STORM2K

To most of us, Storm2k is more than a website.

We spend a lot of time here. What are two things you have gained from being a member of Storm2? Think hard, two things that have changed you a little since you joined.

Me...

l. I know that if a strong storm or cane comes my way, I can come to Storm2k and be assured I will get all the correct information I need. I have no need to go to another weather site.

2.I have made some good friends. Friends, I feel really care about me when I need someone to listen to me. Friends I can share good times with.

Thanks, Bobbysocks

1. I've learned alot about the weather
2. Made some good friends.
3. I found a place to relax and unwind and forget about problems.

1- I had made many friends that I would not have in other sites.
2-All the information about weather and tropical weather is found here and with the help of our resident pro mets and knowleagble amateours.
3-This is a site that all opinions are welcomed and all the topics can be talked of course with respect to other opinions.

1. Ive made good friends here..Lindaloo, Southerngale, MsRobi911, MsCoast..to name a few.
2. Being a weather geek..i feel right at home
3. When there is no significant weather to discuss, we always find something to talk about..either on the board or in chat.

I only have one answer. A longwinded one at that.

For more than 14 years, from 1983 to 1997, I had hundreds, even thousands of weather friends. As editor of the American Weather Observer magazine for those 14 years, I came to know weather folks in every state, every province of Canada, and in places as far away as New Zealand, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

I could call and talk with Fred Ostby at the National Severe Storms Forecast Center. Or Tom Skilling at WGN.

Or I could call and talk to Adrian in California about his dreams of becoming a meteorologist someday. He was just a teenager.

I heard from them faithfully. By phone. By letter. And in person. I'll bet that during that 14 years I had contact with more than 1,500 of them at least a few times a year. E-mail was just too new.

Those years it was the best weather family a person could ask for. And because I helped pull them all together, I celebrated with them when they hit a milestone, I got excited with them when they experienced the storm of a lifetime, I shook hands with them, and welcomed them to meetings around the country.

They came to know me as someone who brought them out of the closet...who let them get excited about the weather. And I came to know them as everything from meticulous old codgers to gifted grade school students who loved the weather.

My move to Phoenix in 1997 was bittersweet. There was wonderful opportunity personally; but the AWO did not follow me here. My last issue, was its last issue. I lost a family member, it seemed. Hundreds of them. They lost their weather patriarch...the guy who even helped several find each other and marry. Who wept privately when we lost one in an airliner crash. And who to this day can get a message from an old weather friend and think it is the best day ever because of it.

What has S2k done for me?

The people here have filled that void. They have kept my love of weather...and now my love of people who ENJOY weather, alive. It's like my lifeblood to that connection, and it reminds me that I never lost what I had all those years...instead I have simply grown beyond it. And it is as necessary in my life as good neighbors across the street, trusted employees at work, or lifelong friends who remember "our secrets" from my childhood.

I still hear from people like Steve in New York, Marc in Maine, Buddy in Massachusetts, Bill in Colorado, and many others from the old group. I treasure that. For the most part, they treasure me.

"When you gonna crank it up again, Skyman," they ask? "We miss it...that publication of yours."

Maybe someday.

My wife (you would all love her to death, you REALLY would) worries that I care too much for people I don't know. Share too much. Leave myself vulnerable.

But in reality, with the arrival of email and various websites, it is a wonderful window on the world for those who use it that way. And it has kept my capillaries flowing with weather's lifeblood.

You have done that for me, and I appreciate it so much!

I got a message from a weather friend in Maryland today. I also got one from Jim Cantore at TWC. I love that about weather. I treasure both the same. And I really really enjoy that about this place.

Plain and simple...I love this place because it has become a part of who I am....and I think that part of who I am has become a part of this place.

It's as real to me as the two guys sitting a Starbucks and talkin' weather over a $4 cup-a-Joe!

1) I've become addicted to the internet...
2) SERIOUSLY, I've never felt so "well connected" with people across the US and the world.
3) I've learned ALOT about the weather, forecasting, terminology, maps, etc.

Stephanie wrote:1) I've become addicted to the internet...
2) SERIOUSLY, I've never felt so "well connected" with people across the US and the world.
3) I've learned ALOT about the weather, forecasting, terminology, maps, etc.

My sentiments exactly. My sentiments exactly

I'm here for the friends, food and gossip.

All the sentiments above are giving me that vague uncomfortable warm and fuzzy feeling.

Did somebody say food?

OK...so I rambled a bit in my first trip through this thread.

It's the Fourth of July weekend, so you'll each have a couple more minutes to spare SOMEWHERE.

So I'm bumping this back up to give a few more of you a chance to dig a little deeper and let those who make this website possible know how it HAS made a difference.

There will be plenty of food around this holiday weekend Ed, so those who add something to the thread can get mustard and cheese all over the keyboard while they are typing.

streetsoldier wrote:I'm here for the friends, food and gossip.

Ditto!

streetsoldier wrote:I'm here for the friends, food and gossip.

Food?? 'Perks up'

george_r_1961 wrote:1. Ive made good friends here..Lindaloo, Southerngale, MsRobi911, MsCoast..to name a few.
2. Being a weather geek..i feel right at home
3. When there is no significant weather to discuss, we always find something to talk about..either on the board or in chat.

And don't forget me Georgy Porgey! And what about your dear friend Billie Jeanne in MS?

What's funny is that I ~think~ you asked for 2 reasons but many gave 3! Now that is saying something......LOL

1. S2K became my new wx message board home, after many of my former TWC chat room then message board buds were suddenly banned. I was eventually banned too. Who wasn't? I joined S2K and quite honestly, have rarely looked back. Maybe if I did look back, it was to find old friends/stragglers, left behind in the dust....I didn't want to see anyone left out. Still don't.

2. In addition to the good-good wx friends I made via my TWC days, I made even more at S2K. Doubling the total probably.

oops, here comes #3, I can see why members cannot keep this to 2 reasons.....

3. I just LOVE it here. Period.

Mary

cajungal wrote:

george_r_1961 wrote:1. Ive made good friends here..Lindaloo, Southerngale, MsRobi911, MsCoast..to name a few.
2. Being a weather geek..i feel right at home
3. When there is no significant weather to discuss, we always find something to talk about..either on the board or in chat.

And don't forget me Georgy Porgey! And what about your dear friend Billie Jeanne in MS?

I'm going to squeeze my reasons down to just 1:

Miss Mary wrote: I just LOVE it here. Period.

Mary

I couldn't have said it any better. Thankx, Mary!

Diane

streetsoldier wrote:I'm here for the friends, food and gossip.

What about the serving wenches?