2015 CHASE DIARY
ARTICLE (April 13) - More Cameras for Sask. Highway Hotline
* When I am out Live Streaming, it will Broadcast live directly to the site & both my Twitter and my Facebook page.
* All my Videos can be found on my YOU TUBE channel.
Tues. Nov. 17
PRESENTATION at the YORKTON PARKLAND COLLEGE
I had a great day speaking to the "SOC 333 Sociology of Disaster class" at the Yorkton Parkland College!
I spoke about my team, storm spotter safety, training, and then played some videos and showed some of my better photos followed by a Q+A session!
A Couple highlight shots via TWITTER.
Sun. Oct. 4
CHACERCON CANADA - REGINA SK.
I was part of the CHASER PANNEL this year! More info on the website.
Find them on Facebook
NZP CHASERS Live Streamed the Entire Event . . . PART 1
. . . .PART 2
REED TIMMER presented live via Web Cam from South Carolina as he covered the Flooding event.
WATCH
A few PHOTOS of the day:
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Mon. July 27
Tornado Warned Storm from Alameda SK - Vidren MB
This day was filled with Excitement, Intensity, Nerves, Emotion & Passion!
It began as what looked like it would be a bust as many chasers met and sat for a good couple hours at a Gas Station at Alameda, waiting.
When storms fired up, they did so in a BIG way! Live Streamed (tried to anyways, very poor data coverage) a large Wall Cloud to the east of where we were , close to Gainsborough!
We pressed on, and had some crazy action east of Carievale! Wall Clouds and funnels producing like crazy, never seen that many in Sk before !!
Then, chased into Manitoba and were on route to Tilston on HWY #256 where we came to an area with a LOT of damage! (where the powerful tornado crossed just shortly before). Power lines shredded, The side of the Bridge was all ripped apart, the pavement on it was torn up and all over the road with chunks sticking out! There was also a farmyard pretty much destroyed! The house was in tact but trees, etc. were thrown all over! There was a dog on the HWY that Katie Vickers saved and Brandon Crane (Driver/Mechanic of the Storm-Finder) brought back to a yard.
We talked to a neighbor of the area who said his entire farm and some machinery were completely destroyed! Very sad stuff!!!!
I really, REALLY wanted to cross and continue on but didn't want to leave this road the way it was, letting on coming traffic know about the damage ahead. Got someone to call the local authorities and we waited until the Police and Fire Dept came to shut down the road. We waited until they showed up and then carried on!
We followed these storms until we got to Virden (NE had tornado vortex signatures showing on GRLeven3) but it was too late into the night, and too much rain to keep going safely!
That's when we ran into the Weather Network Crew of Chris Scott (Chief Meteorologist of the The Weather Network), Deb Matejicka, Shawn Legg and the Storm Hunter himself, Mark Robinson :)
As of July 29, Manitoba Hydro stated that crews so far repaired/replaced 9 transformers, 15 down lines & 45 broken/missing poles
The TORNADO was rated a "Hig End" EF-2
A few PHOTOS of the day:
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Photo 10 (Rain Wrapped Tornado)
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Photo 21 (photo by Kyle Fowler)
Photo 22 (GR Level3 RADAR Image - 10pm)
HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
Wed. July 22
Severe Warned storm between Vibank - Fransis SK.
We started off heading West and caught right up the storm coming out of Regina. After this, we turned down Hwy 35, South towards Vibank where we stayed on the East side of the storm.
This storm ended up giving us an absolutely beautiful Shelf Cloud as well some powerful hail between the size of Toonies and Ping Pong Balls (if not larger)! This, was also the first time I get to put the new Hail Armor to the test - It passed easily!
The timelapse in the highlight video of the shelf cloud forming and then us driving into the Hail Core was one of my favorite videos I worked on this year, I think it turned out great!
A few PHOTOS of the day:
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HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
Sat. July 11
Severe Warned storms from between Oxbow Sk to Pipestone MB.
A structurally impressive chase day!!!
The day started with us sitting and waiting at Pipestone MB for the storms to form. Also waiting next to us was Nick Drieschman, Co-Owner and Tour Guide for EXTREME TORNADO TOURS.
