The Storm Bubble.

I see it all the time. People always say "The best storms always go north and south of me because of *insert something unique to their area here.*"

The dreaded STORM BUBBLE. Their existence cannot be proven by science, but just like ghosts, many are believers. Take the past 3 days here in Chicago. Multiple rounds of thundery onslaughts, yet not one single one passed over my house. Luckily thunder and lightning can be seen/heard for many miles otherwise I would probably be blogging photos of the local squirrels I just fed my leftover 4th of July fireworks to.

Lets take a look at the evidence from the past 3 days, 7-6-10, 7-7-10 and 7-8-10. My spotter network icon is circled and shows the exact position of my house.

It makes me wonder, hmmm...am I wearing my storm repellent today? The logical mind would laugh at this and realize that storms are completely random and their location is determined by the happenings of the atmosphere and nothing man made. Terrain DOES have some influence on storm development on a larger scale such as the uplsope area in the high plains and the caprock in TX but not on such a small scale.

So how does one explain the seemingly sure existence of the storm bubble?

The fact of the matter is, when watching radar there are millions of other places a storm can hit other than your house. We live on a teeny tiny plot of land on earths general surface. So "north and south" of me are pretty big generalizations. 1 mile south? 10 miles south? 50 miles? 100? It is easy to watch the radar and see where storms are going that aren't hitting you yet are hitting everyone else. If, however, you were to put a pin mark on a radar in one of the locations you think gets hit all the times. You will probably in due time notice that single tiny spot has just as many near misses.

Thus, if seeing storms is so important to you, I suggest setting yourself up in a way where you can watch them easily. A house not surrounded by trees, A house with a 2nd story window facing west or south. A house on top of a hill. Not living so far north. Otherwise, you will be in the bubble you're entire life. Don't fret though, your time will come, because even the biggest bubble pops.