Monday, September 7, 2015

Remarkable storm cloud footage


From the maker's description of this video:

This past spring I spent more time chasing storms on the plains than ever before. The most I had spent prior to this was seven total days and that was last year. What I came away with from that short time made me realize that if I could double that...the stuff I could capture would be amazing. Of course I long to be out there for a month or longer, but when you live in Phoenix and have a wife and three kids...you have to be realistic.

I turned 40 years old this year and I told my wife all I wanted was 10 days chasing on the plains. She loves me though and it ended up being 14! Two days in April and then 12 straight days from May 23rd - June 3rd. Those 12 days were absolutely incredible. I'm friends with other chasers via social media, met them on the side of roads while chasing, even grabbed dinner together...but never have I felt more of a part of the chaser community than being out there for almost two weeks. Living the life...seeing the same amazing chasers over and over...it was overwhelming to me. I missed my family, it was hard at times, but it was one of the best experiences of my life.

Both chases originated from where I live in Arizona. In April I drove out all night to Colorado, slept maybe an hour, chased all day, got a good night's sleep, chased the next day in the Texas panhandle and drove home that same night, stopping only for a quick nap in New Mexico. The second chase was the same. Left Phoenix late on the evening of May 22nd, never really slept and the chase was on the next day. All in all I drove well over 12,000 miles over the course of those two weeks, visited 10 total states (New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota) and shot over 45,000 frames of footage for this film.

There's more at the link.  It's a pretty amazing piece of work.  Watch it in full-screen mode for maximum impact.





All I can say is, "Wow!"

Peter

3 comments:

Irish said...

Absolutely stunning. Nice find. Thanks Peter

Mike said...

Okay. One day, I will follow a storm chaser.

Judy said...

Ah! Sitting on the front porch during tornado season in Kansas. Well, anywhere on the Great Plains really.

Kind of miss it, the oppressive heat, dead calm...the wind suddenly picks-up and the temps drop 20 degrees...where's the kids, the dog?...Is everything put away/tied down?...Windows rolled?