Are You a Severe Weather Junkie?

Wx and the City

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Are you a severe weather junkie?

There's a level of weather addiction (for some of us) that only shows itself in full light during events like this week's streak of severe thunderstorms. It's the nose-pressed-to-the-window, kid-on-Christmas-morning, I-wish-I-were-out-tornado-chasing, can't-talk-now-I've-got-to-check-the-radar, is-there-a-watch-or-a-warning obsession that discerns us from weather weenies.

What is it about severe weather, specifically severe thunderstorms, that some of us just can't stay away from?

Keep reading to see if your symptoms match those of a severe weather junkie...

Personally, I get so energized by thunderstorms that I can't think about anything else, and I certainly can't sit still. (Tuesday's late-afternoon storms had me bouncing back and forth between the radar screen, the window and the door.)

I can't just ignore the billowing of clouds along an approaching cold front, the wind in the trees, the first rumble of thunder. I don't want to miss that climactic moment when the smell of rain and electricity in the air gives way to the drenching downpour. I'm captivated by the threat of something so much greater than myself, something that I understand through basic science but that is still so unpredictable, mysterious, fascinating, wild. No doubt, it's an adrenaline rush.

When the thunderstorms woke me up on Tuesday morning at 6 a.m., I smiled. What a treat to be safe and warm inside during an unexpected storm, while the thunder boomed, the lightning flashed and the rain poured heavily just outside my window. Thunderstorms and other severe weather events often take on a personal meaning for me, too, reminding me of where I was the last time it stormed. Tuesday morning's storms took me back to last summer, when I spent a week in Costa Rica during rainy season. I was reminded of taking afternoon naps during tropical downpours that just didn't allow for trips to the beach.

For severe weather junkies, there's also a balance between experiencing severe weather and staying safe from it. The danger of lightning, hail, flash floods and tornadoes is all too real (and, unfortunately, sometimes deadly). It's one thing to enjoy severe weather; it's another thing to get in its way.

But of course, the occasional brush with fear and danger is what keeps the severe weather junkies coming back...