There is nothing better than actually witnessing active weather (ie. a thunderstorm, waterspout, the first snow of the winter season, a gentle fog bathing a mountain valley). Weather is a constantly evolving organically-mechanized machine – full of power, grace, beauty and awe. I love to take it in, in the now, in the unfolding real-life moments that are very much proof of being alive on this green-blue beautiful planet. My favorite tool, my camera.

Alas, we can not always be in the midst of Mother’s nature’s grandeur, as it is unfolding.

There’s an alternative, that can’t compare really…it can’t match up but it can fill the void if you will, in an artificially creative sense. Hollywood and the like have done their best to re-create nature’s magic in feature films.

Here are a few that come to mind:

Twister is a 1996 disaster film starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton as storm chasers researching tornadoes. It was based on a script by author Michael Crichton and his wife, former actress Anne-Marie Martin. It was directed by Jan de Bont. Twister currently ranks 37th in all time in terms of box office gross with USD 241,708,908. Twister also has a famous scene of a flying cow, a scene that was the subject of many parodies. the film also became the theme of a ride at universal Orlando resort called twister... ride it out. According to IMDB twister was the first movie commercially released on DVD, and it is yet to be one of the first movies to be released commercially onto HD-DVD and on Blu-Ray.

The Day After Tomorrow is a 2004 apocalyptic science-fiction film that depicts catastrophic effects of global warming and boasts high-end special effects, bending the lines between science, reality and science fiction. Worldwide, it is the 38th top grossing film of all time, with total revenue of USD$542,771,772. The movie was filmed mostly in Montreal, and, as of 2007, is the highest grossing Hollywood film in history to be filmed in Canada.

The Perfect Storm written by Sebastian Junger and published by Little, Brown and Company in 1997. The paperback edition followed in 1999 from Harper Collins’ Perennial imprint. It is about the 1991 Halloween Nor’easter that hit North America in October 1991, and features the crew of the fishing boat Andrea Gail, based out of Gloucester, Massachusetts, who were lost 575 miles (925 km) at sea during the severe conditions. All 6 crewmembers were lost, including Captain Billy Tyne, Robert "Bobby" Shatford, Dale "Murph" Murphy, David "Sully" Sullivan, Michael "Bugsy" Moran and Alfred Pierre.

Have any favorite weather flicks? What about scenes having to deal with weather? Please send me and the WeatherPlus gang a comment...we’d love to hear from you.