When Did You Become a Weather Fanatic?

[Crapper Jim]

I think I was 5-6 years old.  

 

I could barely read... but I understood the terms - snow, sleet, partly cloudy, sunny... 'Piedmont' and 'Mountains (though I pronounced "Montrains")'.  I grew up in Charlotte.

 

Every morning, I'd scurry out to the neighbor's driveway in my pajamas (before any adults woke) and "borrow" their copy of the Charlotte Observer.  Sitting in the gravel - I couldn't wait to open Page 2A.

That was the "weather section".  That was the latest weather info back in '68... way before tech as we know it. I'd "word-it-out" under the street lamp in the first light of morn.  The graphics were my favorite part... the littlle x's for snow, and the slanted strait lines for rain.

 

When I was done (and satisfied) I'd reassemble the paper, complete with the wrap-around rubber band, and place the news back in its original place.

 

I was embarrassed... almost like I was doing a 'dirty little thing'.  Regularly reciting the forecast (word-for-word) for anyone that would listen - it quickly became apparent that adults were making fun of me.  I was a "novelty".

 

 

What forms and shapes your passions?  This was about the same time I saw my pinto bean sprout in a paper milk carton in pre-school.  I dunno.  Ever since - I've loved 'The Weather'... and gardening.

 

 

BTW - I LOVE the smell of newsprint and ink to this day.  It's like perfume.

[mackerel_sky]

The year was 1969, JBurns was already 80.......

[jburns]

The year was 1969, JBurns was already 80.......

 

I was halfway through my army tour.

[Disco-lemonade]

January 25, 2000, I'd say I was about 7 years old. Changed my life.

[buckeyefan1]

I think I was 5-6 years old.  

 

I could barely read... but I understood the terms - snow, sleet, partly cloudy, sunny... 'Piedmont' and 'Mountains (though I pronounced "Montrains")'.  I grew up in Charlotte.

 

Every morning, I'd scurry out to the neighbor's driveway in my pajamas (before any adults woke) and "borrow" their copy of the Charlotte Observer.  Sitting in the gravel - I couldn't wait to open Page 2A.

That was the "weather section".  That was the latest weather info back in '68... way before tech as we know it. I'd "word-it-out" under the street lamp in the first light of morn.  The graphics were my favorite part... the littlle x's for snow, and the slanted strait lines for rain.

 

When I was done (and satisfied) I'd reassemble the paper, complete with the wrap-around rubber band, and place the news back in its original place.

 

I was embarrassed... almost like I was doing a 'dirty little thing'.  Regularly reciting the forecast (word-for-word) for anyone that would listen - it quickly became apparent that adults were making fun of me.  I was a "novelty".

 

 

What forms and shapes your passions?  This was about the same time I saw my pinto bean sprout in a paper milk carton in pre-school.  I dunno.  Ever since - I've loved 'The Weather'... and gardening.

 

 

BTW - I LOVE the smell of newsprint and ink to this day.  It's like perfume.

That was my favorite part too  

 

I don't remember ever not being interested in the weather. My Great Grandparents/Grandparents were native american, so stories of the great thunderbird(among others) were told often, connecting weather with nature. What turned my fascination into weenieism was the Xenia tornado, only to be reinforced by the blizzard(s) of  '77-'78   

[Crapper Jim]

Hmmm.

 

I remember crying in my bed one night while my parents were watching Don Ho (Hawaii's Ambassador of Aloha) on one

of the only two channels (maybe 3) we got.... with our first color tv.  That's back when, after midnight... TV signed off with the National Anthem.

 

The closer it got to 11pm (local news, and weather) ... the louder I cried.  Finally, right before 11:00, my parents propped me up in front on the TV!

I witnessed a forecast that said... mostly freezing rain and sleet.  Of course, I was awake all night!

 

Next day... 10" of snow!

 

I recall the smell of snow - with my nose against the screen of the open bathroom window during the night.  Everything about it is 'magical'.

