So.. How and when did you become interested in weather?

#1 Postby **USAwx1** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 5:18 pm

just curious to hear what everyone has to say.

This is mine...

My interest in weather began when I was a toddler (about 2 or 3 years old). I had a fascination with the snow that probably began with the blizzard of 83 when i was 4 years old. By the time I was 5 and 6 I knew how low pressure systems moved across the country (west to east in the northern hemisphere) and what the jet stream was. Most of that was knowledge gained from watching TWC in it's infancy when they still provided good quality information (instead of all this fru fru crap w/ P Allen Smith garden blah blah and Danny Lipford's home improvement tips. THIS IS NOT HGTV Folks...) during the periods when Joe D'Aleo was running the show, and the late Great John Hope was covering the tropics.

Ok I think I'd better quit before getting into a full scale rant about TWC or starting a bash fest.

It was a no-brainer that this was the path I wanted to take in Life. And here I am today.

Stormsfury · #2 Postby **Stormsfury** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 5:55 pm

USAwx1 wrote:just curious to hear what everyone has to say.

This is mine...

My interest in weather began when I was a toddler (about 2 or 3 years old). I had a fascination with the snow that probably began with the blizzard of 83 when i was 4 years old. By the time I was 5 and 6 I knew how low pressure systems moved across the country (west to east in the northern hemisphere) and what the jet stream was. Most of that was knowledge gained from watching TWC in it's infancy when they still provided good quality information (instead of all this fru fru crap w/ P Allen Smith garden blah blah and Danny Lipford's home improvement tips. THIS IS NOT HGTV Folks...) during the periods when Joe D'Aleo was running the show, and the late Great John Hope was covering the tropics.

Ok I think I'd better quit before getting into a full scale rant about TWC or starting a bash fest.

It was a no-brainer that this was the path I wanted to take in Life. And here I am today.

My fascination started out, also early in life ... getting a taste of all forms of weather before I was even 8 years old ... snowstorms, a severe icestorm in 1979 (President's Day Blizzard), Hurricane David striking Savannah in Sept 1979 (David brought bonafide hurricane type rains, and strong tropical storm force winds, along with isolated tornadoes). Experiencing a derecho, hailstorms (one which brought golf to baseball size hail across the Lowcountry in October in the late 1970's) ...all this set my fascination in motion. Watching lightning as much as I could with each and every storm (something that would have chased most any 7 year old inside).

TWC's format today doesn't hold anything to when it first went on the air. I definitely agree that the early days of TWC were some of the most informative weather information available and where I accrued a lot of my knowledge about weather today.

SF

#3 Postby **cycloneye** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 6:05 pm

Looking at how the clouds were moving and also I was facinated with hurricanes as I live in the tropics that is how I got to love weather and especially tropical weather and that began over 40 years ago now you may know my age.What really made me a hurricane freak guy was when PR was hitted by hurricane Hugo and from that moment until today I love more and more tropical weather as I like to track those big canes and TWC provided me more enthusiasum to be a hurricane watcher by means of John Hope who when he was on air I and my family paid attention to what he would say about the tropics but now TWC is not a shadow in terms of covering tropical weather than a few years back.

Skywatch_NC · #4 Postby **Skywatch_NC** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 6:09 pm

Mine was sparked from events like the Super Outbreak of April 1974 and the Blizzards of '77 and '78 while living in Cincinnati. Didn't see an actual tornado in-person during the '74 event but 2 'burbs of Cincy got really slammed! I remember seeing the road graders helping the DOT crews w/ plowing/removal and those 'countless' snow days from school...of course we had to make-up those days later in the spring...but those blizzards were sure pretty to watch and play in! Received my first NOAA tone-alert radio in my jr. high years and have had 2 or 3 since that first one.

Became a skywarn spotter in March 1996 after a one-night orientation course at a college in Roanoke Rapids, NC (where I used to live). One time a friend of mine in Roa Rpds and I set up a wx booth at a paper mill safety rally.

I don't chase storms but enjoy tracking them on the radars!

I have one autographed photo of a TWC employee...and that is of the late John Hope whom will always be my favorite tropical expert etched in my memory!

My favorite kinds of weather are severe thunderstorms, hurricanes and snowstorms...in that order!

