Another mostly-lurker
Seems like we lurkers are all bursting out of the closet on this thread!
Like the rest of you folks, I've had a passion for weather for most of my life, but I have never chased, and at the moment I am nowhere near having the kind of in-depth knowledge I'd need to do it safely on my own. And living here in Vermont, I don't get to enjoy severe weather on anything like the scale of those of you further west--although as I mentioned in one of the only posts I've made to Stormtrack, we did have a doozy of a straightline event here recently with 70mph winds and brief quarter-sized hail.
My love affair with severe weather probably started with the Wizard of Oz when I was 4-5 (can anyone else trace it back there too?) but took hold for good (along with a strong interest in geology) during a fabulous earth science class when I was 14. I took one college-level meterology class, but the teacher was a joke and I learned very little of value.
I'm thinking of trying the new Silver Lining Tours master class (that's David Gold's and Roger Hill's gig, for those who don't know the name) in a couple of years, perhaps as a 40th birthday present to myself. My two boys will be a little older then, and I wouldn't feel so badly about leaving them for such a long time. And my husband, while not personally interested in weather, has enough of his own crazy obsessions to understand and be supportive of mine! :wink:
Anyway, I am in awe of the knowledge the folks here have. I don't know that I'll ever be able to devote that kind of time to the pursuit, but in the meantime, it's wonderful to have a place where I can come to learn, to enjoy some vicarious chase thrills, to revel in others' successes and wonderful photography, and most of all, to have a place where my nutty interest is the norm!