Joe Nield
EF5
I have a story not unlike that of most meteorologists with a severe weather obsession, but with a funny twist. Two tornadoes touched down just across a small field from our car in Illinois as we were returning from a trip to Minnesota when I was about five years old. Fortunately, they moved away from us. As soon as we got back, I was in the library. I think I've read every weather-related book in the Plainfield Public Library collection. The problem with this is that I read so much about how destructive and dangerous weather could be, that I developed a tornado phobia. If it was cloudy and breezy, I was sure a tornado was about to come kill us all. The word "overcast" became the bane of my existence for a couple of years.
This is how ridiculous it was: if you remember, shortly before the tornado scene in "The Wizard of Oz," there is a shot showing crepuscular rays shining down through the clouds. Well, my young mind being what it was, I made the connection and soon came to be unnerved by even those as well, as I was sure that they were a sign of imminent tornadogenesis.
When I was about 7, my parents had had enough and took me to see a counselor. To this day I don't know how it worked, but it did. We talked about tornadoes maybe once or twice, and spent the rest of the time just chatting and playing games. After this, while I still held a healthy respect for the power of tornadoes, their possibility no longer controlled my life. I became nearly obsessed by severe weather. However, after a while, I was no longer content to merely read about them. I simply had to see them for myself. My failure to do so for several years, even though I was not seriously chasing at the time, was nothing short of frustrating.
That's what made last season so sweet.![Wink ;) ;)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Through all of it, I consider myself incredibly lucky to have parlayed an early obsession for severe weather into a love of all things weather, and the greatest career I could have asked for.
This is how ridiculous it was: if you remember, shortly before the tornado scene in "The Wizard of Oz," there is a shot showing crepuscular rays shining down through the clouds. Well, my young mind being what it was, I made the connection and soon came to be unnerved by even those as well, as I was sure that they were a sign of imminent tornadogenesis.
When I was about 7, my parents had had enough and took me to see a counselor. To this day I don't know how it worked, but it did. We talked about tornadoes maybe once or twice, and spent the rest of the time just chatting and playing games. After this, while I still held a healthy respect for the power of tornadoes, their possibility no longer controlled my life. I became nearly obsessed by severe weather. However, after a while, I was no longer content to merely read about them. I simply had to see them for myself. My failure to do so for several years, even though I was not seriously chasing at the time, was nothing short of frustrating.
That's what made last season so sweet.
Through all of it, I consider myself incredibly lucky to have parlayed an early obsession for severe weather into a love of all things weather, and the greatest career I could have asked for.