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When did you become interested in the weather?


Barry12

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Posted
  • Location: N.Bedfordshire, E.Northamptonshire
  • Weather Preferences: Cool not cold, warm not hot. No strong Wind.
  • Location: N.Bedfordshire, E.Northamptonshire

Think it was always there as an interest, always grew up watching any decent science/technical docs on TV and reading books/articles on such matters, but it really peaked over a decade ago (when I found the BBC weather/snow-watch forums) as I was then an I.T. supervisor looking for a better more informed forecast than you get on the TV etc so I could monitor coming humidity and other more subtle variables our weather brings, so I found the weather charts and totally mystified by them started to *slightly* better understand them.

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Posted
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.
  • Weather Preferences: Thunder, snow, heat, sunshine...
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.

Think it was always there as an interest, always grew up watching any decent science/technical docs on TV and reading books/articles on such matters, but it really peaked over a decade ago (when I found the BBC weather/snow-watch forums) as I was then an I.T. supervisor looking for a better more informed forecast than you get on the TV etc so I could monitor coming humidity and other more subtle variables our weather brings, so I found the weather charts and totally mystified by them started to *slightly* better understand them.

If it makes any sense at all, I've always perceived science, science fiction and meteorology as a sort of bright blue-green colour. Is that synaesthesia (sp?)? Posted Image 

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Posted
  • Location: Nuneaton,Warks. 128m asl
  • Weather Preferences: Snow then clear and frosty.
  • Location: Nuneaton,Warks. 128m asl

!962/3 Winter for me too.

I was still at school and remember how the snow came on Boxing day and stayed until early March.

It got so that we could plan sledging almost every day after school and weekends,building igloos and sliding on icecovered ponds.

We got to take the cold for granted.

I avidly watched those old black and white BBC weather forecasts daily after the evening news to see when it might snow again.

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Posted
  • Location: Peterborough
  • Weather Preferences: Snow and frost in the winter. Hot and sunny, thunderstorms in the summer.
  • Location: Peterborough

I can't even remember, I must have been very young. My grandparents did think about taking me to a meteorological centre for my 10th birthday back in 2000, but they decided to just go to London instead.

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Posted
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.
  • Weather Preferences: Thunder, snow, heat, sunshine...
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.

!962/3 Winter for me too.

I was still at school and remember how the snow came on Boxing day and stayed until early March.

It got so that we could plan sledging almost every day after school and weekends,building igloos and sliding on icecovered ponds.

We got to take the cold for granted.

I avidly watched those old black and white BBC weather forecasts daily after the evening news to see when it might snow again.

I remember waking up (31st December, I think) to that rustling sound on my bedroom window...the snow was up to the top triangles on the garden fence. 3 feet deep! I've never been so excited (by the weather) since.

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Posted
  • Location: Nuneaton,Warks. 128m asl
  • Weather Preferences: Snow then clear and frosty.
  • Location: Nuneaton,Warks. 128m asl

I remember waking up (31st December, I think) to that rustling sound on my bedroom window...the snow was up to the top triangles on the garden fence. 3 feet deep! I've never been so excited (by the weather) since.

My father, who worked part time for the St.John.s Ambulance service,got me a used aliminium 6ft long stretcher frame.

I lashed thick hardboard to it and used it for much the Winter as a sledge.

We could seat 4 of us on it at a squeeze-we often ended up in a snowcovered heap at the bottom of the slope.Very difficult beast to steer with that lot on.Great times though.

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Posted
  • Location: N.Bedfordshire, E.Northamptonshire
  • Weather Preferences: Cool not cold, warm not hot. No strong Wind.
  • Location: N.Bedfordshire, E.Northamptonshire

If it makes any sense at all, I've always perceived science, science fiction and meteorology as a sort of bright blue-green colour. Is that synaesthesia (sp?)? Posted Image 

It is all a bit *grey* Posted Image

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Posted
  • Location: Redhill, Surrey
  • Weather Preferences: Snow in winter, storms in summer or any extreme!
  • Location: Redhill, Surrey

Being a younger member, my interest began in February 2009, although I had always been more interested in the weather than your average child. By the time December 2010 came I was hooked and was constantly checking the weather forecast to see if we would receive any more snow!

