Why we check the weather

After many years of checking the weather for a living, I kind of enjoy the days off where nothing outside is on the agenda and I don’t have to check the conditions for a change. I have flown so many different kinds of missions in my life that require weather checking and they all make you look for different things. Flying in Arkansas in the spring you check for possible hail and where you can find a hangar if said hail actually materializes. It’s the same for flying in Montana in summer actually. Flying fire, you watch for dry thunderstorms and lighting, and plan on where you might have to go next for the next fire that was caused by it. Flying fixed wing, I am also concerned about thunderstorms, but also more about icing the further I move east. Icing hasn’t been much of a concern in my fire career. Where Chuck flies, you have “June Gloom” and coastal fog. When you fly frost control you mostly care about… you know… frost.
When going camping, I mostly just don’t want to get wet.

Actually, if I dig deep, I mainly just don’t want to get wet, I think. This probably has its roots all the way back in basic training where we were cold and wet all the time.

I bet I have done a lot more weather checking than my brother, who works behind a desk. I know all the Weather Channel hosts by name, lol. And, as it turns out, I have done more weather checking than Chuck as well 😉

Mike