both.

The handling too.

Like, you know, you want to make sure that present gets to your house intact.

Yeah.

No, that's one I would not have thought about either.

Well done.

All right.

So let us know what your most stressful time of the holidays is or what stresses you out the most.

And I've also got top 10 life decisions here.

People stress over the most.

We can get into that a little later too.

But hey, we are talking weather with our guy, Mace Michaels, that is coming up right after news, weather and sports right here on Civic Media.

I'm Pete Schwabba.

This is

Nightlight.

Rob Thomas will be here in hour number two.

We're going to talk movies.

A very big movie opens this week in Avatar Fire and Ash.

The third installment in that series from James Cameron.

And the reviews are decent, but it's supposed to be, and no surprise, an absolute visual spectacle.

So we'll talk to Rob about that.

I doubt he's seen it yet, but you never know.

and talking Christmas and Hayward in hour number three with photographer James Nets.

But right now, I'm very excited to welcome our first guest of the night.

I've been listening to this guy's voice for the last two years and he does such a great job reporting on weather here at Civic Media.

And I finally have him on the show, very excited to welcome our pal,

And outstanding weatherman, Mace Michaels.

Hey, buddy, how are you?

Hey there, thanks.

I appreciate the kind words.

Well, you know, it's the least I got to butter you up, Mace, right?

Because I'm going to bombard you with questions about winter.

I will try to answer them the best of my ability.

No, it's great to have you here.

And how did you get such a cool name?

Like, did you say I've got to be a weatherman with a name like this?

Or did you change it for the weather?

It's a great name.

Oh, I was five years old when I got into weather and broadcasting.

I mean, they were, I know it's sad.

I'm like, I love weather.

I'm from Minnesota, central Minnesota, up in the Brainerd Lakes area, west of Duluth and north of Minneapolis.

Sure.

And just

intrigued by why the weather made changes, you know, why why did we see such crazy seasons and you'd go from thunderstorms to, you know, snow sometimes in a month or two.

So that's what really got me into it.

But I was always was bitten by the radio bug too.

And then of course, with meteorology, that led me into TV.

Wow, my name, though, I didn't even answer that question.

That's you'll you'll love this GM in Wausau.

That was my first TV job.

Mace is my middle name.

Roger's my first name.

I've always gone by Mace.

Roger dad's name, grandfather's name, but I've always been called Mace.

Okay, they didn't know what to use for my last name.

They wanted to change it.

So about a half hour before my first TV weathercast, they're like, Well, you're going to be Michaels.

You know how the broadcast world works.

Oh my gosh, that's hilarious.

So that's

not

your real last name.

No, no twig is my real last name which you can you know easily anybody can find that but I've been I've used mace Michaels all the way through most of my broadcast career Most stations on the TV side really liked it So that's just what I've kept using and you know now it's back as I come back around the radio from which I did in You know high school and college here.

I am using mace Michaels continuing.

Oh, I love that

That's gross because that's why I asked you I thought that's way too cool of a name

Like I probably should have changed my name.

I had a couple monikers like when I was doing radio in college like, you know, Tim Dawson or something like, but Pete Schwab was like, it's kind of a mouthful to say.

One of our listeners says you have to wet your lips to say the last name properly.

So it's not an ideal name for broadcasting, but Mace Michaels, man, you are that's a name you can set your watch by.

I love it.

Well, I had achieved meteorologists that didn't like it.

So they made me use Mace Rogers.

That was in Michigan.

But he thought I was like,

trying to be this big persona.

And I'm like, no, if you knew me, dude, I am not persona.

That is not me.

We have that in common, Mace, because I'm a junior.

and it's Thomas Peter and they call me Pete and it is I don't know if this has been an issue for you but you know I used to be a stand-up comic I would get paid as Pete Schwabba or I'd forget and pay my taxes as Pete Schwabba and like well wait a minute it's Thomas then I'd have to get a waiver and I'd have to talk to an attorney and get it was it's created a lot of problems that you

wouldn't think would be an issue, but I probably should have just done what I'm guessing you do and kept the same name and told people to write the check up to Thomas Peter.

