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

[knocker]

Well there we go, you have lived through this experience which has changed your perspective on how you view certain events, and in this case it's severe weather. That doesn't mean to say you can also try and force the same outlook of dread and fear onto others who genuinely enjoy the weather and also live to witness extreme weather occurrences.

I'm not trying to force anything on anyone. Just giving my opinion. I take it I'm allowed one?

[Liam J]

I'm not trying to force anything on anyone. Just giving my opinion. I take it I'm allowed one?

Yes of course, Now please respect and accept the opinions of other members in here who shock horror don't share the same one as you, It would be fantastic if we could keep the discussion as friendly as possible. I'm sure your well aware that as a weather forum for enthusiasts anything meteorological goes, no holes barred.

Many thanks.

Edited July 1, 2012 by Liam J

[Keraunic]

Indeed you are but eventually you can make your peace. And instead of badness and negativity read different perspective. And I'm one of the most reasonable people on earth.

With whom should I make my peace? I appreciate that you have a very different perspective regarding extreme weather. Fine. But please allow those of us on here to enjoy these extremes of weather, TStorms, blizzards, fog, heat, hurricanes and tornados etc without attempting to make us feel bad about it.

[J10]

From my point of view, I like severe weather in the winter in terms of snow, but I don't particularly like the thunderstorms in the summer, much preferring warm sunny or hot weather However I will add, that I wouldn't mind the odd thunderstorm if it was mixed in with the above hot sunny weather which also is all too elusive atm.

Of course this is a weather forum , so I would expect the tolerance of/desire for severe weather to be far greater on here than for the population as a whole.

[knocker]

Now please respect and accept the opinions of other members in here who shock horror don't share the same one as you, It would be fantastic if we could keep the discussion as friendly as possible. I'm sure your well aware that as a weather forum for enthusiasts anything meteorological goes, no holes barred.

Many thanks.

I do respect their opinions if not sharing them. I'm getting the impression that this is not recipricated.

Many thanks

Edited July 1, 2012 by Liam J
Tidying this mess up!

[knocker]

With whom should I make my peace? I appreciate that you have a very different perspective regarding extreme weather. Fine. But please allow those of us on here to enjoy these extremes of weather, TStorms, blizzards, fog, heat, hurricanes and tornados etc without attempting to make us feel bad about it.

Well that's entirely up to you. I'm not attempting to make you feel bad about it. What exactly would be the point of that? I'm rather too old for those sort of games.

[knocker]

Me and many others apparently , I'm not in the minority here remember.

Actually it wasn't completely irrelevant to the discussion, the weather doesn't contribute to anywhere near the total amount of injuries and fatalities suffered through what many people deem part of normal everyday life. The risks here are mainly over looked.

Overlooked. Perhaps this is. 50,000 deaths in in the 2003 heatwave. And should we forget the 500,000 in the Bangladesh cyclone.

[knocker]

I really don't see why it should be 'beneath me', knocker...Indeed, you could ask the same about scuba-diving on the Great Bar Reef: who enjoys scuba-diving when some people will be eaten by sharks?

But RP they are taking there own risks. Severe weather puts other people at risk who perhaps haven't the same appreciation of the 'buzz'. The emergency servises for one.

[A.J]

An interesting thread....I'll make my two penneth short and to the point.....I do feel an adrenaline buzz when I experience severe weather, it's an almost intoxicating feeling which is difficult to put into words, severe thunderstorms, blizzards even hurricanes, all of which I have personally experienced, but the flip side to this is that I feel none of the above when I see or read media reports of loss of life or property due to severe weather, it's quite humbling and shocking when I see reports of thousands of dead due to severe drought (viewing imagery of the terrible droughts in Ethiopia as a child during the 1970's still stays vividly in my memory) or seeing distraught families standing by their unrecognizable remains of their property & possessions after a tornado has rampaged through their town...I sometimes try and put myself into those peoples shoes and ask myself 'how would I feel after suffering their loss'...It's a difficult, if not impossible question to answer unless I personally suffer that kind of loss, which needless to say I haven't......So to sum up, I don't feel guilty in enjoying severe weather, but I fully respect the views of people who don't like severe weather, especially those who have suffered direct losses as a result.......In re-reading this post, it may seem as if I am 'sitting on the fence' but I assure one and all that this is my genuine viewpoint

[Kain]

Iv'e always loved severe weather, as others have mentioned its an adrenaline rush. Take El Brumo on the 28th, I loved every minute of it! The storm we had sent chills down my spine but it was such a rush standing outside filming it and then getting pelted by point coin sized hail! Am I a nutter? Probably, but its no different jumping out of airplanes, or off bridges tied a giant piece of knicker elastic!

