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Vicarious Weather Thrills
Fri Oct 24, 2003
Listen in RealAudio 
Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton for The Weather Notebook. Today, commentator David Laskin reveals a
weather obsession.
Some people start their day by checking the sports scores, others flip first to the market
reports - but for me it's always been the weather. Not just my own weather, mind you, but the
weather of anyplace in the world I've ever lived, visited, or have friends and family. I once
amazed a colleague who called from Boston by asking her why on earth she was still at work
with 9 inches of snow piling up. Now she calls me in Seattle to update her local forecast.
Part of this, I admit, is vicarious thrill-seeking. Here in the mild moist Pacific Northwest
we call a cold front vigorous when it drops the temperature four degrees, thunder is rare,
rain tends to come in drizzle, and hurricanes never happen. So when it hits 100 in New York
where I grew up or dumps down 9 inches in Hilo on the Big Island where I once vacationed - I
definitely have to know about it.
But I think there's a more serious motive here. To me, and I bet most weather nuts feel the
same, weather is the prime ingredient in the experience of place - it's what I notice first
and remember best. Checking the weather is my way of staying in touch. 70 and sunny in
Philadelphia - I know my parents are smiling. Thunderstorm heading for Austin - that reminds
me of that incredible squall I got caught in one spring afternoon. When I check out the
world's weather what I'm really doing is checking in with the people I care about - and
reliving some of the most precious and thrilling times of my life.
That's commentator David Laskin. The Weather Notebook is funded by Subaru of America and The
National Science Foundation.
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