The Weather Hobby: Enjoying Weather As A Pastime

Did you know that simply looking up and being curious or observant of the clouds, the rain, the wind, and the weather going on around you is a hobby?

Being a weather watcher has been a pursuit for ages.

While some take on weather as a formal career (by becoming meteorologists), many others simply enjoy the weather as a pastime.

I’ve been a devout weather bug since I can remember. While I didn’t parlay my love of weather into a career in meteorology (at least, not yet!), I have taken my love for weather and have studied it for many years.

Let’s take a look at the splendor of the weather hobby.

 

Enjoying Weather As A Hobby

You probably haven’t even thought about weather as a hobby.

However, every time you go out and take photos of clouds that strike you as interesting, make conscious note of your local weather patterns, or go take special interest in the local or regional weather events, yo are essentially engaging in weather as a hobby.

Of course, not everybody is equally involved in weather as a hobby. Some are very casual weather observers, perhaps only taking note of weather during serious weather events like hurricanes or blizzards.

Others, however, may own a home weather station, read weather books, watch the Weather Channel for entertainment, and take hundreds of photos every year of local weather events.

Maybe you fall somewhere in between those two extremes.

At any rate, taking part in he enjoyment of weather as a hobby is something millions of people around the world enjoy doing.

Great Resources For Enjoying Weather As A Hobby

The internet and your local library or bookstore are great places to dive into finding out more about the weather.

Of course, The Fun Times Guide to Weather is chock full of informative and fun posts about the weather. Here are some other links to enjoy, too:

• The Weather Channel
• Weather Underground
• National Weather Service
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
• National Hurricane Center

…And don’t forget to check out some of the many great weather books available online!

My Story

I really can’t remember when I first took interest in the weather. It seems I’ve always been interested in things like clouds, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other weather issues.

My parents bought my first weather book when I was not even in school yet. I still have that book today. It’s a big yellow book with pop-ups and colorful, elementary-level drawings of clouds, storms, and rain. I got that book sometime in 1984 or 1985 and was my first bit of education on weather.

Around the same time, I started taking interest in watching local weather forecasts. Luckily for me, I live in Florida. We take the weather very seriously here. By then, local weather stations had already begun using Doppler technology and, thus, weather reports here weren’t simply 3-day forecasts told while a weather man points to smiling suns and angry storm clouds stuck to a magnetic board.

Weather reports here have been engaging and educational 3-to-5 minute informational presentations. During hurricane season, weather reports were morphed into half-hour and hour-long news reports with news anchors reporting from the stormy scenes of various eroding beach fronts and windswept subdivisions.

By age 6, I was already plotting hurricanes on my own using annually published hurricane tracking maps. I knew each year’s hurricane names largely by heart. Whenever my family and I hit the bookstore, I sought weather books.

Hurricane Hugo is perhaps the first significant hurricane I really remember. Even though, thankfully, my area was not impacted by Hurricane Hugo, watching the massive storm on TV and seeing the terrible damage it left behind on the Atlantic coast helped me to gain not only a deep respect for weather, it also engaged my interest in further understanding how weather really works.

As I entered my teenage years, my passion for weather waned, but by the time I entered my 20s, I had again recaptured the awe I had earlier had for understanding weather.

I began updating my weather library to include more detailed books on weather, took an active interest in observing local weather patterns, and even bought a decent home weather station (as soon as I could afford one!) to keep track of all types of weather data.

I have enjoyed sharing my knowledge of the weather with others and expect to continue enjoying weather as a hobby throughout my life. I even hope to one day spread my love of observing and appreciating weather onto my future children.