Do I feel bad when I see people hurt and injured? Of course I do! It won't stop me loving severe weather though.

Something I have always said to my family, if I get killed while out in a storm filming or whatever, remember I died doing what I love.

[Aaron]

I feel some are in danger of forgetting the title of the thread. I've tried to answer that from my point of view. This for some reason has put everyone else on the defensive and I'm wondering why?

Have you considered therapy?

Because you are like a broken record, creating arguments where there were none to begin with and quite frankly I and many other people are getting sick to the back teeth of it.

[Aaron]

Have you considered therapy?

And snide, nasty little remarks such as this don't help your case. You strike me as a very sour old man, what is your problem? Maybe you should consider therapy.

Edited July 1, 2012 by Liam J
Tidying up offensive posts

[syed2878]

guys the weather will do what it will. If by wishing we could change the outcome then beleave me i would be wishing for proper summer weather. I dont enjoy extreem heat i've experianced heat of 40-50c it's not nice, i lost family membors and friends in 2008 bangladesh psyclone, has that stopped me enjoying harsh weather? No. Of course los of lives and damage is sad.

[Liam J]

Right I've had a tidy up and removed some of the posts made overnight, they were getting rather nasty and offensive,

Any future posts which cause any sort of offence or upset to others will be removed and If we can't keep this discussion friendly and civilised the thread will be locked.

Thank you.

Edited July 1, 2012 by Liam J

[Jane Louise]

Cheers Liam. I shall be keeping a strict eye on this thread. Anything silly or off topic will be deleted from now on.

[Thundery wintry showers]

Scuba diving doesn't pose a threat to others, but there are plenty of other activities that are associated with risk to others. Usually the majority of the risk stems from a reckless and mindless minority, just as most weather-related deaths stem from a small minority of excessive extreme weather events, but even modest examples produce a non-zero risk.

As well as the perception that the enjoyment of something potentially risky is evil, there's the related view that social/recreational factors are non-essential- hence in any impacts analysis the pleasurable benefits of snow events and thunderstorms tend to be dismissed while the work and safety-related impacts are considered. But note that the "essentials" of work and economy are only needed for survival up to a point- beyond that, it's all about enhancing welfare, e.g. the welfare benefit of taking half an hour to get home from work rather than two hours, or having a good wage rather than a decent one. The enjoyment that many people get from an awe-inspiring lightning display, or a day trip sledging and building snowmen, contributes to the same welfare as reduced disruption does.

When it comes to things we can control, the recreational benefits should be offset against the risks. But we can't control the weather; thus threre is a strong argument for making the most of its redeeming features. Even where the risks outweigh the positives, after all, there's nothing that we can do to stop the weather event from happening.

Regarding tolerating opinions, condemning other people's enjoyment of something is, in itself, intolerant- how far should we be criticised for being intolerant of the intolerant?

Edited July 1, 2012 by Thundery wintry showers

[Nick L]

I don't see what the problem with liking severe weather is, it's not as if disliking it will make it not happen...

There's a profound difference between enjoying severe weather, and enjoying lives being put at risk.

Edited July 1, 2012 by Nick L

[knocker]

There's a profound difference between enjoying severe weather, and enjoying lives being put at risk.

This is the problem with this debate. Nobody has even hinted that people enjoy putting lives at risk. Only today I saw a post hoping for storms next week. There is a profound difference between 'hoping' and liking them when they naturally occur.

By tragic coincidense events in the eastern US at the moment have brought together two severe weather events. Violent storms and extreme heat. Already people have died and unless they get the power going the tragedy could become a lot worse. This would have happened anyway but you don't hope because this may be the consequence.

Reminds me when I was a member of US forum (actually I suppose I still am) and one of the mods bemoaned the fact that no hurricanes had come ashore that year. I thought how perverse.

Edited July 1, 2012 by knocker

[Thundery wintry showers]

I quite often see the implication that people are deriving enjoyment from the risks, but fair play for not using that particular argument.

The analogies still work though. Every year, I hope to be able to view a good series of personal fireworks displays on the evening of the 5th November and at midnight on New Year's Day, despite knowing that it will probably entail deaths via a few idiots stuffing fireworks through letterboxes and setting fire to dogs' tails. On the eve of a Formula One race, I hope for an eventful race with plenty of wheel-to-wheel racing, despite the fact that people are more likely to be killed in such eventful races than in a procession. I may hope to be taken for a ride in someone else's car despite the fact that it will entail pollution of the environment and may entail death to badgers that run out in front of the car's bonnet.

