Grassfire

This is a grassfire in SE Oklahoma City. I happened to be coming back from the National Weather Festival and saw the smoke. Stopped by and got some video. Low Humidity and High Winds contributed to the spread of the fire. 15 acres were burned and no structures were damaged.

Current Conditions

Here are the current clouds over Oklahoma City as of 8:00PM. It looks beautiful. Have had a few Tornado Warnings in Northern Oklahoma and a reported landspout in Fay, OK.

Might get some action after dark around here. Will keep you up to date.

Edit: Tornado Warning was issued for Oklahoma County. Rotation was 2 miles to my west. I couldn't see anything due to it being after dark, even with the lightning. Spotters reported a lowering, but no tornadoes at this time. Storms passed through the area and are now South of the Metro.

Yesterday

Just wanted to upload a pic from yesterday. This is the view looking west from OKC. I didn't get a chance to chase yesterday or the last few days. School is almost over so I should be getting out more.

Got some new video and photography equipment. Some pics to come of the new stuff loaded up in the truck.

Wildfires

Picture from S. Anderson Road and Pacific Street.

Picture from Alicia Dr in Midwest City.

Picture near SE 29th and Post Rd.

Just got back from the on going fires in Midwest City and to the East of there. Multiple structures have been lost and evacuations are on going. It is going to be a long night.

Update: Fires still burning and the wind is shifting to the North with gusts to 50mph.

Picture Near S. Anderson Road and Pacific Street.

March 23, 2009

I had work today which put a damper on the chase. I left OKC around 6:00 and headed west to just outside El Reno. I sat there and got a few pictures of the storm clouds in the distance. It was mainly to check out my setup and equipment. Everything worked great, except for the power inverter. I need to check the ground on it and that should fix the problem. Here are a couple of pictures that I took.































It was a good test run. I really need a bigger truck to carry all the equipment. Maybe next chase season. Nothing too exciting where I was, but up North of Guthrie there was a wall cloud spotted, no tornados reported at this time in Oklahoma.

Tomorrow

Looks like a pretty good chance of some activity tomorrow. With the SPC putting a moderate risk for just north of OKC, I will bite. The moisture return and timing are my biggest questions right now. I will probably be getting off of work a little early and then heading a little north, by that time storms should be firing. It should be a good trip to test out my equipment and hopefully get a few good pictures. Updates will be posted throughout the day.

Getting Caught Up

Just started the blog today, so I will get you caught up on my experiences so far.

February 10th, 2009

I started my chase day WAY TOO LATE. I had looked early the day before and thought nothing would form in C. OK so I threw the chase day out. The day of I happened to hear some people talking about the storms down in Chickasha. I pulled out my iPhone and looked and saw storms firing along the dry line to my SW. I contemplated skipping my next class and setting up somewhere in Edmond and wait for them to come to me. I decided to go to class. That was a mistake. I dismissed myself when the sirens went off and started my chase. I saw a large hook and a great velocity couplet just a few miles north of my location on radar.

I drove to I35 and planned to jump on. However the highway patrol had other ideas. I drove over I35 and then headed north on Air Depot. I got a little bit of video with what appears to be a lowering. It is hard to tell due to the contrast. Tree cover, urban chasing and the storm speed prevented me from catching the storm.

I quickly turned around and headed back to 2nd street as the 2nd storm rolled through. Got a good look at a shelf cloud and then decided to head a little farther south to get the 3rd storm.

Headed down by the Turner Turnpike and sat watching a wall cloud with some really weak rotation. I decided to head north and get a little bit of damage video if possible. I saw a few trees and telephone poles. However, Edmond police had done a great job of blocking all entrances to the neighborhoods. I turned for home and called it a night.

All in all it wasn't a bad start to my rookie season. I need to learn more and leave when I need too. Here is a video that I put together real fast.




Since that Day

I have been working on getting the truck ready for the upcoming season. I just bought the Delorme Earthmate 2009 with LT-40. Love it so far and is a great little product. Will keep yall up-to-date as I test it out in unfamiliar territory.

Also, just bought a 400W Power Invertor, 4AWG wiring, and cable ends. I am going to install this in the next few weeks.

Working on getting a dash mount for my video camera, a laptop mount, and a mag mount scanner antenna. I will probably hold off on anything else until after the chase season. I know what some of yall are thinking "No mobile internet?" That's right, for now atleast. Maybe next year, but I can't afford it at this time.

I am looking forward to the chase season. Check back as I add more in the weeks to come.