Eric

dryline22 · #5 Postby **dryline22** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 6:37 pm

Without a doubt, my interest began around age 6 or 7 (late 1994) immediately after my family moved to Oklahoma City. Ironically, I had spent the previous four years in Los Angeles where there is essentially no weather, so the swing from that to extreme weather was quite fascinating for me. I remember the first severe weather outbreaks the summer and fall after we moved there, and how the local channels were breaking into the regular programming for special coverage, and it just seemed so awesome. I quickly became a weenie after a few such episodes and was known to throw tantrums whenever a line rolled through without the softball size hail or 80mph wind gusts I had been "promised" by the newscasters

. Severe weather remains one of the most exciting things for me, and I am very likely to return to the OKC area for college next summer to attend OU... can't wait for the storm chases.

Winter weather is something I didn't get a chance to really get into out there -- we averaged maybe one or two 1-4" events per year, and the occasional bout of icing -- but once in the DC area for the winter of 97-98, it became another fascination. Yes, I did have to suffer through two of the dismal late 90's winters, although 98-99 was not so bad when one considers the January '99 ice storm and March '99 surprise heavy snowfall over the DC metro area. The January 2000 storm was my first experience with a real nor'easter that made its impact known across the Mid Atlantic (including closing my school system for 4 days), and since then winter storms have pretty much become equal to severe weather in my mind in terms of anticipation and excitement.

Being a weather weenie, my interest is not limited to those two phenomena exclusively, of course; any type of extremes or unusual/unseasonable weather is always a treat for me (except warm in the winter and cool in the summer, of course!). I clearly remember spending many summer afternoons in OKC checking the thermometer every 10 minutes to see just how high we could go (I was finally satisfied on July 6, 1996, when it topped out at 112°F), and same goes for winter mornings.

ColdFront77 · #6 Postby **ColdFront77** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 6:43 pm

This unfortunately may be a pointless response, but oh well... here goes...

I have been interested in the weather PROBABLY since I was about 10; but I would like to think I was and maybe even was under 10.

For some reason I've always liked weather radars and satellite images and loops. I feel that I neglect the physical parts of the science, but hopefully not to a large extent, because I've always considered and want my interest to be meteorology. In some respects I do like the more physical parts of the science... so annoyingly can't figure my thoughts out on the issue. :roll:

I am more for reading reference material rather than stories, but can't monitor the latest weather, scan, read and post on message boards and read all the vast amount of information there is to read in the amount of time I am up every day. I have asked it before... how can some of you do it, working, online less than me and getting more sleep than me on some nights/mornings?

Josephine96 · #7 Postby **Josephine96** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 8:03 pm

My interest started during a 1st grade Science lesson and took off from there..

I wrote TWC when I was in 3rd grade and the late John Hope and several others put together a Weather packet for me and sent it to me..

Also in 2nd grade.. I received a WeatherSchool Forecast Map and Floppy Disk computer program from then local met Danny Treanor..

In 4th grade.. I became my classes' daily weather forecaster and even was able to answer a lot of questions my friends have..

My interest is nowhere near as high as it was when I was young.. But it still is there.. I actually remember myself humming TWC music and sitting watching, making my own weather maps..

I even remember back when I was about 7.. Our county had a severe thunderstorm warning and I made my own little "warning text" and showed it to Mom and my older sis.. they both framed it lol.. I can even re write it for you guys if you wanna see it..

I used to think "I could do that job".. Living in FLA I still think I could.. but I am no longer pursuing that as a goal.. I'd rather be a regular journalist or a teacher instead lol :wink:

#8 Postby **Stephanie** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 8:28 pm

ColdFront77 wrote:I am more for reading reference material rather than stories, but can't monitor the latest weather, scan, read and post on message boards and read all the vast amount of information there is to read in the amount of time I am up every day. I have asked it before... how can some of you do it, working, online less than me and getting more sleep than me on some nights/mornings?

I think that people are probably selective on what they read. Some articles and sources of information are probably preferred more by some and less by others. You tend to have your "favorite" sources - like S2K :wink:

- to get the basic information that you need to make a decision. I hop ethat helped Tom!

As far as when I became interested in weather - I was in elementary school, but I don't remember a specific event. I always had a fascination about tornados and hurricanes. I remember ordering books through school that discussed the most notable tornados and hurricanes up unitl that time (early 70's). I remember reading about Hazel, the Labor Day Hurricane, etc. and being totally awed by the stories. I grew up on Long Island, so tornados were rarely an issue, but I was still fascinated by them just the same. We had a HUGE ice storm on Long Island around the winter of 1971 or 1972. We were lucky that we got our electric and heat back after a day (we did have a fireplace), but many had to wait several days before power was restored. The outside was a crystal palace - beautiful but devastating at the same time.