 

Next day... Lee, the one-eyed woman (mom's best friend), broke her leg on our front porch.  I saw it from inside.  After they picked her up... dragged her into the house -  I asked, "is it still sleeting."  "Yes, a little", she replied.

 

Hell, that's back before modern radars and models.

It was a lot more fun... not really knowing what was gonna happen.

 

 

The Smell of Snow.

 

 

[downeastnc]

March 1-3 1980, March 28 1984............

[toxictwister00]

Since childhood around when I was about 6 or 7. It took me a while to like thunderstorms, they used to scare the crap out of me. I was always curious about how and why certain weather events happened especially tornadoes (and hurricanes) even though the thought of my area being under a tornado watch/warning scared the crap out of me too. I'm sure part of that was also from watching the movie Twister too much back then.   TWC played a partial part when it came to learning some of the basics of weather 101 at that age. 

[superjames1992]

There isn't a single event, but if I had to pick one, probably January 25, 2000.

[frazdaddy]

Growing up on a tobacco farm in rural Vance county the weather was a huge part of our life. Our crop success depended on decisions my Grandad made about the weather.  My grandad would look at the clouds and forcast our need to irrigate the next day or cover the plant beds if it was too wet. It seemed like we had miles of pipes and sprinklers that had to be moved. If we set the seedlings too early and a late frost got them it ment lost money and a whole lot more work. Get them in just right and you get an extra week or two growing season and a more bountiful crop. The winters in the 60/70's were awesome for a young weather geek. I remember many times going to the pond to break the ice so the horses would have water. In the summers we would have to go in and retrieve the cinder blocks. Not a bad gig either. 

[Cold Rain]

I think, when I was born.  I don't ever remember not being a weather freak.  I used to sit outside and watch the clouds change shapes as they drifted through the sky.  In the Fall, I would watch in anticipation of a big leaf storm, when the strong wind would fill the air with the autumn leaves.  In the winter, I would wait for snow, ice, brutal cold, or whatever other surprises winter had in store.  And in the spring and summer, I would run outside at the first sound of thunder, rolling in the distance.

 

I think most of us like the major, historic, once-in-a-lifetime events, no question.  But here are some things I like, that really aren't on the extreme side:

 

1) Sitting on the porch on a hot summer evening, watching the lightening bugs fly through the yard

2) The smell of a cold, crisp, frosty morning

3) The smell of a rainstorm

4) The sound of a steady rain through an open window...hearing the water rush off of the roof and down the downspout

5) The sound of thunder echoing through the mountains

6) The dimmer day of mid-winter

7) Milky sunshine through a deck of cirrostratus clouds

8) A full moon on a cool, autumn night

9) A deep snowpack underneath a full moon (there is nothing else in the world quite like this experience)

10) The sound of rain on a lake

11) The sound of the wind, rustling the autumn leaves along

12) The muffled sound of snowflakes as they stack softly on top of one another and the unique silence of a heavy snowfall

13) The sight of a full double rainbow

14) The sight of a streetlight through the dense fog at night

15) A red sunrise over the sea

16) The sound of water running down the street after a heavy rain

17) A frost so heavy that it almost looks like a dusting of snow

18) A nighttime thunderstorm that seems to last for hours

19) A dark, starry night in the country, away from the lights of the city

20) A simple cloudy day

 

I could probably come up with more, but those are things that I enjoy about our weather.

[buckeyefan1]

CR....I would like to add the following to your list  

 

Laying in the grass making shapes out of the clouds on a partly cloudy day. 

 

Watching cumulus clouds build rapidly.

 

Watching the cool breeze march across a field and waiting for the relief to arrive, on a warm summer day.

 

Feeling the earth vibrate while listening to the thunder roll. 

 

I could go on, and on, and on, and on.....lol

[Cold Rain]

 

CR....I would like to add the following to your list  

 

Laying in the grass making shapes out of the clouds on a partly cloudy day. 

 

Watching cumulus clouds build rapidly.

 

Watching the cool breeze march across a field and waiting for the relief to arrive, on a warm summer day.

 

Feeling the earth vibrate while listening to the thunder roll. 

