What Began Your Interest in Hurricanes?

[Tireman4]

For me, it was always around since I was quite young. My dad would get Weatherwise in the mail and I would just devour it from the front to the back. I would love listening to the NWS weather radio ( KHB-40, broadcasting on an FM Frquency of 192.55 MGZ high atop the American National Insurance Building, in downtown Galveston. Yes, I still remember when there were voice led intros... ). My first real intro into tropical weather was Tropical Storm Delia that occurred :
Tropical Storm Delia was the first tropical cyclone on record to make landfall in the same city twice.[1] Forming out of a tropical wave on September 1, 1973, Delia gradually strengthened into a tropical storm as it moved north by September 3. After reaching this strength, the storm turned more westward and further intensified, nearly attaining hurricane status the next day. The storm peaked with winds of 70 mph (110 km/h) and a barometric pressure of 986 mbar (hPa; 29.11 inHg). Several hours later, Delia made landfall near Freeport, Texas; however, the storm began to execute a counterclockwise loop, causing it to move back over the Gulf of Mexico. On September 5, the storm made another landfall in Freeport before weakening to a depression. The remnants of Delia eventually dissipated early on September 7 over northern Mexico.

Ever since then, I was hooked.

[TexWx]

My "weather beginnings," started when I was about 4 or 5 because of my Dad's love for weather, thunderstorms, etc. He was a chemist, and was just generally fascinated with most science and atmosphere.
Anytime there was a bad storm rolling through he take me out on the porch.

Growing up in Texas City, Texas all I ever heard about from my parents, aunts/uncles, and grandparents were stories of Hurricane Carla.
Stories about how bad the homes were flooded back then, as TC did not have a levee like they do now.
I guess it was the mystery and excitement in their voices when they talked about Hurricane Carla that made me become interested in hurricanes.

So in 1983, I got to experience my own storm, Hurricane Alicia. I was 10 years old at the time.
I remember that the Weather Channel was pretty new at the time. With that, Ed Brandon, other new sources and my mother's panicking it made for a pretty exciting time.
As kids it was especially exciting, riding our bikes and skateboards in the wind.
All the neighbors helping each other out since Alicia was such a quick spin up, and every needed to board up.

It was all fun and games until the storm actually hit, and I was scared as hell. We all were.
And the subsequent 2 weeks with no power afterward. And 1983 was a freaking hot summer.

All in all, we lived.
And since then, I've experienced Jerry (1989), Allison (2001), Rita (2005), and of course Ike (2008).
During Ike, my son Alex was exactly 3 months old and I now knew why my mom was a little panicky during these storms.

[p1nheadlarry]

[see avatar]

Had the roof of our house and some tree damage from Hurricane Fran when I was a kid.

[J_J99]

I was always fascinated by weather in its entirety.... and that stemmed from my childhood.

I would spend countless summer days and waking summer hours "binge" watching the Weather Channel.

What started my interest initially in Hurricanes was Charley in '04.... I dont remember too much from that or the other storms but my parents said I would watch the Weather Channel constantly.

My great grandma, owning a Condo on Sand Key in Florida(Just west of Tampa, the area that was "supposed" to be hit), in my mind, "prayed the storm away".

Hurricane Katrina I DEFINITELY remember.... and that kickstarted my obsession.

I stayed up ALL NIGHT the night it made landfall.... and while having my first day of kindergarten the next day... I pulled an all nighter watching the Weather Channel. I remember the coverage before on Fox News and Shepherd Smith interviewing people going into the Superdome and I thought for some reason they were all heading to Cancun. I remember going home and seeing the first images of Katrinas flooding in NOLA.... with my mom crying for the people of the city.

I get a flood of nostalgic memories hearing the Storm Alert 2005 theme.

I remember that seeing how powerful a storm could be. We got the light remnants in Cincinnati.

Rita I remember because my family was just watching Fox News coverage of the massive evacuation and pandemonium.

Wilma also stuck in my mind with how powerful it was, that it struck Florida, and seemed to be such a stubborn storm.

Dean and Felix were the first storms I "truly" tracked..... and kept an eye on. I track Dean from a lowly Tropical Storm to a monster Cat 5 bearing down on Belize City. Felix as well suddenly strengthening like that and making landfall in Nicaragua. I always called them the "twin 5s" due to their relatively similar paths in the Carribean.

