Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Book List

I've started working on the book list (see separate page). At the moment I've merely got them organized by topic and in chronological order (by event, not copyright) and don't have any reviews or summaries up yet. That will come gradually. So far I have tornadoes, specific and general, and hurricanes, specific and general. I have some more general books on other weather events, forecasting, etc., but haven't gotten those listed yet. It looks like about 25 titles up at the moment. I'm in the process of rereading some of them to have more recent impressions.

Fun!

Any favorite books you don't see on the list yet?

Friday, February 24, 2012

Post the first

Ah, the inaugural post.

I guess it would be useful to say what this blog IS and what it ISN'T. Oh, and also why it is here.

Purpose: To give me a place to gush about all things weather-related without having to annoy the sweet people who visit my other blog. They are understandably confused to see things like "So close! I think I saw rotation!" next to, "Recipe for butterscotch brownies" and crocheting patterns. Bless their hearts. I will not be "sweet" on this blog. This one is solely so I can have fun with one of my favorite things.

What this blog ISN'T: This is not a place to get forecasts. This is not a place for mathematics. This is not a place where you will come across a word you've never heard of and can't pronounce. This is not a "fancy" meteorology blog. And also, sadly, this is probably not going to have too many first-hand accounts of severe weather. I have a curse. (See below.)

What this blog IS: This blog is where I will discuss all things weather. I really enjoy the history of meteorology as a science and historical accounts of storms. I don't just love tornadoes; I also love hurricanes, blizzards, hail, clouds, etc. I can't remember where I read it, but the saying, "a day without wind is dead" is very true. True, there are some days when you want a nice, cool, sunny, calm day, but in general I like the messier ones. I have a growing collection of weather-related books and I think it would be fun to list and review them. Not "serious" reviews, you understand, just amateur reviews.

Doubtless this blog will evolve as time goes on and I doubt I will be able to post daily. But I do plan to have a lot of fun and welcome anyone along for the ride.

[The Curse: Yes, I have a curse. It involves a large, invisible umbrella. Wherever I live, regardless of the normal weather patterns, it suddenly calms down when I get there. I have watched menacing clouds approaching on Doppler miraculously part and slide past on either side of me, only to rejoin five miles later and drop a funnel. When I move, the place I left suddenly has dreadful weather. I do NOT want my home destroyed and my family injured. I DO want to be close enough to get a good look and hopefully some photos. And I will go ahead and say right now (so that I do not have to append it to every post), yes, I am aware that severe weather causes death and destruction. I do not like death and destruction. I look at it like this: if the weather will occur anyway (and it will) then I just want to be close enough for a ring-side seat. The better we are able to observe tornadoes and other sudden severe storms, hopefully the better our forecasting will be and the number of people injured will be fewer.]