All of which raises the question, how are any of the above hopes any better, or less bad (depending on how you see it) than wishing for a thunderstorm of a magnitude that poses a similar threat to life? And if all of those hopes are immoral, how far do we legislate against hoping for a source of enjoyment that involves risk?

[Steve C]

I think my attitude has changed somewhat over the years

When I was in my teens and earlier I’d have been hoping that stormy events would have been as severe as possible. I can remember a news report about ‘500 mph tornadoes’ – obviously much exaggerated! - on Radio 1, when I was in infant school. This must have been about the Super Outbreak of April 1974. I remember then being awe struck watching news footage about Hurricane David in 1979. I wouldn’t have been so concerned with the effect on the local populace then – I just didn’t really think.

As I’ve got older I’ve become more ambivalent. A few years ago my ultimate holiday ambition would have been going on a storm chase in the US, but that has changed somewhat too. If I was to be able to experience an EF5 tornado, powering through the open prairies then undoubtedly that would be awesome, but if I saw the same, tearing up a town, then I would find it sickening. The storm that had most influence on my thoughts here was the Jarrell tornado of 1997. There was something peculiarly horrifying about that one. Forget the mattress in the bath with this. If you were in the wrong place there, your survival chances were near zero.

Now I don’t even really like watching the storm chase documentaries any more. The most recent one I saw had a farmhouse being destroyed. The person filming it was saying ‘oh no, oh my God!’ etc., but the way he was saying it was like he was almost orgasmic. In my opinion he was secretly happy that the farmhouse was being destroyed. Unfortunately too, the power of these storms is defined by the destruction wrought on everyday items.

Having said the above, experiencing severe storms reinforces the reality that I’m a speck of nothingness in the great plan of the evolution of the Universe, so they are awe inspiring and humbling. In these cases too I do have thoughts like ‘whatever will be, will be.’

Edited July 1, 2012 by The Föhns

[Snowangel-MK]

.......................................... liking them when they naturally occur.

But isn’t that the point it’s a naturally occurring event….we can't influence the weather by wishing for wind, thunderstorms, snow or whatever and no one wishes for death and destruction for those involved but we all know the harsh reality of extreme weather events which is all the more reason to respect mother nature and what she is capable of.

As a weather enthusiast I see nothing wrong with people being fascinated and excited by the extremes that the weather can throw at us. These days with social networking the people who are out there weather watching or storm chasing and tweeting about it or posting pictures on facebook are getting warnings out to people which can help to save lives and property.

[knocker]

But isn’t that the point it’s a naturally occurring event….we can't influence the weather by wishing for wind, thunderstorms, snow or whatever and no one wishes for death and destruction for those involved but we all know the harsh reality of extreme weather events which is all the more reason to respect mother nature and what she is capable of.

This is the same circular discussion. Of course we can't influence it but we don't have to hope for it. Ask the people in the NE US at the moment for their opinion. Are you fascinated by extreme heat with no AC?

Edited July 1, 2012 by knocker

[Eskimo]

This is the same circular discussion. Of course we can't influence it but we don't have to hope for it. Ask the people in the NE US at the moment for their opinion. Are you fascinated by extreme heat with no AC?

I hope for a massive snowstorm next winter which will cut power for days and drop 1-2 feet of snow, I know the implications but that still does not stop me from hoping.

[Snowangel-MK]

This is the same circular discussion. Of course we can't influence it but we don't have to hope for it. Ask the people in the NE US at the moment for their opinion. Are you fascinated by extreme heat with no AC?

Yes, it is and we could go round in circles like this forever but your never going to stop enthusiasts being fascinated and excited by extreme weather.

No, we don't have to hope for it and as I said no one hopes for death and destruction but these events will happen no matter what.

And no I'm not fascinated by what's happening in the NE US at the moment....as a matter of fact I have friends in the suburbs of Washington DC who I've not been able to make contact with so I assume they have the power outage there, I'm just watching events with interest and hoping they are all okay.

[Steve C]

I hope for a massive snowstorm next winter which will cut power for days and drop 1-2 feet of snow, I know the implications but that still does not stop me from hoping.

Would you really want power to be cut for days? That would be horrible. I get the 1-2 feet of snow bit though.