Thunderstorms... I just gotta ask...

My husband and I are big Thunderstorm enthusiasts. The harrier the better. It's like the electricity in the air, the possibility of something exciting happening, I don't know. But whenever a good one rolls around we go sit out on the porch to watch it.

With Katrina heading in, it's sad to say, I was a little disappointed that she's moved so far away from us. It's like the mother of all thunderstorms. I feel for anyone who takes a direct hit, don't get me wrong... but there's just something about it all that fascinates me beyond imagination. Maybe I was really born to be a storm chaser.

Does anybody else get excited like this or am I completely off?

I am a huge storm chaser. I find it relaxing and people find me quite odd. I was watching Katrina about a week ago as a tropical wave with rapidly falling barometric pressure. We don't get any real exciting weather up here, just horrid and dangerous wind and ice storms where the cloud formations look like eyewalls in a hurricane coming in off Alaska, but they're very cold - from November to January. So no, you aren't strange at all. I do want to add that it's far more important to me that everyone is safe and no loss of life, though. I don't get excited over the losses at all!

I think it's the power of mother nature that amazes me. The post-Ivan photos of the beach house (four story huge house, half of it gone) amaze me. Absolutely amaze me.

I mourn for the loss of the place where our wedding was, but I'm so darned intrigued by the aftermath, it was hard for me not to get in the car and drive over there just to rubber neck at the awesome power of this climate... a lot of people never experience it first hand. But that would be totally insulting to the devastated locals... I refrained. I'm sure I would have a completely different view of it if it were my city and my house.

I was just about to echo your sentiments about loss... it's never amazing or exciting when anyone is lost or devastated. What's amazing is what mother nature has been dishing out over the past two years... it's nearly like watching a movie... something right out of "The Day After Tomorrow".

I'm glad to know I'm not alone!

i love storms and like you, the scarier the better

when we first came up to look at Yalgoo, before moving here, there was a lightning storm and i swear, it was the most spectacular i had ever seen, we sat out on our friends porch with them and some of the bolts landed about ten meters away, there were one's with five bolts at a time zigzagging toward the ground and there must have been at least one hit every 30 seconds or so....it was awesome, i only wish i'd had my digital camera at the time because that electrical storm must have lasted at least an hour

if i'd had my camera i would have driven into the hills to see the veiw from there.

i also love thunderstorms, the one's that make your house shudder and the ground rumble under your feet.

i love it when it gets extrememly gusty and you can see things getting blown about outside and it rains so much it looks as if it might flood lol

only problem is, if it floods out here we have to find a clear road so we can go shopping

i think the attraction to storms has something to do with the power of it all, and the beauty, i don't think it's strange at all...i'd love to be a storm chaser!

i also love the expectancy in the air before a storm, it's almost electric and the smell of the air before and after a storm.

Originally Posted by Sooz123

I think it's the power of mother nature that amazes me.

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I think that's why people are fascinated by extreme weather. We're so used to having control over our environment that when nature takes that control away, we react with awe.

Hurricanes can and do leave much damage and even death in their wakes. However, when viewed from the upper atmosphere there is something absolutely beautiful about them. www.noaa.gov has some really amazing pictures of weather phenomenon taken by orbiting satellites.

I was a huge weather enthusiast until Hurricaine Juan hit Halifax!! It really DID sound like a train wreck was taking place in my home. My bf and I have a sailboat and that was damaged. A week with no power was no fun tho I spent it mostly at the hospital - we had to recieve patients from the "adult" hospital since part of their roof collapsed - the roof on one of their buildings I should say, it is a huge complex which is not to suggest we are small - we are growing too. Anyway, it was hectic, tiring time and thus while there is still some latent excitement when i hear the word "hurricaine", another part of me aches for the people who have to live through it. It was kind of fun (even if scary) for the 1st 4 hrs. For the next couple of weeks, it was horrendous! So, I won't be signing up to be a storm chaser anytime soon. Another close friend who LOVED storms also curbed her interest apres Juan. It is amazing to see the force of nature -





We are still picking up the pieces - rebuilding our city's beautiful public gardens and Pt. Pleasant Park. Plus, a paramedic was killed when a tree - not too far from the hospital - fell on the ambulance he was working in.

I also had a friend die after being hit by lightening but it still does not scare me that much but I do not go out seeking it either. (and have been thru some wicked storms in Florida!)

Originally Posted by Sooz123

My husband and I are big Thunderstorm enthusiasts. The harrier the better. It's like the electricity in the air, the possibility of something exciting happening, I don't know. But whenever a good one rolls around we go sit out on the porch to watch it.

