FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Alan Sealls, WKRG chief meteorologist, will be the first speaker to take the podium in the University of South Alabama Baldwin County’s fall Distinguished Lecture Series. His talk, “Picture This Weather,” is scheduled to be held Sunday, Sept. 20, at 3 p.m., in the USABC Performance Center located at 111 St. James Avenue in Fairhope.

The event is free and open to the public, and all ages are welcome. Anyone interested in weather is encouraged to attend.

A portion of Sealls’ talk will be about safety, and how important it is to know what to do when severe weather threatens. Hurricanes, lightning, flash flooding and heat are all weather events that can endanger those of us living along the Gulf Coast.

A picture is normally worth a thousand words, but when it involves weather, Sealls said, the value is a dozen equations. Observation is the key.

“There are clues in the sky that we see that tell us how the weather is going to change,” he explained. “We will talk about things in the sky that people notice and what they mean or don’t mean.”

Sealls plans to combine science and the appreciation of weather’s beauty during a slide show presentation and discussion. He noted the weather images will reveal principles of physics, including refraction, reflection and dispersion.

Old sayings will also be explored during the afternoon session. Many have heard “Every dark cloud has a silver lining” or “Red morning, sailors take warning. Red night, sailors delight.” He noted, “They do have some meteorology behind them.”

Sealls will touch on the current hurricane season as well, and why complacency is never a good idea.

“I’m going to talk about hurricane history and cycles, and how people’s memories are very short when it comes to hurricanes.” For some, it’s because their family experienced a hurricane early in their childhood, and their memory gives them false perceptions, he added.

The veteran forecaster spent several years on the air in Chicago before moving to southwest Alabama. Sealls said the uncertainty of coastal weather excited him.

“The fact that there’s almost always change led me here,” he said. “Any change is what drives my curiosity. There’s change in the summer with daily thunderstorms — how many and where they’re going to be.”

Because he is also a homeowner, he gets no joy from learning a tropical storm or hurricane is brewing within a stone’s throw, however.

Sealls holds a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and a master’s degree from Florida State University. He is an adjunct professor at the University of South Alabama.

He has professional certifications from the American Meteorological Association and the National Weather Association.

Sealls has been honored both nationally and locally, winning a coveted Emmy Award and two Awards For Excellence from the Mobile Press Club.

Reservations are required for the lecture, and can be made by calling (251) 928-8133, or by e-mailing usabc@usouthal.edu.