Where to Watch Wild Weather

The Weather Channel stormwatcher picked 10 spots; I have an 11th

If you've ever seen a tornado, you've watched wild weather. Those who were in Miami for Hurricane Andrew, in New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina or on Galveston Island for Hurricane Ike certainly witnessed devastatingly wild weather, as did those in the path of assorted tsunamis, typhoons and earthquakes. If you want to experience wild weather, check out The Weather Channel's stormtracker's Jim Cantore list of 10 vacation destinations for experiencing "wacky weather." He added suggestions of the best (therefore least wild and wacky) times to go there, but I'm not including those here. After all, if you're seeking wild weather, you don't want mild weather -- and I have one of my own to add (photo at right, and my suggestion below).

Cantore's Top 10 Wild Weather Destinations

• Death Valley, California - The hottest, driest and lowest-elevation spot in North America; 760-786-3200


• Breaux Bridge, Louisiana - Cantore was there during Hurricane Gustav and watched the storm roll in over the Delta; 888-565-5939


• Dangriga Town, Belize - Hurricanes and tropical storms can wallop the coast of this Central American town; 800-624-0686


• International Falls, Minnesota -Nicknamed "the icebox of America," this is the coldest town the continental United States; 800-325-5766. Just last year, Fraser, Colorado, was vying for the title, and everything in the lower 48 pales beside places inland in Alaska. think Fairbanks.


• Gulf Coast, Mississippi - Cantore cited Hurricane Katrina as an example of the coast's brutal wather phenomena; 888-467-4853


• Sydney, Australia - "Vast Australia experiences weather ranging from snowstorms to sandstorms, said Cantore, but singled out Sydney for its "phenomenal dust storms"; 310-695-3200


• Killington, Vermont -"Mountains on one side and the coastline on the other," said Cantore, described as a native Vermonter. I wonder why he picked Killington. How about Sugarloaf, Maine, of Mont Ste.-Anne, Quebec, like Killington, ski mountains that rise above the surrounding countryside; 802-773-4181


• Big Island of Hawaii, Hawaii - Cantore cited thick clouds atop snow-capped Mauna Kea, but he didn't mention the fumes that blow from Kilauea, a volcano that has been erupting and producing lava flows since January 3, 1983; 800-464-2924


• Crater Lake, Oregon - Cantore mentions "snow [that] can cover the landscape from October through June in some areas," but that's no big deal for us Coloradans. He also mentiones that "the coastal region of Oregon can get more than 100 inches of rain annually, which in higher elevations translates to a lot of snow — as much as 16 feet at times." The Sierra Nevada range is similar; 541-594-3000


• Barrow, Alaska - Cantore says that temperatures in the country's northernmost city average temperature is 10 degrees plus 64 days without sun, 907-852-5211

No. 11 from Claire

How could a stormwatcher ignore the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, where the storm-watching season stretches from November through Feburary. Hotels and resorts in and between the hamlets of Tofino and Ucluelet offer storm-watching packages for guests who really want to experience wild Pacific storms. The photo above comes for the Wickaninnish Inn; 250-725-3100.

Do You Have a 12th to Add?

Let me here from you. Leave a comment with your suggestions.