Around 5:00 pm, the storm began to form around Oxbow Sk. We rushed back, and caught one of the nicest Shelf Clouds I have seen on the Canadian Prairies this year! After going through town and then heading South, we seen even more awesome storm structure!
From there, we followed the storm back to Pipestone where we had to pull over one or two times just to watch how awesome this storm was looking visually - was really impressive!!
A few PHOTOS of the day:
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HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
Man. July 6
!!! STORM-FINDER version 2.0 - REVEALED !!!
Special Thanks to HAAS NISSAN (in Yorkton) for the Sponsorship!! and to Auto-Trim Signs for the awesome Decal work!!
STORM-FINDER with Brandon Crane (Mechanic/Engineer/Main Driver) & Myself posing with the Beast
GALLERY of the work in progress.
Sat. July 4
Severe then Tornado Warned storm between Carlyle - Carnduff SK.
Storm Hunting a Tornado Warned Storm around the South East corner of Sask. (mostly between Carlyle & Carnduff).
It turned out to be a Fun Chase day! Had a beautiful Wall Cloud as well as some intense Mammatus Clouds near the end of the chase day.
A few PHOTOS of the day:
Photo 1 (Wall Cloud) |
Photo 2 (Wall Cloud) |
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Photo 6
HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
Sat. June 20
Storm Spotting around Yorkton SK. area
A Funnel Cloud was reported from this line of storms so I was out Spotting and Observing.
About 10 miles south of Yorkton on hwy 9 (3:12 pm) was the Shelf Cloud.
HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
(Video from my SJ4000 Action Cam. I took 1.5 hrs and made it into a 5.5 min timelapse)
Fri. May 22 - Sat. June 6
STORM HUNTING in the USA
I headed to the USA and Storm Hunted with fellow Canadian, Notanee Bourassa.
He Lives Streams on TVNweather.com as "RAIDEN"
Follow him on TWITTER
K A N S A S
Hoxie (June 4)
We drove from Denver Colorado to Phillipsburg, Kansas and as 4pm rolled along, we were suffering from a blue sky bust!
We killed some time and made a "failed chaser day video" (lol) and then headed off to a near by gas station where many other chasers were sitting. Got out and visitied for a while.
I then had to run and find Notanee as a LITTLE cell just popped on on Radarscope!!!!
All the chasers jumped in their vehciles and off we all went ... and WHAT a GREAT CHASE it turned out to be !!!
We took off west to Oberlin and then south, took a few pictures. Storms died. Then we went south to another storm. Shot it .... then the storm that died came back and attacked from the NW with a tornado warning. IN the mean time, we are pulled over watching 2 beautiful Tornado Warned storms dropping more lightning than I have ever witnessed in my life !!!
One is directly to our North and the other to our South - oh, and a tornado was also confirmed! And there I stood, with a smile!
A few PHOTOS of the day:
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Photo 34 (My Best Lightning Shot!)
HIGHLIGHT VIDEO YET TO COME
C O L O R A D O
Near Denver (June 3)
Was a pretty interesting day overall!
Had quite a lot of hail, seen some beautiful scenery, had at least 3 different Wall Clouds, got to finally see the TIV Storm Chasing Vehicle, caught some nice storm structure and ran into members of Xtrem Chase Québec!
A few PHOTOS of the day:
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HIGHLIGHT VIDEO YET TO COME
SOUTH DAKODA
Murdo (June 2)
More or less this was a bust day, but Notanee Bourassa and I "DID" end up catching an absolutely beautiful thunderstorm later into the night! (along with one of my best lightning photos)
PS: Murdo SD was pretty Awesome! Ate at a great restaurant which almost lead to bringing a guest chasing but had to decline as we never know where we will end up, seen the Lost Souls Tavern and found a Ghost Town! Even visited 1880 Town from the movie "Dances With Wolves"
A few PHOTOS of the day:
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Photo 3
SOUTH DAKODA
Sturgis (June 1)
This had some of the coolest storm motion i've probably seen to date on it!!
This storm also had some of the craziest structure of the year!
Notanee & I missed it though.
Why you ask?
Well, after almost loosing all our windows in a monster hail storm, we choose our next route but was cut short due to these people parking under an underpass like idiots blocking all lanes of traffic!!!!
At one point (we watched for about 20 mins from on a hill safely on the other side) one guy standing, the water was up to his knee and rising as water was pouring in from all directions.
