Author: Doug

To borrow a term from Pink Floyd’s Pulse DVD, Say Goodbye To Life As We Know It…  Tornado Road is coming soon…  The production company that I have been working with going on eight months now has put the blurb up on their website. 

TORNADO ROAD
“They call it Tornado Alley; the stretch of land that runs from Texas, north through Oklahoma, into Nebraska and Kansas. Here, a unique combination of geography and climate conspire to create some of the most spectacular, powerful, and deadly weather in the world. But while a massive twister sends most people running for the basement, it causes a very different reaction in others. Meet the storm chasers of Tornado Road. They are the professional and amateur meteorologists for whom a category five tornado is a dream come true, who put themselves in harms way to capture that perfect image of the world’s deadliest weather, up close and personal. “

Upon seeing this up on the site this afternoon, everything for the website updates has been kicked into overdrive now as I don’t have long to get things in order before I have to “Say Goodbye To Life As We Know It…” working behind the camera. 
Today there was a pretty good winter storm that hit the metro area but at the last minute I saw it shift to the south metro and decided to blow it off.  There was a Blizzard Watch up for just to the west of us but that also shifted about 100 miles south so along with some other issues, I blew off the chase.

The other issues were that I woke up this morning to find that our cat Gustav messed up my laptop when he walked on the keyboard.  Nothing bad but he some how managed to hit the right keys to delete my finger print id system.  And people wonder why I named the cat after a hurricane.

The other big project is the websites.  I have a massive amount of data to go through with all the new video files and new format.  I have been sorting through all the hard drives and getting things organized.  I know it sounds like just a little job but since I have been chasing so much of the winter storms, I just have not had the time to do stuff in the office and get it on auto pilot. 

Well I should get back to work since it is after 1:00 A.M. and I still have a couple hours of work before bed.  So still around, just been busy doing stuff and no time to update the blog.  

Ok, for the record, the global warming thing is a farking scam in my opinion.  Yes we should be clean and not pollute the water and air but we are already doing all that so shut the hell up with the global warming stuff because it is hella cold outside.  Besides, nobody is talking about the massive Pacific Garbage Patch. Clean up the oceans!!!

Yesterday I went out to take some photos of the frost on the trees along the river and was given a rude awakening because my coffee turned to ice in a couple of minutes because it was -24F outside.

The frost was pretty cool but I need to use a macro lens to do the shots that I want to get.

So with the hella cold temps, we get pipes bursting and what could be worse then a water main bursting?

Yes, today Neva called me as soon as she went to work and told me that the alley was flooding?  I thought she was crazy because it’s freaking cold outside but no, the alley was flooding with a busted eight inch water main that was just starting to break the surface.  This was not a hard thing to film since it happened right down the alley from our house.

So I stopped what I was working on and started to take some photos and video.  Ok, so we got a busted water main, that would be kind of cool to film but it was right down the alley from our back door and now the flooding is going down the alley towards our home. This did not shoot way up into the air like I was expecting but it just bubbled up and flooded out the whole alley.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Since the city did not come by and dump a bunch of salt and sand down and plow out the alley to remove the mess, and Neva came home and got stuck in the alley and made my head ache 100 times worse, I said screw it and bought 430 pounds of salt from Sams Club.

• 

• 

Here is 430 pounds of salt that was dumped in the alley after I used the snow blower to get rid of a lot of the melted slush that was in the alley.

That’s 430 POUNDS of salt. Seven 50 Pound Bags and Two 40 Pound bags of the water softener salt that will work this time…

Now yesterday, I also posted on my Myspace blog about this cold weather but on my personal blog, I could not get the link to work so I’m posting the text link to this video.  This is the Minnesota For Global Warming song.  

Where the hell is My Global Warming? 

If we had some Global Warming, I would not have to dump a quarter ton of salt in the alley.

Where the hell is my Global Warming?

It’s five in the morning and I’m up early because I have to bring Gustav to the vet this morning. When I looked at the weather outside here in St. Cloud, all I could say is WTF.

Current Conditions: St. Cloud Regional Airport
Time: 4:53 AM CST (10:53 UTC)
Temperature: -20 F
Dewpoint: -26 F
Relative Humidity: 72.9%
Wind from: Southeast (120 deg)
Wind Speed: 3.5 mph (03 kts)
Windchill: -30.7 F
Pressure: 30.04 in Hg
Visibility: 10 Statute Miles
Clouds: Sky Clear

WHERE THE HELL IS MY GLOBAL WARMING? I’m Freezing my ass off.
Oh wait, since it was not warming they changed it to Climate Change… If all the former “WARMING” people would put their energy into cleaning up the worlds oceans and bodies of water from people and corporations that dump their trash in the water, it would be a much larger impact. Just think of those “Cruise Ships” where do you think they dump their trash?

Happy New Year.

Just getting caught up with the massive amount of work here at home before the next winter storm hits this weekend.  New Years day was a busy one for me as I finally got to go back and document the annual “On It & In It” polar plunge event at Lake Minnetonka.  This is where they cut a big hole in the ice that is over a foot thick and people pay to jump into the four foot deep freezing cold water for charity. 

Here is the link to the video that we shot

Last night Neva told me that I have not updated my blog in a while.  Wow, been a few weeks but hey, I’ve been pretty busy here with the holidays and the weather.

Here is the short version of what I have been up to.  Winter storm after winter storm, new business stuff, Christmas, working on stock footage stuff, more winter storms and more editing.

Here are some screen caps of what I have been shooting.  The first three are from this morning and the rest are from a week ago. 

The first image is a video still of some footage that I have been trying to get for a while.