I don't

know.

Other than the doctor's office and, you know, when you're paying taxes,

I'm using Mace Michaels, because that's what everybody, you know, when you're out and seeing somebody or everybody knows me as Mace anyway.

So, the Michael Scott part just comes along with

it.

I love it.

Are you, how do you do around the holidays, Mace?

Are you, is there anything you're stressing about?

We do a question here every night and tonight's is what is the most stressful part about the holidays?

Are you pretty chill?

You seem pretty chill when you're giving your weather forecasts anyway, but are you, is there anything that stresses you out about the holidays?

I'm overall a pretty chill guy, but it not really stresses me out, but I am not a materialistic guy.

So finding presence for people is really tough for me.

So if there's something that stress or annoys me is that because I just don't know what to get anybody.

And I don't know what I want myself.

So it just doesn't go hand in hand.

Boy, that's a great answer.

I'm a terrible gift getter too.

But I'm in awe when I like my brothers does great with gifts.

My sister, like they get these gifts.

I'm like,

Oh, yeah.

Like, it seems so simple.

Like, why didn't I think of that?

But I'm apparently incapable.

So I'm kind of right there with you.

That's my mom.

She can figure out a gift to get for everybody.

And she's the one in the room who loves to talk to everybody.

And I'm just usually the guy who I don't know what to get you.

And I'm going to go sneak off in the corner somewhere.

Here's a gift card.

Yes.

So let's let's talk a little bit about, if you don't mind, Mace, the weather that over the next week and to get us through the holidays.

It was a little bit of a warmer day today, but are you enjoying this weather or does this seem like an Indian summer after last weekend?

You know, when I stepped out yesterday, I'm in Minneapolis, so I'm not far from you.

Just a little ways up the road.

Yeah.

It was weird for me to think.

I'm like, oh, it feels so much warmer.

And then I'm like, it's, you know.

barely 30 degrees.

So, you know, that 30 degrees turnaround feels like a huge warmup after we were, you know, having a tough time getting above zero like you guys this past weekend.

So yeah, I like the little bit of a warmup.

I don't need the winter blast so early.

Okay, same here because I feel like a lot of weather people seem like like you talked about when you were five years old weather fascinated you.

It fascinates me too, but I've never felt the need to like chase it or like I'm perfectly happy watching a thunderstorm from the comfort of my own home or my porch.

But do you like winter?

Are you a winter

guy?

No, I'm more of a summer guy.

I mean, I don't

dislike winter.

As I get older, it gets harder.

Yeah, deal with.

But yeah, no, I'm more of a summer guy, but I don't, you know, completely like, Oh, my God, winter, what am I going to do the next four months?

Now I'm in weather.

I can't complain about it.

It's there.

It's part of the deal.

Very good.

Mace Michaels is my guest.

He does weather for civic media here.

It does a great job.

You

hear him at the

top and bottom of the hour.

Professional guys turning it all back around and doing the recap thing.

Wow.

I've been

trained well.

I'm still finding my way, Mace.

It was either this meteorology school or do nails, and I picked radio, so I'm doing the best I can here.

I love it.

No, no, no.

You got a great show.

I enjoy it.

Oh, thank you, sir.

I appreciate that.

I saw this recently.

I think it was on...

uh, rancor maybe or something, but it said the chances of a white Christmas have dramatically changed.

Um, have you found that?

I feel like, you know, I could always count on a white Christmas when I went to Marinette, Wisconsin or in Northeast Wisconsin, but it does seem like we just don't get as much snow.

Is that kind of consistent with what your research shows?

You know, I'm not sure if it matches up for as much snow.

I mean, the last few years obviously have been less.

The thing that's kind of stuck out to me, and I'm far from a bigger climatological type guy.

I'm a day-to-day type forecaster.

That's what I've

been doing forever in my broadcast career.

And that's just, that's what I'm best at.

