Author: Doug

After what seemed like a lifetime of overcast sky and above average temps in central Minnesota, we are finally back to real winter sub zero temperatures.  Now don’t start yelling at me saying you hate the cold.  If you hate the cold, leave, move to South Florida.   I personally love the cold weather for one simple fact that we don’t have any bugs flying around for half the year.  I’ll put on a coat, hat, and gloves if it means don’t have to cover myself in chemicals like Deet.

Another great thing about winter is the long nights and the chance to get to watch the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights. 

Tonight was another one of those rare nights were just north of Saint Cloud, MN the lights were visible once again.  

Below is the video I shot and one of the photographs form this mornings Aurora event.  Time for me to get back to working on the new website.  I hope to have it completed by the end of next month if not sooner.

Ok, so I get a lot of people wondering WTF, where are the updates to your blogs? What are you up to? Where are the new photos and video? Short answer, I’m over worked and doing the work of a two or three people to run my company Stormchasingvideo.com and soon I will have a full time assistant helping me run the company. Check www.StormChasingVideo.com to for the updates. Right now, I’m trying to get this website software up to date with the current versions of the CMS or content management setup software. The problem I’m having is there is some bugs in the software from much older versions of it from way back in 2006 and it has to do with stuff in the SQL database that is pretty much just a pain in the ass to try and solve. Next week, if the weather is mellow, I’m going to be working on a ton of accounting stuff and website upgrade stuff so come 2015, I’ll have a lot of to do lists stuff off the list and ready to go chase and grow StormChaisngVideo.com into something much larger and more fun. Hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday week. Doug

Just a quick post, it’s been a very busy week with the winter storm that hit the Saint Cloud, MN area.  I have been out working in the weather almost every day.  Check out www.StormChasingVideo.com for all the latest videos.

Also working on a site upgrade so I have not posted much since I have been busy behind he scenes.

As the season’s are changing and the temps are getting colder out. 
So this week, I finally did it.  I asked Neva to marry me.  I had some friend’s help out and I put together a cool little video for Neva to show her before asking her.

I know I have not blogged a lot in the last month but I have been extremely busy behind the scenes working on new stuff and traveling.

Today we had clear skies and at 5:30 local time tonight, Neva and I were able to go out and watch the eclipse.  In the photo below, we were not the only ones watching it in the Saint Cloud, MN area because to the lower left, there is a Crane flying past the sun.   Click on the image below to see the full size image.

If you are taking a drive up north this weekend, check out the fall colors along Interstate 94 in Stearns County between Saint Cloud, MN and Avon, MN. 

This is the weekend to get out and check out the fall colors that are now at 50% to 75% peak with Saturday and Sunday looking to be the best days to get out and view the show.

Footage shot around central Stearns County, MN near Avon, MN with various clips of the vivid fall foliage changing colors.

Clip 1 Static shot overlooking the fall colors.

Clip 2 Pan left shot of some vivid fall colors that pans to on old farm house.

Clip 3 Medium shot of vivid fall colors.

Clip 4 Tight up-close shot of vivid red Maple leafs

Clip 5 Tight panning shot of vivid red Maple leafs.

Clip 6 Static shot of various colors along Interstate 94

Clip 7 Static shot of traffic on Interstate 94 with vivid colors

Clip 8 Vivid yellows and reds.

Clip 9 Pan left of all the vivid colors over Achman Lake. 

Clip 10 – 15 Static clips of the vivid colors over Achman Lake which is located along Interstate 94 just southeast of Avon, MN.

Clip 16 Wide shot of vivid fall colors.

Clip 17 Very wide shot of vivid fall colors.

Clip 18 – 20 Tight and medium shot of yellow Maple leafs.

Clip 21 POV left driving shot along an area of vivid colors.

I needed to get out of the office today and get back to doing some creative work. I saw that it was the first day of fall so what better excuse then to go out and document the fall colors just northwest of town.

OK, no trips planned this week and spending the week working on getting a lot of stuff caught up.  Lots of paperwork and receipts to go through, footage to edit, and working on the SCV “Singularity” project. 

Lot’s of great stuff in the work’s in the next 6 week’s!

To say I have been busy this week is a little of an understatement.  First I was covering the flash flooding from what was left of Odile in southeastern Arizona, then I thought going to the airport early was suppose to make it easier with security.  On my way home while waiting at the gate for the flight to show up and go home, I ended up in the middle of a security lock down because the police were looking for murder suspects in Terminal 4.  I was in Terminal 4… 

After a several hour delay, I was one of the lucky ones whose plane was on the ground but parked and awaiting to be cleared to let the passengers off the flight.  A couple other planes were diverted and flights canceled all because some idiot ran into the terminal to get away from the police, a place where there are a lot of police.

Only after a couple day’s back at home, it was back on the road to chase again for the line of storm’s that were moving through western Minnesota.  Below is the video that we shot yesterday near Willmar, MN.   Nice seeing fall colors with falling hail.

Just doing a recap the chase trip of what was the remains Hurricane Odile that  moved into southeastern Arizona this afternoon and caused flooding in several communities.   Knowing the area after chasing down here a few times now and learning the data holes, I was able to pull a rabbit out of the hat and actually get to see the effects of the flooding.

I was also able to get some Infrared photography in at 5000 feet above sea level with the cloud deck right on top of me.

Here is the footage. The footage is from the town of Pima, AZ in the first part of the video from the start to 1;24;00. and the second part of the video from 1;24;00 to end is from around the area of Whetstone, AZ.

Clip 1, Road sign warning of flooding in the town of Pima, AZ

Clip 2 Flooding and the road blocked off in the town of Pima, AZ where Ash Creek started to flood.

Clip 3 Flooding at Ash Creek in Pima, AZ

Clip 4 – 6 POV driving through heavy rain on Interstate Ten south of 191 south of Pima

Clip 7 POV shot showing the heavy rain and the green vegetation when everything should be brown and dead.

Clip 8 Clouds moving up and over a mountain south of Pima, AZ
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Clip 9 Flash flooding in the town of Whetstone with water running over the road and a sign warning of the road flooded ahead.

Clip 10 An SUV tries to navigate though the flash flooding but finds the road is turned to mud.  The SUV almost gets suck but was able to back out of the hazard.

Clip 11 Rushing waters over a roadway in Whetstone, AZ

Clip 12 Rushing waters over a roadway in Whetstone, AZ

Clip 13 Flash flooding over a road in Whetstone, AZ

Clip 14 Flash flooding going over a road and down into a drainage ditch.

Clip 15 Flash flooding

Clip 16 Flash flooding with a tighter shot of the water going into the drainage system

Clip 17 Car driving through the flooding

Clip 18 Water covering another road

Clip 19 Rushing water flash flooding flowing over a road

Clip 20 Just south of Whetstone, very low clouds roll over one of the hill sides or mountains.

Clip 21 Long clip of the clouds moving from east to west as they roll over the top of a mountain.