Well-known weather expert “Hurricane Hal” Needham, Ph.D., will present “Wind & Water
– Perspectives on Galveston’s Hurricane Risk” as part of the Galveston College 2025-26
Lecture Series “Discovering Galveston’s Environment” on March 18 at 7 p.m. in the
Abe & Annie Seibel Wing at the college’s main campus, located at 4015 Ave. Q. in Galveston.
The event is free and open to the community.
“Hurricane Hal” Needham is director of Extreme Weather and Disaster Science at GeoTrek,
where he specializes in data-driven risk analysis for disaster-prone communities.
His unique approach of analyzing risk is evident in his “Recipe for Risk Analysis,”
which he developed to prepare disaster-prone communities for a wide range of hazards.
Needham has conducted extensive field work in 23 hurricanes and tropical storms, extensive
hail field work in thunderstorms, extreme winter weather work related to heavy snow
loads and cold temperatures, extreme rainfall events in multiple states, and international
field work ranging from hurricanes in Mexico to earthquakes in Greece and Morocco.
He has published numerous peer-reviewed papers on topics related to extreme flood
analysis and has been featured as an expert on mainstream media, including BBC, PBS,
The Weather Channel, CNN, Fox Weather and other sources. He also hosts the GeoTrek
podcast, a top-rated podcast on the topic of natural disasters.
For more information about the 2025-06 Galveston College Lecture Series, contact Hank
Deslaurier at 409-944-1327, or by email at [email protected].
ABOUT GALVESTON COLLEGE
Galveston College was founded in 1967 and is a comprehensive community college providing
the residents of Galveston Island and the surrounding region with academic, workforce
development, continuing education and community service programs.