But just thinking back to when I was younger, now here's a young guy, but when I'm older now, that's what I was like when I was a kid.

But it seems like the beginning of the winter and falls are much milder.

And then the late winter, early spring has at least here in Minnesota, trended much, much colder.

And I don't know if that's affecting Christmas, like you say, Christmas at snow.

But it just seems like we've been, I didn't think of a couple of Christmas ago, we had rain on Christmas in the 40s.

So.

I don't know if that's a global warming thing, that it's taking the poles longer to freeze, that Siberian cold air to really kick up, and then once it's here, it stays a little longer than it normally would.

That's kind of the hypothesis I put together in my

head.

I don't know if there's any bearing behind it.

I'd have to do more research and read on it, but it just kind of seems like that's been the trend of the last, you know, two, three decades almost.

That's interesting.

And that's the time I'm ready, like,

you feel like you kind of almost escaped winter.

Like, oh, it's been pretty warm.

And then all of a sudden, now there's two really cold weeks in March, and you're just ready to like drive off a bridge or something.

Those a few years ago, February was our coldest month of the winter.

And you're like, why is February the cold one?

It should be, you know, mid January, late December, but not the case the last couple of years.

It seems to trend colder later.

So overall, Mace, like this winter, I can't tell like I read this thing about.

fewer white Christmases and a warming trend but do you think this winter will be and I'm doing this purely for selfish reasons because if it's really cold I want to brace myself or if you're gonna tell me well it should be a little warmer not much snow I want to feel good about it so do you have an overall thoughts whether it's from Minneapolis across Wisconsin to what this winter will be like kind of just a thumbnail sketch if you would

You know looking at and again that is not my area expertise but just kind of following what the models have shown and how our pattern has shifted over the last few months and of course the National Weather Service they do a fantastic job the climate prediction center of long-range forecast but looking at least through the rest of this month.

And there's a model that, you know, it doesn't nail down the day-to-day stuff, but it really gives you the trends of how things look over the next month.

We definitely are trending on a very active pattern, so maybe better chances for snow, but it also, it's not trending to as many warm days like these.

We're near normal or colder than normal as I even plunge into, I'm looking at the model right now in the mid to mid January.

It's got some real shots of, of, of Arctic air.

So if that trend continues, you know, and with a La Nina, the colder waters in the Pacific Ocean, that tends to favor us to be having a colder and snowier winter.

Well, it's starting off that way.

And that may just continue.

The climate prediction center doesn't expect that to slow down until sometime into the spring

months.

That's got to get you excited.

Conrad.

Yeah.

Sorry.

Thanks

a

lot.

Thanks a lot, Mace.

I was wondering if he was there.

You know, I see him here in chat, but he didn't say anything, you know?

Yeah, he's

kind

of like, during the interviews,

he chimes in

once

in

a while,

but usually I

have to, I have to call on

him.

He

raises his hand like he's in school.

I take

the

powders.

He usually takes the powder.

So, Mace, what, like,

What is something like, obviously, tornadoes and hurricanes are very dangerous.

Is there a type of weather that kind of freaks you out a little bit as a meteorologist, like a really bad thunderstorm or something?

Like, what kind of gets you excited?

Excited-wise.

I mean, I enjoy thunderstorms.

I mean, it's just...

meteorology thing.

But if there's a type of weather that, you know, I wouldn't say scares me, but if it was headed to my house, you know, I'd be, we had a threat of some very large hail here.

And thankfully, it diminished a couple of years ago.

And you know, they were, it was putting out softballs and baseballs about 10 miles north of me.

And the vector of it was coming this way.

And thankfully, it was much smaller and really the storm dissipated.

It was, you know, one in the morning too.

So it was even, you know,

A little scarier from that aspect.

And

then I lived in Florida for 10 years.

My wife and I, and you know, hurricane season.

I don't miss it.

I don't want to deal with it.

The tropics, I understand it, respect it.

It was fun to forecast it.

