I have been a big fan of the weather for sometime now. I have never been a fan of those who actually do weather for living. I'am sure there are very knowledgeable people in the meteorological field, who do know their shit, but I haven't seen one. Even with today's new tools and toys including Doppler radar, computer models, and satellites measuring probably everything, including the sweat off our knee caps, they seem to get it wrong more often than not! The boys/girls at the National weather service ( NWS) are Lucky that the weather is an inexact science. Where else can you work for a living, stare at a computer all day, make a forecast, send it off to the media, and then not giving a rats ass whether you were wrong or right?
Some people say that I'am too harsh and should be careful what I say. Those same people are concerned that a few "real" meteorologists might take offense to the fact ( in my humble opinion) they are as dumb as a box of frigging rocks! I was writing for the Arizona Sky warn website a while back, a site frequented by the old guard and quite a few ham operators, who never seemed to have any issues with what ever I had to chime in about. I considered this a vote of confidence ... after all I never have worked for the NWS in any capacity, but have had a lot of friends who do and they have taught me a lot.
Believe it or not I do have pet peeves. I despise those paper pushing, fluorescent light riding, no account media meteorologists who are more concerned about their frigging hair, smiling, and what they have on than placing an accurate forecast, with real time pertinent information. I watch the news most afternoons, why do newscasts feel the need to discuss the weather every ten minutes for two frigging hour straight? When those media darlings decide to discuss our local weather, the first thing they mention " it is "hot" out there!" No Fucking way ! Really? I 'am sure glad they told me , because I was fixing to throw on my winter coat and rush out there and toss a few snow balls! How would they know whether it was hot outside or not? Everyone of them seem to never get out in the sun, maybe they could get their white zombie looking asses outside and experience what a majority of us all ready knew before they told us!
Enough of my ranting .. I appreciate your patience. At least I can catch my breath for a while, and get my second wind. My philosophy is this .... If it is hot outside it will be this way for a while, unless something extraordinary happens like rain or a cold front! This is not likely especially when hell and Phoenix have switched places. If there are clouds in the sky and they happen to be floating in our direction, The probabilities of rain will increase accordingly, determined by a couple factors, 1) the thickness there of 2) whether pretty little bright streaks are shooting out from underneath said clouds or 3) whether a brown cloud is visible, this could be a big indicator of a dust storm. Then and only then do we still have a 50% chance of rain ,.. it either will or it won't .. I always lean towards the latter.
Photographing anything takes a lot of thought process. I try to tell a story, my camera is my pad and pencil, and my photo is the culmination of my hard work. 
I have special places throughout the valley with wonderful vantage points. Sometimes you have to be above it all to see everything. Sometimes you have to be on the roads less traveled away for the city lights in order to take advantage of a photographic opportunity. It really isn't important in what direction I go, the experience is what drives me.
