Entry #5- 2014's Ups and Downs

(Image above: my favorite weather photo of 2014. A beautiful shelf cloud with my camera in the foreground as I film for a time lapse!)

I'm a little late in writing this post since it's already January 4th, but 2014 was a year of numerous ups and downs for me. It was really a revolutionary year for me in terms of getting out into the weather community (at least via social media), and also in terms of my growth in weather knowledge. Trust me, the year did disppoint at many times. This year was definitely a top year for troll storms and tornadoes. Overall, I'd consider 2014 an important year for my journey into the weather world!

Starting with the great things about last year, comes the incredible and record-breaking winter. I got to experience an 18-24" snowpack, incredible blowing and drifting, wind chills of 50 below zero, sundogs, and even thundersnow for the second time in my life! The biggest accomplishment of the winter was capturing this thundersnow on video, making it not only the second time I've experienced thundersnow, but also the second time I've filmed it as well. The footage was used on The Weather Channel, Good Morning America, and numerous Chicago news stations. Although it's incredible my video made it that far, I'll admit I'm not proud of the way I shamelessly promoted myself as it happened. I'll include the video below:

The next and likely the most major accomplishment was the creation of my Twitter account. Although this requires minimal effort, I've managed to have interactions with many interesting people in the weather community. This includes high schoolers like me with a passion for weather, college students (most notably from College of DuPage), storm chasers, even some professional meteorologists. It's amazing what the power of social media can do. Somehow, I've managed to get 510 followers as of the time I'm typing, which is WAY more than I ever would've imagined. Not that my follower count really matters, but it really does show that others are interested in what I have to say. Although sometimes I make a mistake, I will say it has helped me grow as a person.

This year was a big year for me in terms of gaining more weather knowledge. Even though I'm not capable of forecasting myself, I have learned quite a bit about computer models and using them. I've learned about the different models, about how well they perform overall, and how useful they can be in certain situations. I'm nowhere near expert status, but at least I'm getting to know the more advanced aspects of weather.

Now on to the negative things, including missed opportunities and just plain screwups of 2014. I'll start with the storm season.

It was an overall crappy year for storm lovers around here. Severe weather either stayed in far Northern Illinois, Eastern Iowa, Southern Illinois, or just developed to my east. I went on 3 chases, all local of course. I will say that each chase yielded something unexpected, and I wasn't particularly disappointed with any of them. But the sheer lack of severe weather was maddening. I got maybe 10 minutes total of storm footage worth saving this season, and it should be more like an hour. It's now been nearly 14 months since I've seen a tornado, which isn't bad considering I chase local, but not getting a single opportunity really got to me. But one good thing about the season: experiencing and documenting the double derechos of June 30th!

This is a somewhat minor thing for me, but it was pretty pathetic watching December go by with only a trace of snow.

I guess this kinda ties into the crappy storm season, but my worst day of the year was May 28th. If you know me personally, you'll know that's my birthday. And what happens on my birthday? A landspout forms 20 miles away, JUST out of reach, while I'm at school. Nope, it couldn't happen on any other of the 364 days, it's gotta happen on my freaking birthday.

The year 2014 was a show stopper for many, at least for those who chased June 16th-18th in the Plains. For the rest of us, well, it was barely salvagable. However, while the weather remained quiet, I started slowly getting involved in the only community I belong in: the weather community!