Working in the Moment (& Happy Halloween) ~ 2024-10-31
“If you feel it… Chase it!” - Tyler Owens in Twisters
Firstly, Happy Halloween!
I figured it would be fitting to dress up as Glen Powell’s character from this year’s release of Twisters, Tyler Owens. It is probably safe to say that every other storm chaser or weather fan also decided to pull that out for a Halloween Costume. Can you really expect anything less though?
With Halloween comes the ‘Second Season’ in the Great Plains. Last night we had some nocturnal tornado action across Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri while another trough loads up for the weekend. The Storm Prediction Center already highlighted Days 3 through 5 with action spreading from the Southern High Plains into the Ozarks. If I lived in closer proximity, I definitely would be driving down to the Texas Panhandle for Saturday. Easily one of my favorite places to chase and Panhandle Magic always seems to find a way.
The past couple months have been extremely busy getting June First up to speed. I’ve been working on getting a video out on a weekly basis, if possible. Momentum has definitely grown since making the full-time commitment towards this venture. October will close out as the first ever 1 million view month for the channel, which I could’ve only dreamed of even this time last year. Come to think of it, this time last year was around when June First had its first 100,000 view video (the Cookeville minidoc). It is even crazier to think that since leaving my engineering job (70 days ago), the channel has gained another 10,000+ subscribers. Crazy to think how far things have come in a year.
It is important to remember that these are just arbitrary milestones. However, they do signify growth, which allows for more involved productions. As a big fan of documentaries, it would be incredible to turn out high quality, 30-60 minute docs involving interviews, detailed 3D graphics, and so forth. In my estimation, this can easily be done with a small team. No need for a huge production studio. This is obviously much more down the line, but I don’t think it is out of the realm of possibilities. As a current one-man operation averaging likely 60-70 hours per week, there will be a point where I’ll likely have to contract some help. In the meantime though, I’ll just keep building this as my primary focus.
This winter, beyond the content creation aspect of the operation, we’ll actually be getting back to our roots too with some proper engineering. I cannot really get into the specifics of what it entails, but it is something that’ll enhance storm chasing live streaming capabilities for some of the best in business. This is really exciting, as June First’s start in 2018 was fundamentally a project to design and build the tools of understanding the future of severe weather. Content creation has obviously been a focus in the past few years, but this original goal has not at all been forgotten. It just needed an opportunity to arise to make it happen again. After this first project, who knows what future doors will open next to fulfill that original goal.
This blog is somewhat all over the place, with no central theme. Frankly, it was just an opportunity to reflect on the past few months and put my thoughts on what the future may look like down in writing. I’m trying not to look ahead too far, but since June First is a business, I ultimately have to in some capacity. To use the classic Buddha quote, “Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” Fortunately, the present moment is full of opportunity that I’m fully capitalizing on for the sake of June First. I have a couple of appearances lined up soon with other weather content platforms that are worth keeping an eye out for. Plus tomorrow, Connor and I are recording our second podcast episode since reviving the June First Podcast. More documentaries and damage analyses in the pipeline too… Just so many ideas kicking around, but it has felt great to start making a dent in the list that has been growing over the past several years. In the world of weather, there’ll never be a shortage of stories to talk about. While many of them are tragic, hopefully we can do our part to tell the stories behind them and give them the awareness they deserve.
Cheers,
Ethan