Tornado Alley - Chase Trip 2008 - Vaughan Weather

Patrick and I intercepted this intense Mexican storm with 3.75 inch hail near Eagle Pass Tx. Apparently this storm produced a tornado and after vigorous video and still image analysis we believe we may have just caught the funnel... barely! More images to come soon.

Oklahoma is one heck of a beaten up state with all the trees in the eastern areas exhibiting some kind of damage. Anyway, we intercepted a cool supercell and found ourselves in the core having fun with hail, high winds and a funnel cloud. The radar image at the bottom shows our location and all I can say is wow. We are definately not used to these kinds of storms!

On our way to Oklahoma we passed through some tornado damage from the storms which occurred in Missouri Saturday May 10th. This tornado has not yet been rated by the SPC but it was fatal killing 3 people.

Bob Berry (VA3WXW) was more than kind enough to not only set up an APRS tracking system for our vehicle but he also loaned me his brand new radio just for APRS use. It took a couple hours to set the system up but once everything was figured out there was a huge smile on my face.

Click this link to track me now -> http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=ve3vwx-9&radar=***

I love watching TV but there is just something missing with standard broadcasts. You know, the screen almost looks blurry? But hey that's what high definition is meant to fix right? My shot gun microphone and some other gear arrived today which I was able to outfit the new Canon XH A1 with. I fell in love with the XH A1 due to it's price, quality and similarities with past ENG cameras I have worked with. It is great having full manual controls (like the IRIS ring) without having to dive into a menu driven system like other cameras. It also has a full suite of standard broadcast features (BNC & LANC terminals) making it great for my freelance activities. Did I mention it shoots in full 1080i/p HD? Well they call the 1080p function 1080f, but that's due to the way the camera CCD operates, the final product is still true 1080p video (none of that fake pull down method). Here are some shots of the camera fully loaded minus the rain cover which is still packed away. I will never figure out how to use rain covers!!!!

I am working on figuring out how to display my location live on Spotter Network through a Google map. Bob Berry (VA3WXW) is also going to loan me his APRS system which will feed both the APRS network and Spotter Network when my cellular connection is off or we are in a dead spot. It's a good thing Dan put in 4 sets of wires, with a second radio we will need it, and I am actually really glad I purchased a little 1/4 VHF wave coil mag mount antenna last summer. It looks like it is going to come in handy for the APRS radio if I don't find another antenna.

Click this link to track me now -> http://www.findu.com/cgi-bin/find.cgi?call=ve3vwx&radar=***

Dan Wexler (VA3WXX) was kind enough to prepare Patrick's Mazda Protege for the trip. After a couple trips to Canadian Tire and Home Depot for supplies coupled with Dan's fantastic wiring and firewall penetration skills the Protege is ready to carry some current! Now I just hope we don't get struck by lightning (again) after all the stories I have heard.