In addition to being a weather enthusiast, I have been developing web applications for the last 10 years or so. Weather and computers go great together. These days, we can get all the weather info that we need without even turning on the TV... we have access to Radar, Satellite photos, weather models, and observations from all over the globe via the Internet.

When I was younger, this was not the case. Prior to the birth of the Internet, weather enthusiasts were on their own. A hard core weather geek often found themselves being some pretty wierd gear, like the early fax machines to get weather maps and satellite photos. The fax machines I am referring to are not like those that were envented in the 80's and 90's... these things ran on tubes and were built in the 50's for the miliary and government organizations. They used a special paper that was treated with the a chemical. The only similar thing I can compare it to is those old machines that they had in school when I was a kid to created math worksheets (The ink looked purple).

When I was 14 years old, I sent away for a mail order magazine of old weather equiptment. My dream machine was a 30 year old fax machine that you could hook up to a short wave radio, and get weather maps for free. I worked at my Dad's machine shop hoping to save up enough money for it, but instead, bought a bass guitar and amp, which is another story.

Anyway, I recently thought that it would be cool to join two of my interests together... web development and weather. I am brainstorming ideas for a cool weather application in .net, and as it takes shape, I will post about it.