 

I could go on, and on, and on, and on.....lol

 

Yup! Those are all good ones!

[mackerel_sky]

When I found this forum, and saw a guy code named : metallicwx366! I was hooked!

[frazdaddy]

CR....I would like to add the following to your list  

 

Laying in the grass making shapes out of the clouds on a partly cloudy day. 

 

Watching cumulus clouds build rapidly.

 

Watching the cool breeze march across a field and waiting for the relief to arrive, on a warm summer day.

 

Feeling the earth vibrate while listening to the thunder roll. 

 

I could go on, and on, and on, and on.....lol

The smell of freshly cut grass in the summer time and of autumn leaves burning on a late fall day

[jburns]

I think, when I was born.  I don't ever remember not being a weather freak.  I used to sit outside and watch the clouds change shapes as they drifted through the sky.  In the Fall, I would watch in anticipation of a big leaf storm, when the strong wind would fill the air with the autumn leaves.  In the winter, I would wait for snow, ice, brutal cold, or whatever other surprises winter had in store.  And in the spring and summer, I would run outside at the first sound of thunder, rolling in the distance.

 

I think most of us like the major, historic, once-in-a-lifetime events, no question.  But here are some things I like, that really aren't on the extreme side:

 

1) Sitting on the porch on a hot summer evening, watching the lightening bugs fly through the yard

2) The smell of a cold, crisp, frosty morning

3) The smell of a rainstorm

4) The sound of a steady rain through an open window...hearing the water rush off of the roof and down the downspout

5) The sound of thunder echoing through the mountains

6) The dimmer day of mid-winter

7) Milky sunshine through a deck of cirrostratus clouds

8) A full moon on a cool, autumn night

9) A deep snowpack underneath a full moon (there is nothing else in the world quite like this experience)

10) The sound of rain on a lake

11) The sound of the wind, rustling the autumn leaves along

12) The muffled sound of snowflakes as they stack softly on top of one another and the unique silence of a heavy snowfall

13) The sight of a full double rainbow

14) The sight of a streetlight through the dense fog at night

15) A red sunrise over the sea

16) The sound of water running down the street after a heavy rain

17) A frost so heavy that it almost looks like a dusting of snow

18) A nighttime thunderstorm that seems to last for hours

19) A dark, starry night in the country, away from the lights of the city

20) A simple cloudy day

 

I could probably come up with more, but those are things that I enjoy about our weather.

 

Just add a dog, a pick-up and a trailer and you've covered every country song ever written.

[Cold Rain]

Just add a dog, a pick-up and a trailer and you've covered every country song ever written.

Well, almost. You'd need to kick in, a wife who left, a lost job, and beer...then you'd be good.

[frazdaddy]

Well, almost. You'd need to kick in, a wife who left, a lost job, and beer...then you'd be good.

And grandma's prison stay

[Cold Rain]

And grandma's prison stay

Haha! Good one. I almost forgot about that one.

[WxBlue]

I was maybe 6 or 7 years old in Missouri when I noticed my grandfather watching Weather Channel all the times whenever he come over so I would join him whenever he turn on TWC. From there, I got addicted to that TV channel. It was around this time that my mom told me her story of surviving Hurricane Hugo in South Carolina so that got me interested in hurricanes whenever they come on TWC. I was 8 year old in 2003 when I first tracked a hurricane using TWC and a blank tracking paper. That storm would turn out to be Isabel. I still remember most of the storms from 2004 and 2005 from watching them on TWC as well as NHC website and that might have taken my passion for weather to another level. During my final years in Missouri, I've become more interested in severe weather that we get once in a while because they were so powerful comparing to storms we get here in NC. However, my passion for meteorology was almost lost the first two years in NC... until April 16, 2011. I wasn't sure what I want to do as my career because I had so many different passions, but dodging the tornadoes few times on that day and seeing the damage in Sanford took my love for weather to a whole another level and it been growing ever since that day

[Crapper Jim]