When TWC came on the television, I was in my glory! I had that station on more than any other station. Then the power of the Internet brought a new wave of learning and discussing the weather and I haven't looked back since!

Josephine96 · #9 Postby **Josephine96** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 8:30 pm

Steph was a TWC fan too huh.. Aint we all.. lol..

{hums a TWC song from the early 90s lol}

#10 Postby **USAwx1** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 8:33 pm

Josephine96 wrote:Steph was a TWC fan too huh.. Aint we all.. lol..

{hums a TWC song from the early 90s lol}

late 80s, early 90s it was great. now it's too shall we say commercialized. But let's not start a bash fest here.

Josephine96 · #11 Postby **Josephine96** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 8:34 pm

I just found that warning thing I did back when I was 7.. Actually my sister found it.. I called her and asked her for it lol..

BULLETIN IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
NWS MELBOURNE FLORIDA
817 PM JULY 23RD 1990

THE NWS IN MELBOURNE HAS ISSUED A...

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
OSCEOLA COUNTY UNTIL 900PM ET..

AT 816 ET.. NWS MELBOURNE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER KISSIMMEE.. MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH..

LOCATIONS IN THIS STORM INCLUDE:
ST CLOUD, NARCOOSEE, AND THE BREVARD COUNTY LINE..

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS TO 58MPH, DEADLY LIGHTNING, HAIL, HEAVY RAIN.. AND EVEN OCCASIONAL TORNADOES..

and yes as a 7 yr old I actually wrote this :wink:

#12 Postby **USAwx1** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 8:38 pm

Josephine96 wrote:I just found that warning thing I did back when I was 7.. Actually my sister found it.. I called her and asked her for it lol..

BULLETIN IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
NWS MELBOURNE FLORIDA
817 PM JULY 23RD 1990

THE NWS IN MELBOURNE HAS ISSUED A...

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR
OSCEOLA COUNTY UNTIL 900PM ET..

AT 816 ET.. NWS MELBOURNE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER KISSIMMEE.. MOVING EAST AT 25 MPH..

LOCATIONS IN THIS STORM INCLUDE:
ST CLOUD, NARCOOSEE, AND THE BREVARD COUNTY LINE..

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS TO 58MPH, DEADLY LIGHTNING, HAIL, HEAVY RAIN.. AND EVEN OCCASIONAL TORNADOES..

and yes as a 7 yr old I actually wrote this

Wow! that's excellent. Add in the AWIPS and WMO ID and we would have been talking. Nice Job, pal!

Rainband · #13 Postby **Rainband** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 8:41 pm

Excellent John

#14 Postby **Stephanie** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 8:44 pm

Great job John!

I still put TWC on everyday. It's an old habit! :lol:

Josephine96 · #15 Postby **Josephine96** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 8:45 pm

Thanks Rain and USAwx.. My sister didn't tell me the actual date that was on the paper.. But I do believe that was the date lol.. If not.. It's still authentic..

Mom always praised me when I was little because she would say "I'm too smart for my own good lol" :wink:

and she remembers how I'd never wanna turn off TWC lol

Wnghs2007 · #16 Postby **Wnghs2007** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 8:52 pm

I watched the movie twister. LOL. That is what sparked my intrest.

Josephine96 · #17 Postby **Josephine96** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 8:54 pm

The movie Twister gave me the creeps lol.. and then there were people protesting at Universal when they tried to open "Twister.. the ride".. right after our tornado outbreak

Josephine96 · #18 Postby **Josephine96** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 8:56 pm

by the way.. Just out of curiosity.. What did UsWx mean by AWIPS and WMO ID? lol.. I think I know what he meant.. but I could use a refresher course lol

Skywatch_NC · #19 Postby **Skywatch_NC** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 8:59 pm

GREAT job on that warning text bulletin, John!

Eric

Josephine96 · #20 Postby **Josephine96** » Sat Jul 17, 2004 9:02 pm

Thank you Eric.. Mom and my sister kept a lot of things I made when I was younger.. That was just 1 of many..

So.. How and when did you become interested in weather?

So.. How and when did you become interested in weather?

Re: So.. How and when did you become interested in weather?

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