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Posted
  • Location: Lee, London. SE12, 41 mts. 134.5 ft asl.
  • Weather Preferences: Cold, Snowy Weather
  • Location: Lee, London. SE12, 41 mts. 134.5 ft asl.

I'm going to repeat a post I made in the "Do weather forecasts rule your day" thread.

 

Quote:  "My fascination for Meteorology began around the age of 11. At Secondary school remember sneaking into the TV room with another weather geek to watch the lunchtime forecast, just before 1.30, especially if cold weather was in the offing and then having to move quick to make afternoon registration.

My Form Master was also my Geography Master and was responsible for the school Weather Station and wanted a volunteer to take morning and afternoon readings, of course I volunteered and got jeered at for being a teachers pet and a geek! Obviously I welcomed any snowfall but knew that I had to run the gauntlet of a barrage of snowballs, whilst trying to measure ppn amounts.

I was an avid listener and watcher of forecasts. As I mentioned in the "Chart Archive" thread, can vividly remember listening to the Shipping Forecast at 12.30 on Xmas morning 1970, whilst a Thames snow-streamer was doing its worst outside the kitchen window. I devoured any forecast I could get my hands on, when there was snow potential. Like previous posters have said, nowadays get all the information I need from NW and being snow-mad but also brontophobic, like to keep abreast of those scenarios but obviously for totally different reasons"!

 

Tom.

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Posted
  • Location: North west England/East Lancashire/Burnley
  • Location: North west England/East Lancashire/Burnley

It started when i was a kid with the amount of snow we used to get.

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Posted
  • Location: halifax 125m
  • Weather Preferences: extremes the unusual and interesting facts
  • Location: halifax 125m

I guess I have always been since I was a kid in the 70's brought up on a farm at 340m everything revolves around weather.Chasing cows round the fields in rain and wind,haymaking in the sunshine and the winter of 78/79,you have be amazed by our weather! Iguess we all wish what some of our senior members have experienced!

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Posted
  • Location: Nuneaton,Warks. 128m asl
  • Weather Preferences: Snow then clear and frosty.
  • Location: Nuneaton,Warks. 128m asl

I guess I have always been since I was a kid in the 70's brought up on a farm at 340m everything revolves around weather.Chasing cows round the fields in rain and wind,haymaking in the sunshine and the winter of 78/79,you have be amazed by our weather! Iguess we all wish what some of our senior members have experienced!

Yes being a snow/cold lover i consider myself lucky to have experienced some great Winters over the last 50years.

As well as 62/3 there were many good cold spells in the 60,s although not as lengthy as the famous one.Also 78/9,79/80 and 80/1 plus other snowy spells in the 80,s- 82 87- and 91 stand out.I think the last notable one maybe 96.

 

Even i am too young to have seen the other biggy-1947.John H is the man for that one!

 

It,s good that we have seen some decent cold spells in the last 5 or 6 years which gave the newer generations a taste of what some of us older ones have witnessed in the past.

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Posted
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks
  • Location: just south of Doncaster, Sth Yorks

I'm going to repeat a post I made in the "Do weather forecasts rule your day" thread.

 

Quote:  "My fascination for Meteorology began around the age of 11. At Secondary school remember sneaking into the TV room with another weather geek to watch the lunchtime forecast, just before 1.30, especially if cold weather was in the offing and then having to move quick to make afternoon registration.

My Form Master was also my Geography Master and was responsible for the school Weather Station and wanted a volunteer to take morning and afternoon readings, of course I volunteered and got jeered at for being a teachers pet and a geek! Obviously I welcomed any snowfall but knew that I had to run the gauntlet of a barrage of snowballs, whilst trying to measure ppn amounts.

I was an avid listener and watcher of forecasts. As I mentioned in the "Chart Archive" thread, can vividly remember listening to the Shipping Forecast at 12.30 on Xmas morning 1970, whilst a Thames snow-streamer was doing its worst outside the kitchen window. I devoured any forecast I could get my hands on, when there was snow potential. Like previous posters have said, nowadays get all the information I need from NW and being snow-mad but also brontophobic, like to keep abreast of those scenarios but obviously for totally different reasons"!

 

Tom.

 

 

yes I remember trying to get into the school library when I was not supposed to be there in winter. Reason-to read the Daily Telegraph weather forecast and look at the weather maps they showed. Map of the Uk with weather symbols and the synoptic chart. Those were the days, forecast was for 24 hours ahead only.

