(Boy, is my post count going up or what??

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All of us are wishcasters. ALL of us. Those of us born with an innate love for the weather have that partcular affliction. Professional mets are the worst wishcasters you can imagine. We spend a good portion of our lives studying the processes that make weather what it is, and we want to observe it, first hand...we can't help ourselves.

However, there is also the human side to all of us. I have no desire to see people displaced from their homes, or to lose a life to a weather system...it absolutely horrifies me. My 2nd year of professional forecasting, a tornadic event occured in my viewing area which caused the loss of 2 lives. I was in a serious state of depression for a while after that...wonderin what I did wrong...blaming myself for not getting the word out more accurately. A very dear friend of mine pointed out that I probably saved a few lives, and that you can't save everyone. That made a huge impact on me, and still drives me to this day...the ability to possibly prevent the loss of life.

So how does one deal with the inate desire to wishcast? Here is what I do...I spend more time looking for reasons why a storm WON'T affect my area as to reasons why it will. Poke holes in your own forecasts....don't be afraid to fail. Follow up your forecasts and find out what you did wrong...post analysis is a powerful tool, because we ALL have certain tendencies which creep into our own personal forecast process. Learn from your mistakes...and don't be afraid to stick your neck out now and then...when you are confident.

I'm a wishcaster...and I probably always will be...but it doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing.