Great personal indepth assessment of how you feel about storms... I couldn't have said it any better and have some of the same feeling about storms as you stated in your post... Heck I had to read it twice to make sure I didn't write it...:o

Only thing I could add is the fact that since there is basically nothing we can do to change the outcome of a storm, where it will go, how strong it will be, we can at least be mentally and physically prepared for when they strike. And make the necessary intelligent decisions that could ultimately determine our fate in life...Tracking storms gives you just a little more advantage over the non-tracker IMO.

I've been through a plethora of near misses over the years, with Betsy being my first hurricane experience. Ever since been hooked on storms... Faced Camille in 69 as a 17 year old.. Our house was 17 feet above sea level, got 4 feet of water in it.. Been there done that... NO FUN

I now live on the front beach in Biloxi, the house that I bought is 19.5 feet above sea level. When I started remodeling there was still a discernable water line on the back side of the sheet rock... two feet above the floor!

Then Fredrick came, and Elena (first eye experience - absolutely unbelievable. Can you imagine having 100+ mph winds all of a sudden just stop, sun comes out, birds are flying and singing, then you see the back side of the eye wall... winds go from nothing to 100+ mph in minutes and then the storm surge rushes in with such velocity and power you're just paralyzed with fear, not knowing where it will finally stop..... WHAT A RUSH). Then Georges, another eye experience that last several hours but was not as dramatic as Elena but still something that you can never forget...

Bottom line with me now... I don't ever want another storm to directly hit my area, but if the do come (and they will), then I'll know as much as I can about it, and what actions I'll need to take to protect life and property...