With Katrina heading in, it's sad to say, I was a little disappointed that she's moved so far away from us. It's like the mother of all thunderstorms. I feel for anyone who takes a direct hit, don't get me wrong... but there's just something about it all that fascinates me beyond imagination. Maybe I was really born to be a storm chaser.

Does anybody else get excited like this or am I completely off?

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Actually, I'm the opposite. See, when I was little, I lived in Okalhoma, Tornado Alley... along with tornados came NASTY storms, usually. Once, while at my aunt's house, we had to evacuate and go somewhere safe. Six people in one car, noise everywhere, lightning flashing, thunder booming, the radio blaring with evacuation notices, worried looks, and general fear can really leave a mark on a six year old girl. I remember, just sitting there crying my eyes out because I was so scared, and my cousin let me lean on her shoulder, but it didn't really help as much as you'd think. For some reason, though, that only made me apprehensive of thunderstorms, not tornados... I guess because that's what I remembered most. So, I don't mind light thunderstorms, but big ones make me apprehensive, though not completely terrified.

Cassie

After all this time in Tampa, the lightning capital of the US, (or is it the known universe?) I wouldn't care if I never saw another thunderstorm again. You can keep the hurricanes, too. The 4 last season were plenty.

I love thunder / lightning storms!

That's one of the things I miss about Houston, Texas. Thunderstorms were often a weekly occurance. Here in western Colorado, they're pretty uncommon.

Nope not a big fan of storms here! Especially when I am home alone. My doggy is terrified of them!

another aspect of storms i love is tidal waves, i'd obviously never want to see that close up but i have seen some movies where the affects make it look so real and i'm just sitting there with my jaw on the ground.

there was a recent movie that had heaps of hurricanes happening at once...they were circling the skyscrapers in a city...i can't remember what the movie was called tho...they also had awesome looking tidal waves.

Originally Posted by pandybear

there was a recent movie that had heaps of hurricanes happening at once...they were circling the skyscrapers in a city...i can't remember what the movie was called tho...they also had awesome looking tidal waves.

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The Day After Tomorrow?

That does sound like The Day After Tomorrow... big hurricane like storms over land.

Tornados scare the **** out of me. I love thunderstorms, scary weather and all... but not if there's tornados. As much as I love storms, I'm terrified of tornados! Maybe it was watching The Wizard of Oz too many times when I was little... and the thought of not getting to the cellar in time... and knowing that we live in a house without a cellar!!!

I'm opposite of that, too. I don't mind tornados at all. I get quite an adrenaline rush out of a tornado watch, and really a tornado warning. I once watched a funnel form over my house... drop a little, then suck back up. That was SO exciting! But... I hate thunderstorms!

Originally Posted by CyberKitten

...So, I won't be signing up to be a storm chaser anytime soon. Another close friend who LOVED storms also curbed her interest apres Juan. It is amazing to see the force of nature ...

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I will probably be that way when a hurricane finally rears it's ugly head in my neighborhood.

My sister and hubby did that, too. They were notorious for riding out storms... they once lived on a house boat in the gulf and didn't even dry dock their PRIMARY RESIDENCE during one. But after Ivan came thru and destroyed their beach house, and scared the ever loving poo out of them as they rode it out in their house in inland Pensacola, they're much quicker to obey evacuation orders.

Originally Posted by CJandBilly

I'm opposite of that, too. I don't mind tornados at all. I get quite an adrenaline rush out of a tornado watch, and really a tornado warning. I once watched a funnel form over my house... drop a little, then suck back up. That was SO exciting! But... I hate thunderstorms!

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AAAAAAAAAAAAAACKKKKKK... I would've been running for the bathroom with a mattress!!!! Ooooh I hate Tornados... so completely unpredictable and so incredibly powerful...

Sooz, I know exactly how you feel. (another Florida girl checking in)
I love our big storms, I think they are thrilling. I put out all my plants to get watered, open all of the windows..
Thunder is such a beautiful noise, I love to lay & listen to it-it starts at one point & you can hear it making a circle around the sky. (awful description, I know) When we don't get our usual storms, I get cranky & pray for rain. If we had a safe spot to sit & watch the storms, I'd be there.
I hate to admit it, but the hurricanes thrill me, too. I know it might not be so thrilling if we weren't so lucky with the 2 we rode out last year, but then again..I doubt if my feelings about them would change.
I spent 6 years in California & missed the big Florida storms so bad..One of the reasons I came back here.

We live in a tornado prone area.....so I am terrified of storms....I have been since I was a kid.
Now the smell before and after I love....I also like the stillness of the air....but you can keep the thunder and lightning...
Lorian

I love thunderstorms too!!, I heard that there is a group you can go with that will take you storm chasing with them throughout the US. It sounded like fun.

Originally Posted by CJandBilly

The Day After Tomorrow?

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That's the one! that was an awesome movie lol