But I don't want to live in it again because you just have to worry about your house and home and your family and your friends all the time when the storm's headed your way.

So I don't miss that at all.

Wow.

Mace Michaels is here, folks.

We're going to do a very short break and then we'll have Mace for a few more minutes and then we'll let him get on with his evening.

We're going to talk to Mace a little bit more about weather and maybe I'll ask him if he's a Vikings fan or what he's binge watching.

We'll have some, we'll let you off the hook, Mace, a little bit, not just keep this weather related.

We'll try to give you some fun too and not talk so much shop with you.

But it's

It's great to have you here.

Our question of the night, folks, is, what stresses you out the most about the holidays?

Let us know.

855-752-4842, 855-755-CIVIC.

Text us on the app, or if you're watching the radio on YouTube, Facebook, or X, drop us a stream comment and be part of the show.

This is Pete Schwab and Night Light on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

You're

listening to Civic Media.

Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.

This is Night Light with Pete Schwab.

Great to have you with me wherever you're joining us from around the state or maybe in Minnesota like our current guest, Mace Michaels is.

News, sports and weather is just around the corner folks coming up at the top of the hour.

We've got a few more minutes with our new pal, Mace Michaels here.

He does a great job here at Civic Media covering weather.

Mace, what, have you ever chased a storm?

I have with that crazy guy Corey Hartman if you're familiar with him.

I was just gonna give

him a shout out because I saw you had severe studios on your LinkedIn maybe or something and I got addicted to the videos and it's Corey's voice chasing these storms and I was wondering if you ever had done that with him or Jordan Hall who we've had on the show.

I have, you know, we never really ended up, you know, I'm usually in a studio somewhere when most of your weather's going on.

But when it happens, yeah, I've been lucky enough to go out a few times.

Never seen a tornado, but plenty of wall clouds and shelf clouds and fun things like that.

That intrigues me.

And, you know, I know where I'm safe and I'm not safe.

So, you know, I never worry about what I'm doing during that type of chasing.

That's pretty cool.

You also, you mentioned TV.

How is it?

Is it different doing the weather?

It is, I'm sure.

But like TV, you have all these fun graphics you can use.

Does it kind of make your job easier or is it a little more difficult because of all the bells and whistles?

Well, just like here in radio, we're ad-libbing.

We're just talking about whatever we want to talk about.

And people are always surprised that, yes, the news people are reading off scripts and so is sports.

And then there's ad-lib in between.

But weather's all ad-lib and that's because I got the maps behind me.

So I kind of set my script with the maps.

Even though I'm not writing anything down and I, you know, put together my story, just like a book, what I want to tell.

So when I'm doing TV stuff, which I'm on three stations over here in Minneapolis.

So if you're in Western Wisconsin, you probably can't escape me.

And I apologize for that already.

Did you ever see the

movie Groundhog Day and

Bill Murray's?

Oh,

sure.

Does that make you laugh?

Oh, it makes me laugh and it sometimes makes me scratch my head because there are weather patterns that get like that.

Oh, that's so funny.

So you're in Minnesota.

Are you a Vikings fan?

Do you follow the NFL at all?

I do, but I don't intently.

What I do follow closely is MLB.

I'm actually a meteorologist with the Minnesota Twins.

I saw that.

That's my cool job.

That's really cool.

What does that mean?

I didn't even realize that baseball teams had employed meteorologists.

Would you just inform them on weather for the game?

We are the only one actually that has a meteorologist on site a lot use consultant meteorologists on the phone or something But I'm on site.

There's two of us split up that big home schedule the the 80 games and I'm here for them and letting everybody know when it's gonna rain or not You know baseball and water don't mix.

Yeah, so you get to watch the game though, too

Oh, on a sunny 70 degree night, there's nothing better than watching a baseball game.

Semi behind home plate.

It's beautiful.

I spoiled and I'm blessed to have that job.

It's awesome.

One more question for you about weather and it also pertains to movies.

What did you think of the movies, the twister movies?