I was maybe 6 or 7 years old in Missouri when I noticed my grandfather watching Weather Channel all the times whenever he come over so I would join him whenever he turn on TWC. From there, I got addicted to that TV channel. It was around this time that my mom told me her story of surviving Hurricane Hugo in South Carolina so that got me interested in hurricanes whenever they come on TWC. I was 8 year old in 2003 when I first tracked a hurricane using TWC and a blank tracking paper. That storm would turn out to be Isabel. I still remember most of the storms from 2004 and 2005 from watching them on TWC as well as NHC website and that might have taken my passion for weather to another level. During my final years in Missouri, I've become more interested in severe weather that we get once in a while because they were so powerful comparing to storms we get here in NC. However, my passion for meteorology was almost lost the first two years in NC... until April 16, 2011. I wasn't sure what I want to do as my career because I had so many different passions, but dodging the tornadoes few times on that day and seeing the damage in Sanford took my love for weather to a whole another level and it been growing ever since that day

I remember tracking hurricanes on the blank sheets the local news stations passed out at the grocery stores.

<Couldn't wait to plot another dot and connect the lines on the updates. 

 

Can anybody find a long Radar Loop of Hugo?  

[NCsandhills]

It was actually when I lived in California. I lived in San Pedro, which is about 25 miles south of Los Angeles and right on the beach, I mean the view from our backyard was ocean and Catalina Island. My mom drove me to school every morning, starting in 6th grade (that's when we moved there). Even though SoCal's weather is kind of boring, there was an LED bank sign that gave the time and temperature that we passed every morning...I ALWAYS looked at it and made note of how cold it was, and LOVED when it got colder than normal. I remember the coldest reading it had was 36, and I was able to see my breath. And of course when it rained (another rarity in SoCal) I would watch pretty much the whole rainstorm out my window. 7th or 8th grade in Cali is when I started watching TWC religiously, it is all that was ever on in my room lol.

 

I did have a general fascination since before that. I moved to California from central NJ, and I remember being in 3rd grade, sitting at the back sliding door watching the snow pile up on the deck and telling my older brother "See! I told you there would be precipitation tonight!!" Lmao. Every time it snowed I would get angry if someone walked all over the fresh, smooth blanket of snow covering the yard. I also remember walking to school sometime in 3rd, 4th or 5th grade and the sunrise was gorgeous, the snow was powdery, and every time I moved my legs to walk I would kick up this powdery snow and the powder was just a beautiful golden-red from the reflection/angle of the sunrise. I remember that vividly. 

 

After California we moved to Arkansas (9th grade), and boy oh boy was I excited for different weather. Not so much the 110 degree summer heat lol, but I was MAD excited for the 47* avg high temp and 26* avg low temp with 4" avg snowfall. Again TWC was just about the only thing I ever watched, and at the new HS I was dubbed "the weather man". I'm sure a lot of us here had that nickname in school hahaha. In 12th grade 2008 we moved back to central NJ and that's when I was decently learned in meteorology and decided that's what I wanted to do with my life (until I got arrested, closed that damn door ). The historic 2009 winter season in PHL burbs Jesus tap dancin christ it was epic...Dec 19, 2009 we got 20" most snow I'd ever seen.....Feb 5-6 2010 we got 26", now the most snow ever! Feb 10 2010 we got another I believe 12". It was just insane.

 

2010 move back to Arkansas (lived on LRAFB......) and of course the April 25 2011 tornadoes in central AR affected me hugely. The LRAFB EF2 tornado ripped siding off our house and knocked a tree down in our front yard and our fence was gone, but the house behind us was completely flattened. My dad had to help a lady out of her bath tub. My job on LRAFB was closed for a week, and my college ASU-Beebe was cancelled for the remainder of the semester due to the EF-1 Beebe tornado that dealt a good degree of damage on campus. In fact, I was supposed to be at ASU when the tornado hit, directly under the part of the building where the roof peeled back!! But our Spanish teacher cancelled class because of the severe wx threat, thank goodness. I was so wrapped up in the LRAFB tornado that I didn't even know Beebe got hit until a friend called me when he was on his way to pick up his brother from ASU dorms telling me "Dude Beebe;s all fudged up!!!" crazy!

