Weather Always on My Mind

Just like so many meteorologists, I remember weather events very early in my life.  I think I was two years old when I experienced my first thunderstorm.  I probably cried.  When I was almost 5-years old, we had to leave our home in Atlanta because a major ice storm.  Our dog, Frisky, even went with us. There was no power for almost a week. We stayed at a neighbor's house since they  had a backup generator. This was scary and exciting all at the same time.

I remember when I was 11-years old, and a huge sleet storm hit my hometown of Atlanta.  Just a few months later, a severe storm hit the city.  It was 11 in the morning, and skies turned completely black.  I had never seen something like this.  I thought a tornado was going to come out of the sky.  It didn't happen, but it poured and poured.  

Thankfully, my vivid weather memories have stayed with me into my adult years.  I remember living in Wichita, Kansas, and a huge tornado hit just 15 minutes from where I was. April 26, 1991. We had severe weather earlier in the day.  It cleared out and then Mother Nature released her fury.  Fast forward a few years. There were two big snowstorms I had to contend with in January 1994.  I just moved to Parkersburg, West Virginia to start my first TV job.  An 18\" and 16\" snow storm.  I think in that order.  

There was terrible flooding in March 1997.  I was working in Evansville, Indiana.  The Ohio River was close to 50 feet (some 20+ feet  above normal!!)  The riverboat casino was actually street level.  An amazing sight I'll never forget.

I was also living in Evansville on that fateful day of September 11, 2001.  Two days before we had storms roll through the region.  There was an awesome sunset that night.  Wish I had taken a photo of it.  And of course two days later was 9/11.  The sky was a deep blue hue I never had seen before and probably never will again. 

I'm grateful for all these memories, and I hope they remain with me for the rest of my life. I'm sure you have some weather memories.  Please feel free to share.  You can never have enough of them.