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This is probably one of the coolest things I've been a part of on #wxtwitter.
Thank you all (100+ of you) for telling your stories. It's been great getting to know you, seeing what inspired your fascination with the weather.
A few reflections... 1/ https://twitter.com/nsj/status/1296111461907992578
Thank you all (100+ of you) for telling your stories. It's been great getting to know you, seeing what inspired your fascination with the weather.
A few reflections... 1/ https://twitter.com/nsj/status/1296111461907992578
Of course, none of this was scientific, so we can't draw any generalizable conclusions. But the notion that many (not all, certainly, but many) meteorologists can trace their interest in weather back to a single event or period feels like it's got merit.
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Much like the Jo Harding character in Twister, some traced their interest back to a tornado or outbreak that affected them. Others cited hurricanes. Snowstorms were also big inspirations. Flooding gets few mentions. Hail. Lightning.
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(One person even cited Twister as the impetus for getting them into chasing, which eventually led to a deeper exploration of meteorology. There's some data to suggest he's not alone in that source of inspiration: https://www.forbes.com/sites/marshallshepherd/2017/02/26/the-death-of-bill-paxton-reminds-us-that-twister-changed-meteorology/)
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For some, the weather got up close and personal: Lightning striking their home, setting it on fire. Having to evacuate in the midst of a hurricane due to flooding. Watching lightning kill a playmate.
A sense of wanting to help prevent future tragedies emerges here.
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A sense of wanting to help prevent future tragedies emerges here.
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For others, it was extreme weather of a different kind: Watching for a rare 100° day, suffering through a drought, noticing unusually clear weather when clouds and rain were the norm.
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Some mentioned it wasn't living through an event but watching it unfold on TV or on the radio that got them hooked... including the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
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More than a few cited not *meteorological* events but *meteorologist* events - a meteorologist speaking to their school or inviting them to the station to shadow for a day.
A not-so-subtle reminder that personal connection and representation is important.
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A not-so-subtle reminder that personal connection and representation is important.
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Of course, not everyone can point to a specific person, event, or date, and that's a-OK! Some folks have just always been fascinated, others have developed the fascination in school or even after.
Regardless of how we got here, I get the sense the passion is the same.
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Regardless of how we got here, I get the sense the passion is the same.
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If you want to read these stories, flip through my timeline over the last day or so. I enjoyed learning about my fellow #wxtwitter-ers; I hope you do, too.
Thanks again for telling your stories. (And thanks to @ChrisGNBCBoston whose tweet about Hurricane Bob prompted me to ask!)
Thanks again for telling your stories. (And thanks to @ChrisGNBCBoston whose tweet about Hurricane Bob prompted me to ask!)