Edited by johnholmes
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Posted
  • Location: Lee, London. SE12, 41 mts. 134.5 ft asl.
  • Weather Preferences: Cold, Snowy Weather
  • Location: Lee, London. SE12, 41 mts. 134.5 ft asl.

"yes I remember trying to get into the school library when I was not supposed to be there in winter. Reason-to read the Daily Telegraph weather forecast and look at the weather maps they showed. Map of the Uk with weather symbols and the synoptic chart. Those were the days, forecast was for 24 hours ahead only"

 

Hi John,

 

Another reason for visiting the TV room, the Daily Telegraph was kept there as well, yes important to view the synoptic chart, especially!

 

Tom..

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Posted
  • Location: Ponteland
  • Location: Ponteland

My recollections start even prior to the great winter of 47'.I recall my love of snow when I got so excited by a heavy fall of snow way back in 1940 which probably was the trigger for my life long interest in the weather,after that cold weather was always my favourite..Into the nineteen fifties I visited the met office in London and met the first T V forecasters such as George Cowling and they encouraged me with a list of books I should read by Gordon Manley and Kendrew.The science has improved so much over the years but the weather still has a great capacity to surprise us all and I believe that is one of the reasons behind my ongoing interest.

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Posted
  • Location: Manchester Deansgate.
  • Weather Preferences: Heavy disruptive snowfall.
  • Location: Manchester Deansgate.

80s, hated and dreaded school that much that I used to watch countryfile every sunday to see what the chances were of a tonking.

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Posted
  • Location: Emley Moor
  • Weather Preferences: Hot and Cold
  • Location: Emley Moor

62/63 started me off I was 8living on my parents farm in deepest Sussex ,3 months off school .Since then I have traveled far and wide in pursuit off the extreme , know I have grandchildren I use them as an excuse to go to Lapland to see Santa !

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Posted
  • Location: Derbyshire Peak District. 290 mts a.s.l.
  • Weather Preferences: Anything extreme
  • Location: Derbyshire Peak District. 290 mts a.s.l.

yes I remember trying to get into the school library when I was not supposed to be there in winter. Reason-to read the Daily Telegraph weather forecast and look at the weather maps they showed. Map of the Uk with weather symbols and the synoptic chart. Those were the days, forecast was for 24 hours ahead only.

I used to cut out and collect those Daily Telegraph weather reports.

I started in November 1962 and collected virtually every one until I subscribed to the Met' Office Daily Weather Report in 1971. In later years I managed to collect every Daily Weather Report from 1960 through to 1978 and eventually got rid of the Telegraph reports.

I well remember poring over every detail of the 'weather reports from abroad' and working out how the temperatures fit in with what the synoptic chart was showing.

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Posted
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)
  • Location: Eastbourne, East Sussex (work in Mid Sussex)

Probably a general interest in things around 4 or 5 when I tried to get on the shed roof with a rake to pull down a cloud! I've been fascinated with weather ever since, especially thunderstorms that never seemed to scare me as a kid, even when I didn't understand them.

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Posted
  • Location: Napton on the Hill Warwickshire 500ft
  • Weather Preferences: Snow and heatwave
  • Location: Napton on the Hill Warwickshire 500ft

I had an interest in science in general since I was kid, way back in the mid 90s!

 

 

I know for a fact I saw you regularly in the Star Trek series of the mid/late 1960s.  Don't worry 'age is  just a number'

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Posted
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire
  • Weather Preferences: Sunshine, convective precipitation, snow, thunderstorms, "episodic" months.
  • Location: Lincoln, Lincolnshire

I mentioned that there were many events during the calendar year 1995 that helped fuel my interest- here are some of them:

January/February- frequent blustery squally westerlies.  I would stand outside facing the wind to feel the power of the wind, and some of the sunshine-and-showers days saw some fairly dramatic squalls get over the Pennines.

March- we kept getting sunshine and snow showers from westerlies, and even south-westerlies on a couple of occasions, which intrigued me.

April- warm sunshine on Good Friday, snow on the following Tuesday!  Also some dramatic hailstorms on the 20th.

