Those who chase
Weather watching is fun. So many statistics, with more value than sports or stock swapping. There is always something happening somewhere’s. I can easily sit by the window with a cup of coffee and just let the weather roll by. But I am taking it too easy. There are others who take this to heart. I think their jackets say storm chaser and this morning we left the audio roll by from a channel listing to a group in northern Florida as they tracked the arrival and passage over hurricane. Scorekeeping seemed to be whether or not certain fast food restaurants had closed or if their signs had blown away. There was even video until a camera would disappear due to the tempest. These events are short lived. A day or so at best. However it requires keeping up with geography because when they tell me that a certain road has closed in a certain county of say Georgia I have to dig out the map and try to figure where they’re actually watching from. Not enough to know that it is many days south of me. I want the details. And I wonder, when someone measures a storm surge of a certain height or depth how do they judge this? Do they race out with a measuring rod and stand in the brunt of the storm trying to get a reading. Or is this all by estimate. Similarly the intensity of the wind. In my experience when the wind gets too strong the weather vane blows away. Maybe I need to investigate what kind of equipment you need to live in a storm zone. I will not be moving there obviously. I have enough right here from my living room window.
