Midwest storms

Tim Miller

Tim Miller

Well-known member
Anyone see these storms that are going down around Iowa and Illinois?

Big storm system starting in Iowa City moving through Muscatine. Caused some major damage in Iowa City where the University of Iowa is, college is cancelled tomorrow. In Iowa City some people are reported trapped in a Dairy Queen, the front of a church got ripped off, and a Happy Joes got absolutely destroyed.

Many tornadoes and hail as big as tennis balls.

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Thankfully it didn't hit us because we are in the 13th floor of an apartment complex. First big storm of the spring, so people are freaking out, but rightfully so, it was a doozy.
 
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Great pics Zack. Since we are on the subject I would like to show off a lil ditty I made.. lol

Some of you may know of me or remember me here. Im a stormchaser.. And I got into stormchasing through videography. I use the DVX100A. All the footage in this particular piece is on a monopod. I do need to go back to the ol pain in the ass tripod.

Not alot of time to set up on the go. You cant always frame your shots the way you want them. Your mind races.. So you do the best you can do and get better over time working under anxiety and stress.

I hope you guys enjoy it. I threw it together over an evening so its not of the quality you would release a motion picture with.. lol

It was shot in 24p

Beatrice, Ne. Supercell and Tornado. April 15, 2006
 
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Hey Fred, good to see you make a post. I haven't heard from you in a long time. I hope all is well with your documentary. I just got home from a long day's shoot (soccer games). I will download your clip later and check it out. :thumbsup:

Zack - Glad you are Ok. Tornadoes and hurricanes are rocking our world.


Edit: Fred - That looks pretty cool, you tease. :evil: :)
 
When the guy says, "no... we're gonna' stay right here"... all I can think is :nads:

You sum *****... the entire TIME I'm thinking, "get in the truck and go AFTER that thing!"

Also I'm curious how you make any money at storm chasing? This is a totally serious question... my brother has wanted to do this his entire life and I happen to be equipped... so is it just a hobby or how do you get some $ for it?

Finally... Zack I must say that I'm very sorry to hear about Happy Joes.

They have a sunday there and it's the perfect size for me.
 
zack... i have some friends that live on iowa ave and their house got hit by their neighbor's garage. thankfully that was about as bad as it got for them, they were a block down from the really bad stuff on iowa ave. the tornado took dairy queen but left the optomist club trailer untouched, tornados do some weird ****.
 
Hey Terry. Great to see your still around too. :)
Matt.. The guys talking in the video, one is me and the other was a noob that was beating me up through the whole experience. i can appreciate he was scared, but it was like dealing with a small child almost.. Im scared he would say, where should we run.. In fact I left some of it in the small clip.

Me saying no we are staying right here was so he would shut up.. I wanted as much footage as I could get at that moment cause many times they disipate as fast as they are created..

That storm was at 50+ miles an hour and very very difficult to keep up with.

One neat thing I recall was.. when on the move chasing the storm you could smell "FRESH EARTH" It was awesome.. All the dirt the tornado brought into the air, was overpowering.. We could smell it in the vehicle with the windows up when driving in its path.
 
That's a cool thought... fresh earth.

So can you sell this footage to a news channel? Is it mainly to feed a self interest of weather plus video? What happens with your footage after it's edited?

I love the idea of doing this stuff...
 
Its more self interest. If your first to press then you might be able to get 1k for that footage and then sell it again as stock and make maybe 3k or more over its life.

I really enjoy the challenge though of setting up on the right storm and being the person at the right place at the right time.

Chasing a big setup tommorrow in western Ks.. Im excited..

Its a very rewarding sport/hobby.

What you need to learn to be a stormchaser?
Meteorology
storm structure
advanced computer skills
cartography, geography and gps skills
interpretation of radar and model data
videography skills
editing skill
photography skills
on and on...



Fred
 
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This is a shot of a tornado from late yesterday afternoon taken from a local TV station's helicopter. It was only an F-2, but it went right over a hangar at the El Reno airport and ripped large sections off of the roof and scattered several small airplanes about.
 
All great pics.. Wanted to chase that day but had pressing work to take care of. Sorry I missed it.

Oh well.. there will be more storms in May.. I cant wait!
 
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