History of Stormcast- A Retrospective
Jul 11, 2021 15:50:26 GMT -6
HarahanTim - Now in Covington!, SKYSUMMIT, and 12 more like this
Post by nolasim on Jul 11, 2021 15:50:26 GMT -6
Since we have a lull in our tropical posting activity (the last post was by Thermalwind 14 hours ago), I thought it might be fun while the tropics are kinda dead (thank heavens!) to take a look back at how we got here, and please everyone add your own personal memories as you feel moved to do so.
If I recollect correctly (and I may not), what is now Stormcast was actually born with an entity entitled "Zach's Weather Forum". When the WWL-TV forum (which guided many of us through Katrina and actually literally may have saved some lives) went defunct, there was no weather forum to speak of on which to discuss weather and climate, especially with familiar names. God help me, I signed up with Hardcore Weather because my life was actually missing something (weather geek that I am) without a forum in which to discuss weather. That endeavor of mine died a not-so-graceful death.
Then around 2007 ( I may be wrong on the date), then-high school student Zachary Fradella (now a meteorologist on Fox8 News) started Zach's Weather Forum. If memory serves, when the web site came up, it automatically played background music from the movie "The Perfect Storm". It was a place to discuss weather that was comfortable because it drew many familiar faces from the old WWL-TV weather forum. Again if I'm not mistaken, Zach's Weather Forum helped me through Hurricane Gustav, the last storm for which I had to evacuate with my family (Birmingham, Alabama).
Somewhere along the way Zach's Weather Forum (correct me if I'm wrong, folks) became Gulf Coast Weather. There were a number of moderators and administrators and thanks to donations from our posters, we were able to operate a website that didn't crash during busy times..........until it did. However, we made some adjustments ( I forgot what they were) and Gulf Coast Weather continued to roll along with the help of our administrators who do so much to maintain this website (and it is indeed a website).
Somewhere along the way it became Stormcastlive.com then Stormcast, which is where we are today. It continues to be a place where accurate information (as accurate and up-to-date as possible) is disseminated regarding tropical systems but also weather in general. It is a place where folks feel safe to render their opinions thanks to administrators and moderators who take care of any wiseacres as they happen to appear. It still amazes me how we now have a forum with 2,680 registered members/posters (feel free to check my arithmetic) that started from the vision of one high school student back in 2006. Congratulations to Zachary Fradella, to our awesome administrators, our staff, and to all our members/posters who make this place an awesome venue to discuss weather and climate and to identify critical information during severe weather events. Remember that NONE of our administrators/staff receive any compensation for what is done on Stormcast; it is all volunteer and is a labor of love.