Why Do Some Feel It's Wrong To Like Severe Weather?

[Jane Louise]

I ask this due to an ongoing arguement where some people agree! and some people don't.

Safety of course in these dire situations is very important and only common sense prevails . But I feel as long as everybody keeps safe then I see no reason why one cannot enjoy the fascination of Mother Nature. There are many storm enthuaists including myself who do actually look forward to watching these weather events. This is also why we have storm chasers and the like .

Please discuss.

[lorenzo]

Question is - what does Take Action mean in relevance to a Red Warning issued my Met office?

I would say it works - simply because @82mph and 96mph winds on Forth and Tay Bridges then we would have had severe events if not issued.

The query lies with where is a red warning? 3cm of snow for Heathrow is not but somehow is recognised as a Red?

In circumstances as this week where a 'real' system' is on the forseeable what is the best warning.

Blanket Media?

For many in the north Thursdays event was a non-starter due to RACY arriving later..

Solution -

48 hours out Amber

24 hours out Red

12 hours out - stay at home ( albeit a structurally built one as arguments also exist around this ! )

[NO LONGER POSTING]

Question is - what does Take Action mean in relevance to a Red Warning issued my Met office?

I would say it works - simply because @82mph and 96mph winds on Forth and Tay Bridges then we would have had severe events if not issued.

The query lies with where is a red warning? 3cm of snow for Heathrow is not but somehow is recognised as a Red?

In circumstances as this week where a 'real' system' is on the forseeable what is the best warning.

Blanket Media?

For many in the north Thursdays event was a non-starter due to RACY arriving later..

Solution -

48 hours out Amber

24 hours out Red

12 hours out - stay at home ( albeit a structurally built one as arguments also exist around this ! )

When Heathrow last year was issued a red warning for snow we didn't have 3cm..We had nearly a foot..

[jo200199]

Great thread Jane Louise. I also get a little excited at the prospect of a storm. If it was always calm and beautiful we would never appriciate it. Of course I don't want anybody to get hurt and thanks to sites like this, people can take precautions to ensure they have done all they can to protect thier property and themselves. Unfortunately, sometimes, morther nature shows she is no match for our precautions. As long as people heed the warnings and don't do anything that could put them in danger, there is nothing more we can do. Stay safe and enjoy such rareaties when they come our way, for we are no match for mother nature.

[snow raven]

Fingers crossed Weather Ship doesn't get wind (pardon the pun) of this thread.

[chionomaniac]

As far as I am concerned the weather is going to happen whether we like it or not and we are not able to control it.

One can only marvel at what nature can throw at us and I am one who lives in awseome wonder of it.

[NorthernRab]

The way I see is it is no matter what, the weather will do what it wants, so you might as well enjoy whatever it throws at you.

[PeteB]

As far as I am concerned the weather is going to happen whether we like it or not and we are not able to control it.

One can only marvel at what nature can throw at us and I am one who lives in awseome wonder of it.

Yeah, not much you can do in most circumstances...At least we have advance warning of severe weather, just imagine what it must have been like for the early pioneers in America who had no idea a hurricane ,blizzard ,heatwave or flood was about to hit them.

Pete

[Aaron]

If we based our love of weather on the consequences (such as casualties, fatalities and damage) then there would be no point in taking interest in weather as all forms of weather generally liked on this forum pose great risks to the public.

Your love of thunderstorms Jane, would be gone, due to people being struck by lightning.

My love of snow would be gone, as snow causes great disruption, often structural damage and often loss of life.

Liam J's love of Atlantic storms would be gone as people will inevitable be hurt or worse

And people's love of heat and humidity in the summer would be gone, due to people dying of heatstroke, especially the elderly.

Edited December 12, 2011 by Aaron

[Insert Name Here]

Id bet if you tell anybody in here that theyre going to get sustained 82mph wind right over their own house as was forecast yesterday for ronaldsway then they will stop liking the wind rather quickly.

Prob is sometimes that people outside the area expected to be damaged seem to be up for the most enormous storms but NIMBY.

My back yard gets hit more than most id say and I come here to keep informed about things that fill me with dread if they do fall into place in my back yard.

Personally I dont have a problem with the folk who express disappointment when a storm is downgraded ( they are usually quite young in the main ) but I will say that im sure they would stop liking extreme wind if it came to their doorstep as was on the cards yesterday for IOM.