Like you kind of watch those and go, ah, whatever happened or oh, this is pretty fun.

You'll laugh at me.

The first one I saw and of course I loved it.

I have still yet to see the second one.

Oh, okay.

I would

imagine it's more realistic just because the CGI is so much better.

And I thought so.

I've seen both and I thought the second one, I don't know how realistic it is or not.

I'm just a movie fan, but the effects were pretty amazing.

Yeah, oh, that's what I've heard it and seen the clips of it.

The facts looked amazing.

I just wasn't as excited for the storyline Yeah, I was hoping there'd be more throwbacks to the first movie and and they you know, no Helen Hunt I was disappointed

right and Bill Paxton sadly got arrested souls no

longer with us, which

is a bummer but Mace this has been fun.

Thank you before we let you go I just have to ask you when you're done at the end of the day and you kick your meteorologist feet up and you're not

looking at weather.

Are you binge watching anything?

What do you like to watch on color television?

I'm not binge watching as much because we have three Yorkies in a kitty.

So they keep me busy and I am playing or collapsing one or the other.

Okay, no TV, no movies.

It's on if they're, you know, my wife will put stuff on, but I usually am not the one picking it as much.

I mean, if I'm watching something on TV, it's sports.

Nice.

That's outstanding.

Thank you so much for your time tonight, Mace.

It's been great getting to know you, and I hope we can have you on more often.

Keep doing a great job.

Love listening to your forecasts.

Thank you, and happy to come back any time.

I appreciate the invite.

Thanks.

You got it.

Have a great night.

All right.

That is Mace Michaels.

That was fun.

It was worth the wait.

Two

years

gone by.

I've been listening to Mace do the

weather, and we finally got him on the show.

He's

a busy guy.

Yeah.

Actually, we didn't really ask because I didn't know.

Sometimes you know when you start out you're like I was the same way with Clemens like he's so busy I don't want to

burn it

like in your mace every twice an hour I'm like he doesn't have time to come on this little song and dance show

I mean do you think he does?

Do you think he'd kill him to give us a couple twin stickers?

I was hoping for him to say yeah Pete pretty much Wisconsin is gonna be sunny and 70 moving forward

I wish.

I'll take some baseball tickets, yeah.

Yes.

You can probably throw you a

couple

if you're willing to take the journey.

Drive across the state.

That's not an easy drive.

No, no, especially in the winter, too.

Exactly.

I did see this.

Where is that?

Oh, yeah.

The best city for Christmas, Conrad.

Do you know what it is?

Oh, I guess I do like how I printed the colors on that one for you.

Which one was that?

Oh, the map?

the one with all the numbers on it with the cities and I did that just for you.

Did you really?

Oh,

yeah.

That's a lot of color print right there.

Sharpen the crayon next time because you went outside

the

line.

I'm sorry.

No, this is really good.

Yeah, because this one, look at this little black and white one.

It's like a thumbnail.

Yeah,

that's not

fun.

All right, we'll talk about that after we're gonna do the news and then we're gonna come back.

I'm gonna tell you what the best city for Christmas is.

You might be surprised, but maybe you won't.

And you might be kind of ticked off.

So we'll see.

And we'll read some more of your texts.

Our question of the night is, what stresses you out the most about the holidays?

And I'm totally plagiarizing tonight.

Jenny Brand, I agree with her expectations, but I think I agree with Maze too, is buying gifts for people.

I'm really not good at it.

You know, just go with the old, you gotta do socks.

Everyone needs some socks.

Nothing

says I put no thought into this like socks or a gift card because socks for a guy, that's what we just get.

And I'm fine

with that.

You know, I love getting socks now.

I do too.

When I was younger, I hated it.

But now I'm like, this will be great.

I'm totally with you because we talked about this last night.

I'm never going to go out and buy socks.

So give them to me.

But I mean, in terms of me buying gifts for others, I just want to be better at it.

So all right, open to your thoughts, folks.

Tell me how I can improve.

Be part of the show.

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