STORM2K

I can't remember exactly when or at what age I became interested in the weather, it was at a very young age I do know that, seems like I was 5-6 years old. My sisters and I would spend our summers on my grandparents farm near Plainview, Texas.....I would sit on the front porch with my grandfather, he would puff on his pipe (what memories that brings back, the smell of the smoke, the smoke drifting around my head) and we'd sit for hours watching these huge t boomers roll in from miles away, I was hooked from that moment on

I've always had this *have to know* curiosity, I started watching the news and weather at a very young age also, my friends would come over, wanting to play, I'd ask them to wait until the news/weather was over!

Dennis

probably when I was in 8th grade...I visited a local news station and was amazed about forecasting weather. Ironically, its the station that I worked at during college.

Anyways, I loved playing outside during rain; jumping in and out of puddles (puddle stomping); rolling around in the piles of leaves, throwing snowballs at my little brother and watching the storms roll in from the NE direction

I first began noticing weather, especially severe weather when I was 8...I remember reading about the May 11, 1970 F5 tornado in Lubbock, Texas on the headlines of the Atlanta Journal; then seeing Hurricane Celia devastating Corpus Christi, Texas on tv in August 1970 (I don't remember a thing about Camille the previous year).

When my interest kicked into overdrive was when I was about 12...March 21, 1974; when our suburban Atlanta neighborhood was shredded by a severe "derecho" with an imbedded F1-F2 tornado that made a direct hit on our house at 5:34 a.m. with winds of 110-120 mph.

The twister took the top off our home, collapsed the west wall into the living room...blew dad's station wagon into the backyard, and killed my pet rabbit It scared me beyond belief (I'll never forget my mom crying and shaking like a leaf, dad stunned, white as a ghost); but it also ignited a passion about tornadoes and storms that continues to this day. The awesome April 3-4, 1974 tornado "superoutbreak" occurred only two weeks later, and served to send my weather enthusiasm into the stratosphere...it grabbed me hook, line, and sinker.

Perry

When a F4 tornado came through north raleigh (where i live) in nov. 1989

Dennis you and I are too much alike(except I'm handsomer-hehehe)! I used to do the same thing to my friends!! They thought I was WIERD!! and I am!!!

"Nerd?" Not hardly...my interest in wx is limited to Emergency Management/Preparedness, SAR and disaster assessment/relief.

Truth be known, I'm really "in here" for the food, ale and serving wenches.

I know I myself have been a weather nerd since at least the age of 9. I know that because I began volunteering for the local newspaper's weather section in October of 1991.

I have been interested in the weather for as long as I can remember. I am not sure if I was actually as young as 6, but between 7 and 10 years old I enjoyed watching radars, satellites and weather maps on The Weather Channel. I used to tape segments and play them to find the average speed over various time frames as weather systems moved across the country; this including calculating when it would start precipitating at my location in southeastern Massachusetts.

One afternoon, several years ago (in Massachusetts) I specificallly remember calculating the start time of an area of shield of rain moving toward my location, using the 'TWC Local Forecast 90 Minute Radar Loop' (with the ten minute delay) between 2:00 and 2:30; I estimated that it would begin to rain at 3:50pm, sure enough it started raining at 3:40pm.

I got my first police scanner (on my third now) to listening to 'NOAA Weather Radio' back in the mid 1990's and then finally daily internet access (on March 1, 1999). I havereally enjoyed following the weather on various websites along with The Weather Channel at times and especially with others online such as yourselves.

Over the years my interest as increased to wanting to get a degree in meteorology... but as most of you know by now, is a complete other story.

"When did you become a *weather nerd*?"

i used to be cool but being cool got boring so i opted to geek out on wx cause i can't grow a mullet. p

mullet* (mu' lit) 1. any of a family of edible, spiny-rayed fishes found in fresh and salt waters and having a small mouth and feeble teeth, as the striped (or gray) mullet. 2. any haircut which the sides and top of the hair are cut significantly shorter than the back.

I have loved weather since I was a child (many yrs ago) haha
Probably around the age of 7.

Hurricane Andrew did it for me. Prior to that, I vaguely remember my dad being all wrapped up in the weather. He had guages at home, was always checking on the wx - and I thought, yeah, wx, what's so important about the wx? I didn't voice those thoughts fortuntately! My dad was a carpenter by trade and worked in construction for several decades before going to work for the US government. I can understand now why wx was important to him, but back then I just shook my head. He'd be so proud of me now though. TWC's coverage of H. Andrew sealed it for me. My husband's family had their annual reunion that weekend. Everyone was glued to TWC watching the unfolding disaster in the making. When we got home, I stayed up late doing laundry, unpacking and ended up watching TWC long into the night. I was hooked from the moment on. Before that I don't think I ever checked TWC, honest!

We moved to the Florida Panhandle 30 years ago and I was hooked the first season. I can remember thinking that "this is just the coolest thing" while my parents panicked everytime we got evacuated. I would just want to be outside in the experience. I also was down south in the aftermath of Andrew when the National Guard was roaming the streets giving out water. I was very sad, but also impressed with the power.

I became a weather nerd in 1990....I can't remember the exact date.

Wow JetMaxx, that's an amazing experience.
Sounds like most of you guys have been through some wild weather.

Sorry if you've heard this story for the umpteenth time, but my "fever" started on 5/8/79, age 16, in Tampa shortly after moving there. T-storms started at 3am and trained all day long, dropping 15 tornadoes in the bay area (10 in my county) and 14" of rain. We had a continuous, uninterrupted 12 hr tornado warning (not watch). Didn't realize then that my interest was gonna be lifelong and get more obsessive over the years, or I would have switched to Meteorology in college.

My family does this ... , when I start going on and on about a typhoon in Guam. Friends ask for forecasts before packing for trips. And shopping for me at Christmas is easy - weather videos, books, software.

Finding other weatherphiles online makes me feel a *little* less weird.

Probably for me maybe about 10 years ago. When I started doing alot of traveling.

My weather geekiness started when I was a youngster. I loved watching it thunder/lightning. We used to go to Colorado every summer for two weeks and our drive thru West and Central Texas we always encounter those thunderstorms Dennis alludes to - it was awesome watching them as we drove. Then in school in my science classes I aced everything we did on weather - my mother let me check out books during the summers from the library on hurricanes and that is when my hurricane geekiness started. When I meet my husband - while we were dating I told him - I love the weather and I watch TWC all the time - he said he loves me no matter how eccentric I am LOL.

Possiblity for another thread - how do you and your spouse deal with you weather fix.

Patricia

lol ticka! My husband thinks it's just another quirk, something he can tease me about. I don't mind; it's an honor to be a weather nerd. No one said it would be easy.

I guess my afliction started when I saw the damage from Camille up close about a month after she hit the Mississippi coast. It really took off after sitting through a couple of big typhoons on Guam. Hasn't let up since

LOL Marshall - I think mine has worsen as I get older - seem to want learn everything I can.

Patricia

I have always, since I can remember been interested in weather. In South Africa, in 1984 we had a devestating flood, that event really invoked my interest in weather. My father being a sailor has a vast knowledge of weather, and I used to spend a lot of time watching cloud formations and storms with him. My intense interest in severe weather and total additction came when I moved over here to the USA. The first time I heard the emergency signal on the radio for a tornado watch.. I nearly had a heart attack as I had no clue what was going on. My first glimpse of tropical storm formation in 2001 on TWC had me totally hooked and my husband convinced I had finally gone off the deep end