Having "skin in the game" as it were, can have an interesting effect on ones own point of view.

Edited December 12, 2011 by Paula Livingstone

[Aaron]

Id bet if you tell anybody in here that theyre going to get sustained 82mph wind right over their own house as was forecast yesterday for ronaldsway then they will stop liking the wind rather quickly.

Prob is sometimes that people outside the area expected to be damaged seem to be up for the most enormous storms but NIMBY.

My back yard gets hit more than most id say and I come here to keep informed about things that fill me with dread if they do fall into place in my back yard.

Personally I dont have a problem with the folk who express disappointment when a storm is downgraded ( they are usually quite young in the main ) but I will say that im sure they would stop liking extreme wind if it came to their doorstep as was on the cards yesterday for IOM.

I experienced winds of 99mph in February 1990, right here at home, and, if anything, has only made me want it even more!

[BleakMidwinter]

Yeah, not much you can do in most circumstances...At least we have advance warning of severe weather, just imagine what it must have been like for the early pioneers in America who had no idea a hurricane ,blizzard ,heatwave or flood was about to hit them.

Pete

Yeah, I was pondering that about the Northern Isles this weekend, Shetland and Orkney - 100mph winds, heavy snow and then on top of it all the moon turns red - you can just imagine how that must have seemed to prehistoric people there!

As for why we enjoy storms... as I posted elsethread, humans are programmed for adrenalin rushes in connection with potential threat, and weather can be a potential threat. At least as many people say "oh I love thunderstorms, I feel so exhilarated!" as cry and hide under the bed about them. And that's normal people ( ) not weather-nuts.

I think the difference in response comes in individual direct experience. When you're a teenager, most of us will have enjoyed a mate's driving too fast, the thrill of cornering on two wheels, the excitement of a fast bike pulling a wheelie as it starts away - but once you've been upside-down a few times you start balancing the thrill against the risk and most middle-aged people are markedly less fond of dangerous driving...

So those who have serious experience of very real immediate danger from weather are maybe going to be less thrilled and more anxious.

I don't think it's "wrong" in a moral sense to be excited about severe weather. But I can understand why some find it upsetting to read others' excited glee. But then maybe those people should steer away from weather-nuts' forums...

BleakMidwinter

Edited December 12, 2011 by BleakMidwinter

[laserguy]

the excitement of a fast bike pulling a wheelie as it starts away -

BleakMidwinter

Ha - I'm fast approaching my half century and still pull stunts like that on me 1200cc mobike!.... and as some will have noted on the "other" thread I'm also obsessed with wild weather - the one who has to rush outside in the shrieking gale and sheeting rain to really feel it,urging it to throw all it can at me while everyone else is huddled around the fire complaining how awful it is and muttering something about that nutter outside. Love it. But when the weather is launching a full-on assault like that you can think on the spot about how you're going to handle it. Unlike the silent assassins heat and cold who are stealth killers,lulling you into a sense of false security as they choke and suffocate in such an insiduous way that you don't notice,such is the boredom of them. We can't control the weather (tho' some folk think otherwise but that really does belong in another thread) so might as well embrace it as best we can instead of running away from it, and revel in the fury of the storm and relish that moment of existence and feel our part within the world we belong.

[BleakMidwinter]

Well, yeah, bikes were maybe a poor example since a lot of us never grow out of that!!

So maybe it isn't only experience of danger, but specifically experience of immediate danger. If you had crashed your bike on a wheelie and spent six months not knowing if you would walk again, or if you'd crashed your bike and severely injured your beloved pillion, then those might make you less keen on pulling wheelies. That kind of thing.

Someone posted about enjoying an 80mph gale that nearly took his roof off and looking forward to more - but if it had actually taken his roof off and he'd been dug out of the rubble, would he be as keen? The difference between danger, and immediate danger.

I am fascinated by how people put emotions into the weather's behaviour!

"silent assassins", laserguy; and somebody in another thread called heat and cold mass murderers, iirc. For murder (inc assassination ) there has to be, in most legal systems, an intent to kill.

Humans are intriguing creatures. What? Why are you calling me "spock" and "sheldon"? those aren't my names!

BleakMidwinter

[Lauren]

There is nothing wrong with it. As i have said on the other thread people are fans of lots of things that unfortunately may kill people as a consequence. Surely there's no point in enjoying anything if you stop enjopying it the moment it has a fatality.

