All About SCM....

First of all I want to thank all of you for inviting me to join your weather blog.  I have been reading all of your individual blogs for quite some time now.  I feel at home here and look forward to expanding the coverage to the Virginia and Eastern North Carolina region.

First thing I will explain is how I got the name Storm Chasing Mikey.  I was born and raised in the Hampton Roads area, more specifically the city of Norfolk.  I am the 3rd generation to grow up literally within blocks of where my great grandparents lived here in this historic city. Whenever you live on the East Coast, you grow up with Hurricanes.  I have had a fascination with Hurricanes and Thunderstorms since I was a kid.  My younger days were often spent traveling to Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks after a good tropical storm to take advantage of the surfing.  My grandparents have told me story after story about the great 1933 Hurricane and Camille flooding the city.  To say this city is vulnerable to the "Big One" is an understatement.  Isabel was a real eye opener for the power of a tropical storm and what it can do to this old city.  We lost power for 11 days, and winds only topped out at 78mph!  Because of my fascination with the weather, my parents nicknamed me Storm Chasing Mikey around the age of 10.  They have been calling and asking me for my forecast ever since.

I have been running a weather blog since the summer of 2006.  The internet and the availability of real time weather data in the house or even in the car has really changed the way I track storms.  There is nothing I love more than to be outside in the weather.  The more extreme the better.  I could never be a weatherman or forecaster for NOAA.  I have to be outside experiencing the weather.  I know all of you feel the same way.  About 2 years ago I started to really focus on Photography.  My brother is an outstanding photographer who lives in San Francisco.  With his guidance, I really started to be fascinated with photographing the weather.  This is when I started to blog and share my views on the internet.  I am always after a wide angle view of a rotating supercell that I can capture in my lens.  Trying to a show the power of mother nature through my camera has really become an obsession for me.  

Today I will be attending my first Skywarn Spotter class.  I have to thank Dewdrop for motivating me to get signed up for the class.  As much as I chase, I really need to share what I am seeing with the Wakefield NWS office.  It really is the perfect way for me to give back to the community.  Combining my love of weather with something that can help save someone's life is a great thing.

I would be nothing without the support of my wonderful wife and beautiful 2 year old daughter.  There is nothing I love more than laying in the grass next to her and watching the clouds go by.  I can already sense she may have the same fascination with the weather as her Daddy.  The day I can hit the plains on the chase with my daughter will be a big event for me.  Everything in my life has become about her since she entered my life over 2 years ago.  God is good!

My career will come as no surprise to any of you.  I have been an IT Engineer for over 16 years.  My job today is in the Disaster Recovery Business for large organizations that need to protect themselves from business disrupting events like terrorist attacks, Hurricanes, and large scale power outages.  My company has been integral in helping large hospitals, banks and other community focused companies get back to work after events such as Katrina and September 11th.  I work from home and I am often on the road in the Virginia, Washington DC, and Maryland area.  When I am on the road, my laptop with the latest radar images is usually right next to me in the car.

I really look forward to participating in the team blog.  I have recently starting using Google Earth with Real Time Level II radar for tracking storms.  This gives me a much better way to locate roads and open views here in the tree ridden East Coast when tracking a storm.  I would love to support any of you when you are on the road chasing.  Give me a call or email and I will support you!  

SCM