Jump to content
  • Member Statistics

    17,501
    Total Members
    7,904
    Most Online
    ChicagoGuy
    Newest Member
    ChicagoGuy
    Joined

What was the storm that started your weather obsession?


Rock888
 Share

Recommended Posts

I remember be very young and already having a strong interest in thunderstorms, severe weather and winter storms. However it was a storm in the summer of 1993 that really elevated my obsession. It was a sweltering hot day and I was at an indoor gym and pool in central Suffolk county Long Island. All the sudden a dark line of clouds with frequent cloud to ground lightning blew across the sky and flash bang lightning and thunder started. The pool was evacuated and I walked over to the windows and saw torrential rain, pea sized hail and very strong wind gusts. The light poles were swaying violently and the wind gusts were reportedly over 50 mph. Due to historical weather data I think I am able to narrow this storm down to Saturday, July 10, 1993. I remember the radar showing very isolated cells near nyc and central Long Island. Also I think remember the news saying someone on Long Island was struck by lightning in this storm. Unfortunately the historical radar data from GIS only goes back to 1995 so I can’t confirm the exact date for sure. 

I know it’s a long shot but was wondering if anyone else here had any memory of this storm. Growing up on Long Island it was very frustrating getting severe storms due to the stabilizing marine influence, but this storm stuck out to me as short lived/isolated but very intense. I attended the Long Island philharmonic in heckscher Park that night with my family and I remember even the conductor mentioned the storm as being crazy.

Also please feel free to share details of any storm that  sparked your interest in weather. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Running out my door, jumping off the front step into the snow and it was over my head! I remember freaking out and screaming bloody murder while my dad stood there howling with laughter :thumbsdown: I want to say January or February 1970 but it could have been 1969, at ~3 years old those memories are kind of fuzzy ;)  In the winter of 75/76 on LI we had a couple of nickle and dime events with good dynamics that intrigued me enough to start paying attention and then 77/78 just nailed it with the two storms that both put down over a foot on the south shore.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also have to mention, the Labor Day 1998 Derecho was obviously epic for most of the tristate area and further sparked my weather fascination. It’s crazy how there’s so few pictures of the actual storm and only one video of it on YouTube (out of Brooklyn). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1993 superstorm..

Also blizzard of 96 (and the entire winter of 95-96). That was life changing to me at the time. Since I was in my teens by then I was able to have a better understanding of whats going on..at least as much as possible without the internet.

I had weather interests before those but my memory/knowledge is hazy. I kinda of remember some drought in the 80s, maybe Im wrong.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, IrishRob17 said:

I was just going to post the same thing. I remember of number of weather events before that but Feb 83 was the first one that I tracked, as good as one could track back then. 

Yikes, I just realized that was 35 years ago :lol:. That's the one that sparked my interest. Hurricane Gloria a couple years later solidified my interest.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

my first weather memory was hurricane David as a 4 year old in 79. I didn't know what a hurricane was I just remember this loud noise hitting the house and seeing the rain blowing sideways down the street. I became fascinated by wind and storms after that and finally after the blizzard of 83 a snow weenie

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Stormlover74 said:

my first weather memory was hurricane David as a 4 year old in 79. I didn't know what a hurricane was I just remember this loud noise hitting the house and seeing the rain blowing sideways down the street. I became fascinated by wind and storms after that and finally after the blizzard of 83 a snow weenie

Forgot you were old. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The 2005 Hurricane Season....I experienced Hurricane Dennis (2005) in Florida, it wasn’t a direct hit where I was, it was slightly more intense than Irene (but shorter lived), but not as wild as Sandy. But I was a kid from NYC that had never experienced a Hurricane/TS before, so it was a little unsettling to see large objects being hurled around outside, signs falling, and palm trees being ripped to shreds.

2005 just had hurricane after hurricane, I was glued to the weather channel, I stayed up all day/night during Katrina’s landfall and the aftermath.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was the blizzard of '78.  Weather for me back then was listening to WCTC-AM 1350 out of New Brunswick for forecasts and school closings/delayed openings.  Additionally, we had an old Realistic short wave/HAM radio that used to pick up the NWR.  This thing must have weighed 30 pounds and I used to drag it over to friends houses when storms were forecast because they were nuts too.  It looked like this.  Keep in mind, I was about 8 years old at the time.  Back then, it was this and the back page of the NY Times first section and WCTC to get your weather fix.  There really wasn't anything else.

rsDX160_80.jpg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

^^ Yeah after the January storm I bought a weather radio and started listening twice a day every day. As the Feb storm approached one of the forecasters from the NY office latched on to it early and had a great discussion that got me to go to the library and it was off to the races for me. At that point I felt obligated to start understanding some of the terminology so it would make sense when Frank Field was on screen on the 6 o'clock news.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For me even though I am from New England, Cape Cod, I fell in love with the weather in 2004, the hurricane season brought me into wunderground.com, and I just fell in love instantly.  The four named storms to hit Florida was a record and that intrigued me, but Hurricane Charley really got the game going for me, then that winter we experienced over 98" of snow in my front yard that winter, followed by the 2005 hurricane season which I do not need to say anymore.  January 2005 blizzard was awesome.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...