Here in the middle of Texas, you can't swing a dead cat around by its
tail without hitting an isolated thunderstorm in the springtime. The
little ones are easy enough to go around them. The big ones are
frightening enough to be self evident to stay the hell away from them
as far as you can get.

You should be fortunate you actually got to speak to a briefer at all.
Everyone around here has just given up completely on them after
waiting on hold too long, too many times.

We've got WiFi Internet all over our airport so I can get my WX data
online before flying, my favorite site is

http://www.usairnet.com

Click on the aviation forecast link on the right site of the home
page. It lets you select by state and city, and uses the raw data
straight from the National Weather Service, but formats it into really
nice easy to read color charts for pilots.