Suffolk Public Library will hold the latest session of Afternoon Conversations in downtown Suffolk this Wednesday, with a closer look at the stormy weather we’ve had this year.

The program will be held from 2 to 3 p.m. at the Phillips-Dawson House, 137 Bank St. This event is open to the public and free to attend, with a new Afternoon Conversation held on the second Wednesday of each month.

“Afternoon Conversations is a series of talks that are held monthly as a collaboration between Suffolk Public Library and the (Suffolk-Nansemond Historical Society),” Suffolk Public Library Operations and Outreach Assistant Thomas Farrar wrote in an email. “We host these talks as an effort to spotlight topics of local history or local importance that we feel deserve to be seen by a larger audience.”

These talks have covered a widely diverse selection of topics this past year that are relevant to Suffolk locals.

“Just this August we were fortunate enough to have Regina Boone, whose grandfather was one of the few Japanese men from Suffolk interned during World War II, speak about her family’s experience,” Farrar wrote, “and many of our attendees were able to help her fill in additional details of her story, as they were alive during that time.

“Participation is key for us when we schedule these talks, and we love to have some kind of audience question period or activity after the speaker has given their presentation.”

This month’s speaker on Wednesday will be Jeff Orrock from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who will speak about NOAA’s Wakefield facility and the work they do in predicting and assessing the weather.

Orrock will also go further into his years of experience tracking storms in Virginia and elsewhere, most recently Hurricane Dorian, according to suffolkpubliclibrary.com.

“Everyone knows that Virginia weather is crazy, especially this year, so we thought it would be a great way to end our fall season with an official explanation of what exactly has been going on,” Farrar wrote. “NOAA is such a great organization, and not many people know that their station in Wakefield provides radar coverage for most of eastern Virginia and North Carolina.

“Having Mr. Orrock as a speaker will continue our tradition of combining topics of local importance that have a national impact.”

Visit suffolkpubliclibrary.com for more information.