It could of lead to an "even more" dangerous situation in terms of if there was flooding (which was starting) or if a tornado produced.
But on the good side of things, my photo of the Underpass situation got on the Weather Channel!
A few PHOTOS of the day:
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HIGHLIGHT VIDEO YET TO COME
C O L O R A D O
Stoneham (May 31)
We began to see the storm form by early afternoon. It eventually formed into great shape and dropping a TON of rain and hail and we stayed with it pretty much until the end.
A few PHOTOS of the day:
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HIGHLIGHT VIDEO YET TO COME
TEXAS - NEW MEXICO
Bovina Texas - Clovis New Mexico (May 29)
We chased this storm later in the day as Notanee Bourassa and I had some "technical issues" to address to our chase vehicle (mostly getting Mobile ThreatNet working)!
A crazy chase day with a monster storm that produced a lot of lightning, many were Ground-to-Cloud Lightning!
Amongst the chase we caught a beautiful Shelf Cloud and then shortly after, we were hit by straight line winds - great video footage and photos!!
One of the coolest things about this day was watching the fields rise! All the dirt was sucking up into the storm - looked very cool!!
That, and had a hell of a good laugh when Notanee's vehicle told us to do a U-Turn while driving through Clovis NM, which at this moment was getting hit by a Flash Flood. (Also seen cops at the 7-11 which was kinda funny lol) ... all that will be on the highlight video!
We did turn around to head back to Amarillo TX to finally eat at the Big Texan Steak Ranch. When we did, we missed a brief Tornado, caught by Daniel Shaw.
A few PHOTOS of the day:
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HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
O K L A H O M A - K A N S A S - T E X A S
(May 28)
We began the day by chasing a Monster cell somewhere West of Boise City Oklahoma. After that, was a HELL of a Hail Storm!!
On this day, we chased Sever and Tornado Warned storms across 3 states (Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas)!!
Fun, crazy and long day! We did end the day with a breathtaking and beautiful Sunset and Shelf Cloud at Dalhart Texas.
A few PHOTOS of the day:
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HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
T E X A S
Canadian (May 27)
3/4 MILE WIDE TORNADO - EF-3
For me, moments like this is why I do what I do!
An absolutely amazing TORNADO that ended up being 3/4 miles wide! 3-4 more tornadoes did produce on this day as well! The meso around the tornado was something like 5 miles wide!
This day ... was just incredible! After the tornadoes, the sky opened up like FIRE, it was breathtaking!!! The mood, moments caught in time, the atmosphere, the INTENSITY and the people! I got to meet many chasers this day a couple whom I was very excited to finally meet in person! Chasers such as Stephen Barabas - www.MesoStorm.net (he's assisted us with the Storm-Finder) and as well Joshua Napper - www.AviWxChasers.Com (a fellow TVNweather.com Live Streamer)
A few PHOTOS of the day:
Photo 1 (Tornado) |
Photo 2 (Tornado) |
Photo 3 (Tornado) |
Photo 4 (Tornado) |
Photo 5 (Tornado) |
Photo 6 (Tornado)
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HIGHLIGHT VIDEO YET TO COME
O K L A H O M A
Bray - Greomino - Frederick (May 26)
This, was n interesting and fun chase day for us! Started off with a beautiful Shelf Cloud around Marlow followed by one of the coolest and intense storm structures I've ever seen, and on top of that, with a Wall Cloud around Frederick!
A few PHOTOS of the day:
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HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
T E X A S
Anson - Rotan (May 25)
At this point in our journey, we hit 7 states within 48 hours. Now, we were on a Tornado warned storm with Flash Flood warnings. The day was a WET MESS !!
A PHOTO from the day:
Photo 1
HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
C O L O R A D O
Yuma - Byers - Eads (May 23)
Drove from Regina, SK. Canada to Colorado, USA to intercept our first target of the day which produces a wall cloud. Then we went to Last Chance Colorado and witnessed some gustnadoes and ground condensation, then played with TONS of pea sized hail. We also seen a couple nice Shelf Clouds throughout the day as well as run into Xtreme Chase Quebec!
A few PHOTOS of the day:
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HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
Tues.. Mar. 17
Northern Lights over Yorkton Sk.
A few PHOTOS of the day:
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