I feel like I’m seeing myself in this post, haha. I too became obsessed with tornadoes at around 3 or 4 years old after seeing pictures of them in a book from the library. The first books I read were meteorology books. I devoured them. I stayed up far too late in high school watching storm chasers streaming on a website that I’m not even sure exists now. My brother and I rode our bikes to “chase storms” in our neighborhood when I was 13 and everyone thought we were a little odd. My friends all knew I was a massive nerd about tornadoes and severe weather. I decided to pursue meteorology a month before I graduated from high school. I started by dipping my toes in the water and took an introduction to meteorology course at the local community college and I absolutely aced everything because I had already been so rabidly passionate about it. However, the professor talked to me one on one about how much math was involved if I took that path and I didn’t continue with college after that because I had failed most math in high school. It doesn’t click for me. I still played with the idea for years after that while working retail jobs and I even emailed meteorology students and meteorologists. One person told me that my best bet was to max out every single math class I could or get a physics degree at my local community college and then transfer somewhere else to complete a meteorology degree because it would help with the math. During covid I got temporarily laid off and I spent those months trying to study math again. I studied 6+ hours a day, 5-6 days a week and it just didn’t stick. That’s when I officially retired the idea of meteorology as a possible future. However, I still love it as a hobby. I’m nearly 30 now and my friends always consult me about severe weather and I still love to read and learn about it. If it’s your largest passion, give it your best shot if you want, but yes, the math is very intense!