Greetings,

My name is Travis, and I dwell in Canada. I suppose that I have a fairly wide set of interests, though it's arguably true that most of them seem to be concentrated towards what is occurring in the sky.

As I'm sure most have already guessed, I'm enamored with the presence of thunderstorms of all types, particularly those of the HP supercells. I do some minor storm chasing during the Spring to early Fall whenever the weather turns severe, but I moreso typically turn my attention to taking multiple photographs, along with some video footage, of the different t-storm stages leading up to the main storm event itself. Montreal, Quebec, does see some impressive thunderstorms in the Summer and Spring, most notably in the West Island, where I reside, and towards the South shore, though this activity, unfortunately, is just not as frequent as further Southwest into Southern and Southwestern Ontario, which is where I'm hoping to eventually focus my efforts in storm chasing down the line. Aside from chasing storms, I have also recently taken the initiative to become a part of the official severe weather watcher volunteer team for Environment Canada. What fun!!

My interest for storms "sparked" when I was as young as barely 3 years of age after a vicious, flash-flooding storm in July, 1987. Ever since then, I have been growing increasingly fond of all the gorgeous thunderstorm phenomena that Mother Nature has consistently painted in the sky year after year, all with delightful authentic appearances. As the years marched forward, as did my level of passion, and so I kept on studying t-storms and all their exquisite features, properties and dynamics. Progressively, I naturally soon developed fascination and inspiration in all aspects of weather - I began developing my knowledge when I was about 6-7 years old. One aspect that thrills me the most of any atmospheric phenomena is definitely the infamously powerful electrical discharge, known as lightning. My deep interest in it can be derived from the notably infinite number of shapes that it can readily take on, in addition to the radically fearsome sound wave that accompanies it - thunder. The same holds true for clouds as well, particularly the cumulus variety - they truly are something to behold as they grow into their far larger superior stages that you see before you on particularly unstable afternoons. I admire that greatly in viewing those once elegant little puffy clouds (humilis) explode into mighty mountains of "cauliflower", if you will, in response to the heavy moisture (especially in the East) and hefty heating commonly witnessed in the Summer and mid-late Spring. Seeing a gigantic cumulonimbus bursting in the late afternoon sky with ferocious lightning, wind, rain and hail brings me much joy I think.

Other than storms, I love to star gaze and I enjoy fireworks to the optimum extent. Seeing that we have the largest fireworks competition in the world, you can only imagine that I'm quite the avid spectator for the event. Turning away from the skies, I love to swim, bike, play baseball and especially badminton, when it comes to sports. Finally, I do so much enjoy the realm of writing (often when focused on storm reports and description) and of course, I'm quite an accomplished video gamer, if I do say so myself.

My main dislike is Winter - I don't like it AT ALL. I can't stand the constantly frigid cold temperatures and all the snow. I've got 33 reasons to hate the season, so if you really wish to find out my reasoning behind it, send me a message and/or comment and I'll gladly explain. I do love Summer by far as a season and I typically like temperatures constantly ranging from 27-42 Celsius (81-108 Fahrenheit) along with copious amounts of stagnant humidity and haze. I generally don't like anything below 24-25 C (75-77 F), so you can guess that I abhor that first cool spell that rolls around in late August to September.

I guess to close, I'll just say that I'm hopeful for an active storm season this Summer (2008)! The problem is that we're under the influence of a La Nina effect, though it has weakened a good deal since its more stronger state during this past Winter and Fall. The weakening is expected to continue, so this may allow for some good storms, although I suspect we may be off to a later start to potent storm development and hot days here in the Northeast - this has clearly been the case so far, as we have seen with virtually the entire month of May.

We'll see what the atmosphere has to throw at us, I guess.

*To all storm chasers out there: All the best in witnessing powerful storms this season!;) Hope the chase will be a successful one!

~Trav.~