As i've said it's very rarely the weather that directly kills you, but lack of preperation or not following guidelines. For example what kills a lot of people in heatwaves is not drinking enough water, not seeking shade etc. It's very difficult (unless it's a flash flood or similar) to be killed by extreme weather if you are following all precautions and advice.

If anything those who are fans of extreme weather make it safer for everyone else by seeing what's coming and providing warnings. Hell if it wasn't for storm chasers tornado warnings would be a lot worse. NO ONE who is a fan of extreme weather wishes damage or death on people, but sadly that is a consequence sometimes.

Surely it's better to be a fan of the extremes of nature than the extrmes of man?

[weatherobsuk]

I believe its the same mentality that wants to keep people back in the dark ages. I liken it to the 'heavy metal' attitude where just because a minority think that listening to songs about war, death, zombies, etc means that the listeners partake in the actions themselves..which of course is ridiculous, but for a time came close to getting the music censored altogether just because a handful were 'scared' of what they didn't understand.

The same could be correlated to weather chasing. No-one who chases storms wants to see death or destruction yet unfortunately its a part of what happens in life regardless of wether the chasers were there or not. All we can do is enhance warning times by being there and studying these weather patterns to better understand them. Aswell as having spotters on the ground in aiding nowcast feeds to warn those in the tracks of severe storms where tornadic cells are heading.

But is it wrong to enjoy a storm? is it wrong to enjoy any hobby/work aslong as noone is getting hurt in the process. There is a moral line at times but I think you'd find the majority (if not all of) professional chasers would be concerned more for the welfare of the people at that point, as any storm heads towards a major populus of any size, in any country.

[Mountain Snow]

One thing that really winds me up is when people on this forum try to make people feel guilty for getting excited about severe weather, it's a weather forum for gods sake! Or when people say 'be careful what you wish for', superstitious nonsenses! Wishing for something to happen or not makes absolutely no difference to the outcome. The weather will do what the weather will do and we should try and enjoy whatever it throws at us.

[Harry]

I love severe weather...it gives me an adrenaline rush, that combination of powerlessness and insignificance, combined with that sense of fear.

If people resent that or dislike me for enjoying severe weather, I couldn't give a rat's orifice to be perfectly honest!

I am not a sufferer of schadenfreude I hasten to add! I take absolutely no pleasure in other people's misery, but do take a certain degree of pleasure in nature's fury. While, obviously, the venn diagram of nature's fury and misery do overlap, my interest lies strictly in the circle entitled 'nature's fury'.

[BleakMidwinter]

It's also kind of a 'right' feeling, to me anyway, to see that there are bits of Nature that we cannot control. In a world of air-con, central heating, CenterParc and all those things that mean you can live for years and never be affected by weather, it's somehow an oddly satisfying feeling when Nature just quietly and firmly says, "I'm bigger than you".

I'll admit I feel that EVEN when people die. It feels 'right' that Nature is more powerful than humankind. I don't say I enjoy natural disasters and the deaths of people! But it does still feel 'right' that Nature sometimes asserts herself to remind us all to respect her.

[laserguy]

Good posts on here guys 'n gals - at last I know I'm not alone when everyone around me shakes their heads and imply I'm some type of freak for getting all excited and agitated when something wicked this way comes!

[Jane Louise]

Yes, great posts! good opinions. I totally agree with all so far!

[Methuselah]

I too love severe weather. But, what we need to understand is that blizzards kill sheep, cut off power supplies and contribute to road-deaths...So, despite our obsessions with 'nasty' things, can it be really any surprise that not everyone thinks as we do?

[Upgrade]

Question is - what does Take Action mean in relevance to a Red Warning issued my Met office?

it means you should panic and protect yourself from imminent doom!

[NickyB]

It's no surprise at all that we all have different views about extreme weather events, but it is a great surprise to find people on a weather forum who judge those who like extremes as being somehow ignorant or indifferent to its consequences.

What really surprises me are those in here who's weather preferences are mild, no snow, no wind and a bit more mild! Now that's a shocker!!

[Methuselah]

It's no surprise at all that we all have different views about extreme weather events, but it is a great surprise to find people on a weather forum who judge those who like extremes as being somehow ignorant or indifferent to its consequences.

What really surprises me are those in here who's weather preferences are mild, no snow, no wind and a bit more mild! Now that's a shocker!!

Why?