Q&A

[Jack Carlson]

Some of my fondest memories of storms were when I was a young lad... My father would back the ol'Pinto halfway out of the garage and let my sister & I watch storms as they rolled over our house... My wife does like watching storms, just from the "safety" of home... We will some times pull the fire pit out and have a little bonfire as the storm rolls in, I do rather enjoy that...



Jack

 

[Bill Tabor]

I would "schedule" a nice picnic with the family, on a known severe weather day......that way it looks like an accident you are chasing.

That would make a good old style Dave Hoadley chase cartoon.

 

[Bill Tabor]

Some of my fondest memories of storms were when I was a young lad... My father would back the ol'Pinto halfway out of the garage and let my sister & I watch storms as they rolled over our house... My wife does like watching storms, just from the "safety" of home... We will some times pull the fire pit out and have a little bonfire as the storm rolls in, I do rather enjoy that...

Jack

Other than being in a tornado when I was a child, that is how I got interested in storm chasing. For me it started as being a "watcher" and lover of the sky. Something about the whole environment, the smell of fresh rain, the change from hot to cool, and a bit of not knowing what the storm will throw at you next. All of that was very relaxing. I also just loved to watch the clouds and see how they grew, fell apart, came and went. I lived in the Texas Hill Country, and I'd sit at the end of the road during the Spring / Summer where there was a drop off into a large valley for miles with a lake in the distance and watch clouds / storms roll in for hours.

Eventually I became so enamored with storms I had to see more. Plus I wanted to know what they did before and after they got to me. I also wondered what all the severe & tornadic weather was like. So inevitably I one day just started following them....

 

[Jeff Miller]

Bill said:

Truth is you have to do what you love. If you married the right woman she will understand. If you didn't you will have hell to pay.

THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH.

Coming out of a previous abusive relationship, my previous relationship once got into a RAGE because I wanted to WATCH a local thunderstorm out the window and I wasn't spending time with HER. I had to choose all the time between weather watching or sitting on the couch watching Lassie. I chose the weather and paid the price. Imagine what I frequently went through when it came to chasing, especially the first year.

Rule of thumb: If a significant other is hell bent on stopping you from doing what you love to do, and have enjoyed for a lifetime, get the HECK away from that person. Your life will become miserable and without purpose. Trust. Do not sacrifice a lifelong passion to please someone else. If they don't understand, they were not for you.

 

[Jody Radzik]

my previous relationship once got into a RAGE because I wanted to WATCH a local thunderstorm out the window and I wasn't spending time with HER..

I had one of those, although it wasn't chasing, it was my computer that was the problem. It turned out this partner was clinically depressed, along with suffering from a narcissistic personality disorder. She could not brook my paying attention to anything but her, especially when she was in the middle of a depression cycle. She would rage too, and was always willing to take it to a much crazier level than I was. Once I tried to walk out of the apartment and she literally clung to my legs, screaming at the top of her lungs as I dragged her across the street.

The lesson from all this: don't hook up with untreated depressed people, and stay far, far away from anyone who show any traces of pathological narcissism.

 

[Cris Schroeder]

My situation isn't that different. My wife isn't really big on storm chasing, and ranks it up there with base jumping and alligator wrestling. However, she knows I've been learning and preparing for years, and that I'll do whatever I can to stay safe. Since the kids are young and she stays home with them all day long, she doesn't get real excited about me being gone all evening and half the night.

We get around it by preparing early. I let her know a couple of days beforehand if there's a chance I'll chase. That way, if I come home early and throw my gear in the car, she knows what's going on. I then give her a day away from the kids to get even (it's surprising how well that works).

The key for us is to keep the focus on what's important. I keep my family and work commitments, and chase around those. Sure, I miss some good stuff (like last month), but it keeps things happy at home.

 

[Susan Strom]

Maybe take the whole family on a mild weather event once the kids are old enough to enjoy it. Three of my fondest childhood memories of all time are: 1. My dad and I staying up to watch big Nebraska lightning boomers from a motel room all night long, on a family trip across country. 2. My mother discovered a rare lunar rainbow phenomenon was going to happen at the base of Yosemite Falls, so my dad and I got up at 2am to hike to it, and it was so great it was beyond belief. 3. My dad drove the whole family to a 10,000 ft. ranger lookout tower in the Sierra Nevada and photographed lightning.

Weather memories for kids are the best ones! If I was married or had kids, I would share my passion for weather and nature with them bigtime (it would be impossible for me not to because weather is so much a part of me I can't imagine being a non-weather person of any sort).

Maybe when they're older, your kids can help you take measurements, read data, and make observations and accompany you to a Skywarn class. Your wife might go for a weather expedition if she knew good memories would come. Right now, it sounds like her imagination is just running wild, fueled by what she sees on TV because she hasn't experienced even a little chase, when really, a lot of weather phenomena are quite safe and could become family adventures. There are many things to chase after as well, not just tornadoes (you live in Minnesota...you've got auroras to boot!) But if chasing storms is something you do safely on your own, then at least helping your wife to demystify it might help her realize you're not out there dodging John Deeres falling from the sky. Then each outing you get, she gets to do something she wants to do.