A lifelong passion for weather

My father gave me a small desk calender for Christmas in 1979. I started writing the weather on it in January 1980, 35 years ago and have not stopped since. I could not locate 1980 this morning but did manage to find 1981, shown above. Below is just one of the thousands of examples I have of maps and forecasts generated through the 80's and 90's before computers took over.

Happy New Year and welcome to 2015! This marks the 10th year that I have been blogging the weather and 35 years since I started keeping a daily weather log. The science of meteorology has truly been a lifelong passion for me, starting actually in the middle 70`s when I became mesmerized by the big snowstorms of that decade. Add to that a terrible fear of thunderstorms and the seed was planted for me to discover how and why the weather occurs. I took a few moments this morning to look through the three large bins of data I have from the late 70`s and mostly the 80`s before computers took over.  I have actual notes and clippings from as early as 1974 when I was only 8. I have tons of hand written notes as well as personally drawn weather maps. I would watch AM Weather on our local PBS channel to help draw the maps and come up with a forecast for Montreal. I would post the forecast on a sign I made in front of our Verdun home. I did this for a couple of summers. The actual daily weather logs I have are complete from 1980 through to this morning. They represent the weather everyday wherever I was whether it be Saskatchewan, Ontario, here in Montreal or on vacation in North Carolina or New England. Since 1997, I have been fortunate enough to work in the newspaper business, able to first write a column and provide a weekly weather map, and as mentioned, in the last 10 years reach readers through the Valley Weather Blog. In the last year, I was given the great opportunity to write on The Suburban website.

The methods of gathering and processing data have changed so much in the last 35 years, but the science remains the same. I have gone from plastic thermometers and rain gauges to a sophisticated Davis Weather Station in my back yard that sends 24 hour data directly to my computer and the web.

I appreciate everyone who reads, sends comments or just chats with me about the weather in person, through the blog or via twitter. I am always available to talk weather! Let's see what adventures year 35 holds in the weather department. With our climate changing so dramatically in the last 20 years, you never know what to expect.