This next shot is one of the most insane pieces of footage you can try and shoot.  This is looking back while riding along side a snow plow.  One wrong move and your dead.

And of course a car way down in a ditch.

Footage shot during a winter storm in Minnesota from Saint Cloud to Minneapolis, MN. B-Roll video of snow plows in action, cars and trucks stuck in the snow on Interstate 94 and general bad winter weather travel hazardous weather. Footage includes some insane video while driving right next to a snow plow at highway speeds while the blade is down.

I’m back home after almost a 24 hour blizzard video gig. 

From St. Cloud to Fergus Falls, then back to Saint Cloud then to Minneapolis and then back home to Saint Cloud.  Ugh, I’m home and going to bed now.   I did get a chance to shoot some sweet HD footage for the station.

Today’s high temp will be a sub zero of -3 to -5 in the Saint Cloud area. The outside air temp when I got home this morning was -13F per my Jeep.

Okay, it’s very late and I need to get some sleep and veg out after all the chasing today.

Here is the link to the video I shot for the station.

Chasing with Bill Doms right now.  We are in the middle of this mess.  The roads are bad!!

MNC005-027-111-167-141945-

BULLETIN – EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
CIVIL EMERGENCY MESSAGE
MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
RELAYED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE GRAND FORKS ND
1038 AM CST SUN DEC 14 2008

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE
MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION.

THE MINNESOTA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION HAS DECLARED THAT
INTERSTATE 94 FROM MOORHEAD TO FERGUS FALLS…UNITED STATES ROUTE
10 FROM MOORHEAD TO DETROIT LAKES…AND STATE ROUTE 210 FROM
FERGUS FALLS TO BRECKENRIDGE HAS BEEN CLOSED.

Right now I’m gearing up to head out with two locations in mind.  Up north towards Fargo North Dakota or over towards Duluth Minnesota for the major Blizzard hitting the area.  I have a ton of work to still catch up on and I really don’t want to go and spend 3 days chasing a blizzard by getting stuck someplace far from home.

In North Dakota right now the state has issued the following warning:

URGENT – IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
CIVIL EMERGENCY MESSAGE
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
RELAYED BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BISMARCK ND
719 AM CST SUN DEC 14 2008

THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE IS TRANSMITTED AT THE REQUEST OF THE
NORTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION.

THE NORTH DAKOTA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION HAS ISSUED A NO
TRAVEL ADVISORY FOR THE ENTIRE STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA. HIGH WINDS
ARE CONTINUING TO REDUCE VISIBILITY TO ZERO AT TIMES.

NO TRAVEL IS ADVISED FOR THE ENTIRE STATE

Here is the latest warnings for the central Minnesota area or MPX area.  This is not going to be fun today.

Below is the latest radar image at the time of this blog.  There is a major band of snow just to the south of Saint Cloud MN so it looks like I won’t have to travel that far today after all. 

I’m still trying to put the last of the travel plans together for today but I don’t know where I’m going to be chasing yet. 

More proof of Global Cooling!  No, not GLOBAL WARMING, but COOLING.  Oh wait, CHANGE… the weather is always changing… ugh.
First there was the sun with no sun spots. Now, there is a WINTER STORM WARNING, but not for Minnesota, for NEW ORLEANS. 

No, this is not a joke.  There is a WINTER STORM WARNING for the Big Easy along the Gulf Coast of the United States.

LAZ059>065-MSZ081-082-111800-
/O.UPG.KLIX.WW.Y.0002.000000T0000Z-081211T1800Z/
/O.EXA.KLIX.WS.W.0001.000000T0000Z-081211T1800Z/
UPPER LAFOURCHE-ST. CHARLES-UPPER JEFFERSON-ORLEANS-
UPPER PLAQUEMINES-UPPER ST. BERNARD-UPPER TERREBONNE-HARRISON-JACKSON-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF…THIBODAUX…RACELAND…LAROSE…
DESTREHAN…NORCO…METAIRIE…KENNER…NEW ORLEANS…
BELLE CHASSE…CHALMETTE…VIOLET…HOUMA…BAYOU CANE…
GULFPORT…BILOXI…PASCAGOULA…OCEAN SPRINGS…MOSS POINT…
GAUTIER…ST. MARTIN 809 AM CST THU DEC 11 2008

…WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON CST TODAY…

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NEW ORLEANS HAS ISSUED A WINTER
STORM WARNING…WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON CST TODAY. THE
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

A COLD AND POTENT STORM SYSTEM WILL CAUSE A MIX OF COLD RAIN AND
SNOW THIS MORNING TO SWITCH OVER TO MAINLY SNOW BEFORE 10 AM.
TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN NEAR OR JUST ABOVE FREEZING
WITH THE GROUND REMAINING RELATIVELY WARM…HOWEVER OCCASIONAL
HEAVY BURSTS OF SNOW MAY CAUSE ONE TO TWO INCHES OF ACCUMULATION
IN GRASSY AREAS WITH SOME ICING AND SLUSHY CONDITIONS POSSIBLE ON
ELEVATED BRIDGES AND OVERPASSES. THE SNOW IS EXPECTED TO CHANGE
BACK TO A MIX OF LIGHT RAIN AND LIGHT SLEET AROUND NOON…THEN
END AS ALL LIGHT RAIN DURING THE EARLY TO MID AFTERNOON HOURS AS
TEMPERATURES WARM BACK TO THE LOWER TO MIDDLE 40S.

A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW…
SLEET…AND ICE ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. STRONG WINDS ARE ALSO
POSSIBLE. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.