Posted by admin on March 29, 2010
I have been watching the models later this week with much anticipation. Locally warm air will return in a big way, dew points are likely to climb into the mid 50′s. We have had the forcing mechanism(cold front) along with plenty of shear to rotate the storms, the moisture seems to have been the limiting factor so far this year.
From what I am seeing, the major area currently looks to be Thursday/Friday in Texas and Oklahoma. I can’t make Thursday, but I am off work Friday, if it looks promising I will attempt my first storm chase of the year. I think I am set, although I have yet to activate my mobile internet….It should only take 10-15 minutes to activate…Stay tuned. :)
Remember, you can view our position, live streaming video and even chat with us while we are out.Live Chase
Filed under: Ofallon Weather, St. Louis Weather, Storm Chasing, Video and Pictures
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Posted by admin on March 18, 2010
As we arrive at Spring this weekend, we just may see some snow. This one is really tough to call, the air will be near freezing, above or below, and the ground has surely warmed over the last several weeks. Maybe it will be one of them events that we can enjoy falling from the sky, but not deal with on the roads.
For our friend and avid golfer Bob, it appears we will return quickly to the 60′s next week after Monday. Time to polish the clubs!
For those interested in our storm chasing mission, everything is set. The streaming video is setup and has been tested. The chase page has been updated with live chat, video screen and a tracking map with radar capability. Hope to see you from the road over the next several months!
Filed under: Ofallon Weather, St. Louis Weather, St. Peters Weather
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Posted by admin on March 10, 2010
Well, just when we think we should be getting ready for severe weather, it is at our doorstep.
We are under a slight risk for severe weather into Thursday, the predominant threat in our area will be high winds and hail.
If I can get things setup before going to work we will stream live from our house, I will check it out for quality, as I will have to shoot through a window. It will be a good test, but I am sure my wife will have an issue with the camera and laptop in our bedroom looking southwest! I guess she won’t find out until she gets home from work! (Shhhhh) :)
The live video and chat can be found on our chase summary page
Filed under: Ofallon Weather, St. Louis Weather, St. Peters Weather, Storm Chasing, Video and Pictures
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Posted by admin on March 8, 2010
I will warn everyone upfront, this post is going to be long. First of all we are now in Awareness Week, I try to keep it simple and say have access to information and have a plan. Here is a link to the NWS, please check it out and refresh yourself. If you find you can be a bit more prepared, it is never to soon, severe weather can happen anytime. I encourage everyone have a weather radio with s.a.m.e technology. With this you put in your county code, the radio will then only alarm you if your county has a watch or warning. The model I own has the ability to program to alert for just specific watches and warnings. I have mine set to alarm me of a Tornado Warning or Severe Thunderstorm Warning, it also has the ability to sound for other situations like a nuclear spill or even a sunami.
Okay, now to the website and our hopeful successful upcoming storm chasing season. I now have my video streaming account active and working. I have some new/used equipment coming within the next two weeks to help improve the quality of streaming we will offer. Fair warning, with mobile internet the video will be a fairly low bitrate, around 150 Kbps. We will likely only stream when approaching a severe storm, we do plan possibly streaming from the house if we are unable to go mobile. If you go to our chase page you will see I have inserted a “chat” box, this will enable us to communicate with others live while on the road. You do have to sign up and verify your account. Below the chat box is our video screen, if we are not streaming it will just be a black with an arrow. Next to the video stream is a map showing our position tracked via gps, in this box you can even enable the radar button to see where we are in relation to storms. We will try to notify all people signed up for chat that we are heading out. You can also go here and install a notifier, I have not tried it but you will have access to 400+ storm chasers streaming video. You can personalize it to only notify you when certain streamers are live.
I guess that is it for now, look for this week to be in the 50-60 degree range, with 1-2 inches of rain. This is not the “boring” weather of the last couple of weeks, sorry Bob, no golf for you! ;)
Filed under: Ofallon Weather, St. Louis Weather, St. Peters Weather, Storm Chasing, Video and Pictures
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