What cemented my thing for Hurricanes was Ike, I tracked Ike all night and all day and then it made landfall in Houston, I thought, how could they cover Lehman Brothers instead of a Huge Hurricane!

Well turns out, I was almost 9 at the time, that Ike on Sunday would hit our area with 80 mph Hurricane wind gusts over a period of 4 hours, causing a CITY WIDE blackout. 99% of the Greater Cincinnati area lost power due to "the Windstorm". We had no power for five days, my beloved pear tree was toppled, my nieghbors house across the street had all its siding blown off. We had to work for days with just a radio, with schools being closed for four days in a row due to how much damage the storm caused. (I believe Ike caused 1.3 billion dollars worth of damage in Ohio ALONE, which to think about it was truly unprecedented.)

Since then, every single Hurricane event in the US I have watched and tracked. My interest was dormant for a while after Sandy until Hurricane Arthur in 2014 kicked it off again. Matthew and Hermine I watched INTENTLY....

2017 is gonna be an interesting year for us Hurricane Geeks, I can already see it.

[JPmia]

Hurricane Andrew.. it scared the hell out of me when I was kid, the power of the winds, the way it makes you feel so small, it's fascinating, scary, but you can't stop watching it.

[TheStormExpert]

Hurricane Frances... Frances back in 2004 was what really started my interest in hurricanes. Though my interest in weather began a year before in 2003 when I began to randomly watch The Weather Channel at the age of nine Frances was that one odd storm that started it all! I remember how Frances was a long duration event which seemed to take forever it seemed at the time to pass us. For a Category 2 hurricane he sure packed a punch and it was all thanks to his slow movement across the state. Jeanne three weeks later just added to my interest and remember how Katrina in 2005 prior to it's well known hit along the northern Gulf Coast was forecasted to hit a little further north than Hollywood, FL. Then there was Wilma who came and went with a vengeance just a week after my twelfth birthday.

[emeraldislenc]

I had a dear friend growing up who was like a family member to me. She had a scrap book of paper clippings dating back to Hurricane Hazel. She lived at Carolina Beach NC and stayed through Hazel. Each year she would order hurricane tracking maps from the Miami Herald and would always order one for me. She was a hurricane expert and instilled in me my interest in Hurricanes. I was a little boy when Hazel hit but I still remember the extensive damage from Hazel. Because of her I have a keen interest in hurricanes.

[OuterBanker]

OK, I’ll admit it. I was a weird kid. While my sister would cower under the covers I would sneak out of the house to enjoy a good thunderstorm. To this day I think a well-formed CB is one of the most beautiful things on earth. I always thought that a nasty thunderstorm was the greatest thing to experience. On September 12, 1960 (three days after my 9th birthday) a lady named Donna came to visit. Blew down several trees on our property, closed roads, cut power etc. My father has just purchased a new transistor radio, we cooked our dinner on a Coleman gas stove (white gasoline, you must be old to realize how dangerous that was and to know what white gas is). The greatest experience a nine-year-old boy could have. I moved from Hampton Roads to the Outer Banks in 1974 and have lived here ever since. Last year Matthew put a foot of water into our house,. Repair and reconstruction are done, but we still have a ton of stuff in storage that we need to put back into our home. I am now officially over hurricanes. After 43 years of dealing with hurricanes on the Outer Banks I would like to never must deal with them again. But, as long as I live here I know that’s not possible.

[weatherwindow]

Hurricane Kate 1985....quite an experience in Cayo Hueso

[Siker]

Was too young and evacuated for Katrina so that experience didn't spark any interest. It wasn't until Isaac (one of only two hurricanes I did not evacuate for, the other being Cindy) that I actually experienced a notable storm. The duration of the storm ended up resulting in missing a week of school. My house kept power unlike many in the area which certainly skewed my view of the event . Immediately after I returned to school I wanted to figure out if a storm might come again. Still relevant today, although I no longer purely look at potential threats to my area.

[Socalhurcnegirl227]

2004 slowly started it watching Frances and the others come roaring into florida and then my interest really hit with the 2005 season when Katrina came in and watched intently as it hit live. Vowed that if anything like Katrina were to happen again, id be on the first plane there to help because of how affected i was from her and the others that pummeled the US. People also call me crazy now for having my main goal as moving to NOLA lol