May- 24C on the 4th, then sleet showers on the 11th.  I remember that month for an unusually high number of sunshine-and-showers days in Tyneside, when I would sit in the proch reading a book during the showers and then pop out onto the garden swing in the sunny intervals.  Despite the numerouss "convective days", though, there was no thunder.

July- the thundery spell around the 12th-15th and hot spells in the second half.

August- the first record-breaking month for drought and sunshine since I started observing the weather closely (although I have vague recollections of days on end of sunshine during the summer of 1989).  But the day that I have the most vivid recollections of is the 27th, which had quite a dramatic thunderstorm with hail.

October- some unusually late "summery" spells, most notably the 8th

November- hail, sleet and snow showers accompanied by thunder on the 17th, my first experience of thunder in a wintry spell

December- the northerly on the 24th-27th was perfectly timed to give a white Christmas, by every possible definition.

1995 was certainly the year that my interest really took off, at any rate- I remember some around me advising me that I needed to calm my interest down.

 

1996 was sometimes memorable for the wrong reasons, e.g. the easterlies during the winter of 1993/94 had mostly brought sunshine and snow showers, as did the one in early December 1995, and I expected the easterlies of January and March 1996 to be similar but was frequently disappointed when we got days on end of stratocumulus and the odd bit of drizzle, and I was intrigued as to why the weather was so different.  However, I enjoyed the summer quarter that year.

 

My earliest memory of snow was in South Shields in February 1991, and I vaguely remember it being as deep as the height of my hand, and lasting for well over a week, but again I don't think I was old enough to fully appreciate it.

Edited by Thundery wintry showers
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Posted
  • Location: Ireland, probably South Tipperary
  • Weather Preferences: Cold, Snow, Windstorms and Thunderstorms
  • Location: Ireland, probably South Tipperary

I know for a fact I saw you regularly in the Star Trek series of the mid/late 1960s.  Don't worry 'age is  just a number'

 

Posted Image

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Posted
  • Location: Hobart, Tasmania
  • Location: Hobart, Tasmania

Wayyy back in 1982 in grade 2 we had a classroom 'assignment' which rolled over a school term...each student allocated a world city, and weekly sticking a weather symbol and the temperature on city on a giant world map  - getting the info from the weather page in the daily paper. The visual feast of high and low numbers and pictures of suns, clouds, rain and snow all over the world was the catalyst of my interest I am preety sure of it...soon after this my father bought an outdoor thermometre and I took recordings, cut out and collected newspaper weather stories, even wrote fiction weather stories, never missed the local weather updates on radio, tuned into mainland radio stations for mainland temperature reports, memorised local weather records, taped weather bureau reports of interest from radio station on to cassettes and well...doing all the happily weather obsessive things most of us did/and probably still do to some extent!

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Posted
  • Location: Camborne
  • Location: Camborne

I remember when I got disinterested. Walking to school in 1947 up to my chin in snow. An impression justified when working in a wooden hut, the METO called an office, on the Salisbury Plain in 62-63. Mind 20 years on Weather Ships had its moments.

 

One thing the latter years did teach me is you don't mess about with the sea in storms.

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Posted
  • Location: Solihull, WestMidlands, 121m asl -20 :-)
  • Weather Preferences: Cold and Snow -20 would be nice :)
  • Location: Solihull, WestMidlands, 121m asl -20 :-)

Can remember as a wee nipper one very cold Winter's day, walking down the long corridor at primary school, staring up at the skylights directly above, gradually being covered in snow...big fluffy flakes still blowing around outside, daylight had by now turned into almost darkness! Then the big announcement came, due to the ensuing blizzard outside, school will be shutting early Posted Image back on with the overcoats, wellies and you know that feeling of growing anticipation, just to get outside and step through the freshly fallen drifts piling up everywhere you look..... Build snowmen for the remainder of the day.

Pretty fair to say - quite a few childhood memories increased my liking for all things weather, c'mon, who didn't like it as a kid!? Even the most hardened mildies, probably loved it truth be told Posted Image

Well said, You've got me thinking of my childhood, When just before Xmas in 1981, We had loads of snow around the 12th Dec and i made an Igloo in the back garden

and when finished, I wanted to sleep in it overnight and my mother wouldn't let me, BooHoo..... Oh childhood memoriesPosted Image

Edited by Dancerwithwings
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