Entry #2- Fall is here!

The official start to fall is here. Yes, meteorological fall began 4 weeks ago, but most "muggles" (I thank Shane Adams, a storm chaser, and Harry Potter, a fictional character, for that term) started observing fall 1 week ago. This brings with it a mixed bag of emotions.

First, the disappointment of the departure of the convective season. Even though I'm a fan of all kinds of weather, severe storms have to be my favorite. Sure, we can get severe weather and tornado outbreaks in fall (I'm looking at you November 17th), but for the most part it's over.

Second, exictement for fall foliage photographs. This year I've really been getting into photography. Sure, my camera is my phone (which takes very surprisingly good pictures), but it works. Now photogenic scenes will be widespread throughout the landscape, but only for a short time frame. Missing the peak fall foliage is pretty easy. I'm hoping to be able to visit a few photogenic forested areas (like Starved Rock) during peak color.

Third, the hopes for some great snowstorms and blizzards. Even though winter is prime time for this, I'm not very optimistic. I'm not basing this off of long range forecasts (which tend to be embarrassingly wrong much of the time), but winter weather tends to be a disappointment much of the time. I've only been through one major snowstorm that I can remember (2011 Groundhog Day Blizzard) and most others fail to reach my expectations. We haven't seen a blizzard since 2011. Not even last winter. But, I still retain some amount of hope for this winter that I'll get to experience something incredible, something that will leave an impression on me for the rest of my life. Fingers crossed.

Finally, excitement for more learning opportunities. Ever since I started on social media, I've learned more about weather than arguably the all of my life beforehand. Five months ago, I started looking at computer models with almost no clue what I was doing. Now I can analyze them for a while and get a good idea on a severe event. Like the event this Wednesday/Thursday having some but still pretty limited potential. But I've only looked at models for convective and summer weather, not for winter weather. I know a somewhat good deal about snowstorms, but I can't tell you much about an incoming snowstorm except for the forecasted snowfall totals. I'm really hoping to be able to learn as much as I can about all types of weather so I can have all bases covered.

Fall is overall a kind of saddening time of year because all of the hard work that's been put into summer is getting forgotten about for 5 or 6 months. But it's all a part of Mother Nature's cycle of renewing itself. It's also a time for opportunities us weather geeks don't get in April through October. And just remember, once it's over, tornado season 2015 will be underway!