 

And that, Amwx, is the story of my weather life lol.

Golly that was long.

tl;dr - I like turtles

[buckeyefan1]

And that, Amwx, is the story of my weather life lol.

Golly that was long.

tl;dr - I like turtles

I like turtles too    

[WNC_Fort]

Snow love has been forever, weather in general I became interested during The summer of Hurricane Frances and Hurricane Ivan. The flooding here in WNC was incredible. Never seen anything like it

[Bluestarlight19]

Before I remember really. My grandmother told me that ever since I discovered the weather channel at her house around 6-7 years old, every time I came over that is the first channel I would change it to (we didn't have cable at home) and I would watch it all day.

[RevDodd]

Waaaay back before the Weather Channel or NOAA radio, all we had in Tulsa in the mid 60s was the National Bank building. You could see that for miles, and they had placed a giant blinking light on the roof. Green meant all clear, yellow meant possible trouble ... and red meant stay close to shelter. It didn't blink red often, but when it did, kids would scurry home and we'd switch to KTUL for any weather bulletins.

[Crapper Jim]

Waaaay back before the Weather Channel or NOAA radio, all we had in Tulsa in the mid 60s was the National Bank building. You could see that for miles, and they had placed a giant blinking light on the roof. Green meant all clear, yellow meant possible trouble ... and red meant stay close to shelter. It didn't blink red often, but when it did, kids would scurry home and we'd switch to KTUL for any weather bulletins.

Remember those old radars?  The WWII type with the 360 degree sweep.  

 

Weather hasn't changed that much in the last 50 years (BrickTamlandism, I know).

I miss the days when what was coming was mostly 'unknown'.  Now, it's a lot less fun.

 

 

BTW - I saved for months to buy my first indoor/outdoor thermometer - back in '70.

It cost $3 at the Woolco.  Sammy and I rode our bikes to go buy it.  We ate at Hardee's -

about 25 cents a Burger?  Anyway, that thermometer worked perfectly 'till about the time

my Dad died in 2005.  35 years.  I had to peel the cables off the house when I sold it (the house).

[Crapper Jim]

Before I remember really. My grandmother told me that ever since I discovered the weather channel at her house around 6-7 years old, every time I came over that is the first channel I would change it to (we didn't have cable at home) and I would watch it all day.

TWC used to be fun to watch.  I always had it on 'till about a a dozen years ago.

 

I remember the "emulators" people were looking for online.  And... TWC Soundtracks for Local on the Eights!

That was back when Jim Cantori had hair and looked "athletic".

 

I wonder what happened to some of those personalities on TWC?

[SouthernWx2]

Where do I begin?  I've always said my fascination with storms and weather began on March 21, 1974 when a pre-dawn tornado ripped the roof off our home, blew in the living room wall, and deposited mom's car into the back yard.......but that along with the infamous April 3, 1974 "Superoutbreak" two weeks later just made me completely into a weather nut for life.

 

Thinking back, my passion and interest in weather actually began a year earlier when I was 11.  We had a massive ice storm in January 1973, a near miss by a monster snowstorm a month later (that dropped 16" inches of snow in Macon, GA)......then I witnessed a hailstorm on March 31st that took out windows of nearly every vehicle in the neighborhood.  My father drove us the next afternoon to see the path of a long-track killer F3 tornado (Jonesboro to Conyers to Athens) from the night before....and I was hooked.  The unusual late May tornado outbreak that nearly killed my uncle and got me another up-close look at F3 tornado damage (SW Atlanta May 28th) just furthered my growing interest in storms and what made them happen.

 

By the end of the 5th grade (June 1973), was already checking out every weather related book in the school and community library.  After experiencing the March 1974 tornado then Superoutbreak the following spring, I was a total storm fanatic (and have been ever since

[Stormsfury]

I was lucky to experience a whole gambit of weather before I was 8 years old. The cold wave of 1977, a 3.5 earthquake in about 1976-1977, snow events, severe thunderstorms, but the massive ice storm on February 1979 followed by hurricane David sealed the deal.