HI everyone. I decided, at the young age of 47, to finally follow a passion of mine. I was born and raised in North Texas and currently live in Flower Mound. I have a beautiful wife (Liz) and a 9 yeat old son named Chase. (Yes, we named him Chase, but I swear it is not because of what I am about to do.) I work as an executive in the Information Technology industry. I have always been infatuated with severe weather. I am glued to the TV when severe weather is forecasted, and I am one of the idiots that stands outside during a tornado warning. I listen to the scanners, follow radar, social media, text friends, etc. during weather events. I’ve seen every show on storm chasing and follow many weather geeks on social media. I listen to podcasts, read books, watch YouTube videos, etc and I can't get enough. Sometime in 2020, I asked myself, "Why are you not following your passion?" I answered myself, "Because you are not a meteorologist and you do not want to die!" I finally decided to do something about it and will document my journey with the internet....so here we go.
As long as I can remember, I have been enamored with weather. Tornados, Hail, Hurricanes, Snow… I have my father to thank for that. My dad is an Amateur Radio Operator (HAM) and currently lives in East Texas. My earliest childhood memories are sitting in the "Ham Shack" and listening to him talking to people all around the world. I was told my first words were "CQ...CQ.." which means, "I wish to contact any amateur station." I was fascinated by all of it. Dad worked the SkyWarn Nets from our home, and I would sit there and listen to all the weather reports for hours. On occasion, he would throw me and my sister in the truck and chase storms. He even had an “Emergency Van” that they used for MARS. It was a 1953 Dodge 1 ton military ambulance that was painted white with blue rims. I know my mom was pissed with that monstrosity parked in the driveway, but I never heard her complain. There was just something about sitting there and listening to him talk to people reporting the weather. You have to remember, this is way before the internet and cell phones. All those chasers had were the ham radios and nerves of steel. Rainfall rates, hail reports, wall clouds, funnel clouds and of course TORNADO ON THE GROUND I would hear over the radios. I was hooked and it would take me 40 years to do anything about it.
Fast forward many many years and I was flying my drone in tornado warned storms in Denton County. It was a new way for me to experience severe weather. My buddy Kevin and I would go live on Facebook with our drones in the air documenting the tornado warned storm moving our way. We landed just minutes before the baseball sized hail started falling. Thank God because the drones are not cheap. It was pretty cool that many of my friends were watching me fly my drone and make comments on the weather as we listened to the SkyWarn net and watch radar. Still, I didn’t follow my passion. One day we were out running errands when we spotted a wall cloud. I followed it as much as we could, and I still recall the rush I felt just doing that. Again, I didn’t do anything about that feeling. Over the years I continued learning about storm structure, forecasting and chasing storms. I subscribed to different weather sites, listen to pod casts, YouTube videos, social media, etc. My favorite meteorologist is Dr. Reed Timmer. His knowledge and passion for weather is like no other. I even follow severe weather in other parts of the country to test my skills at locating severe weather. In 2022 I attened the National Storm Chaser Summit in Oklahoma City. I met many actual chases, weather enthusiast's and asked lots of questions. I learned so much in that short time. One things I learned from this event, is that I know more than what I give myself credit for. No, I do not think I am a meteorologist but I think I know enough to not get myself killed. The only way I can test my knowledge and learn more is to get out there and do it. So here I go!!
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