I have been fascinated by weather ever since I was 8 or 9 years old. My late maternal grandfather was a severe weather spotter & ham radio operator, so I developed an interest in weather from him, along with my blossoming passion for astronomy (which I still love). The front-page news of the April 1974 super-outbreak sealed the deal, and I have been a 'weather-geek' ever since! :-) Another event was the F4 & F3 tornados that devastated some of the town of Woodstock, Ontario in 1979. I find it amusing that my girlfriend grew up in Woodstock and one of the tornados missed her grandmothers house by less than a block!

(BTW, one of my younger brothers also picked this interest up, and he is especially interested in photographing lightning...he has some nice pics!)

Although I have been passionately interested in the power of Mother Nature for 40yrs, I have only done a bit of storm-chasing here in southern Ontario. I have seen several funnel clouds come close to touching down, but never a tornado on the ground. Needless to say, I am fascinated by severe weather, but I also respect its power & ability to seriously impact that lives of many people. As such, I wouldn't ever say that storm-watching is 'entertaining', but it is exciting for sure.

I am quite pleased to find this website, as I want to learn about storm-chasing, understand better the forces that trigger tornadic storms, and also further-develop skills with interpreting radar signatures and any other data that storm-chasers use to guide their chases.

Ultimately, I'd love to spend some time participating in some chases in 'tornado alley' and witness the tornadic weather that has facinated me for so many years.