IT Director for a non-profit in Washington, DC. Man About Internet.
Betsy Mason, at Wired's MapLab blog writes:
This map shows the paths of every hurricane and cyclone detected since 1842. Nearly 12,000 tropical cyclones have been tracked and recorded, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration keeps them all in a single database. Long-term datasets can be really interesting and scientifically valuable, and this one is undoubtedly both. The map is fascinating. Check it out.
Find more of my work here: http://www.mikeolbinski.com Also follow me on Instragram for storm photos and whatnot - http://instagram.com/mikeolbinski Still print of this storm can be found here if interested: http://gallery.mikeolbinski.com/stormchasing/h6015e87e#h6015e87e Technical deets: Canon 5D2, Rokinon 14mm 2.8...first three clips were at 1-second intervals = 880ish photos, the last sequence was around 90, 5-second exposures Music by Kevin MacLeod - http://incompetech.com/ ------------- It took four years but I finally got it. A rotating supercell. And not just a rotating supercell, but one with insane structure and amazing movement. I've been visiting the Central Plains since 2010. Usually it's just for a day, or three, or two...but it took until the fourth attempt to actually find what I'd been looking for. And boy did we find it. No, there was no tornado. But that's not really what I was after. I'm from Arizona. We don't get structure like this. Clouds that rotate and look like alien spacecraft hanging over the Earth. We chased this storm from the wrong side (north) and it took us going through hail and torrential rains to burst through on the south side. And when we did...this monster cloud was hanging over Texas and rotating like something out of Close Encounters. The timelapse was shot on a Canon 5D Mark II with a Rokinon 14mm 2.8 lens. It's broken up into four parts. The first section ends because it started pouring on us. We should have been further south when we started filming but you never know how long these things will last, so I started the timelapse as soon as I could. One thing to note early on in the first part is the way the rain is coming down on the right and actually being sucked back into the rotation. Amazing. A few miles south is where part two picks up. And I didn't realize how fast it was moving south, so part three is just me panning the camera to the left. During that third part you can see dust along the cornfield being pulled into the storm as well...part of the strong inflow. The final part is when the storm had started dying out and we shot lightning as it passed over us. Between the third and fourth portions we drove through Booker, Texas where tornado sirens were going off...it was creepy as all heck. And intense. I hope you enjoy this. Once thing I've learned about timelapsing is that I always wish it would be longer or wouldn't end. I wish I had been south and been able to record this storm come at me for 45 minutes. But I love it the way it is. I wasn't ever certain I'd see structure like this even though it's been such a goal of mine. But we did it. And by we, I mean myself and my buddy Andy Hoeland, who knows his crap and got us into position so we could chase this storm. Without him along I don't know if I get this timelapse.
I've always been fascinated by extreme weather. It wasn't until my second year of college that I decided to focus on a technology related degree rather than pursue meteorology. Because of this, whenever the area I live in is under a Tornado warning, tropical system warning, or there is an incoming winter storm I tend to get excited and track the storm closely as it comes in. Growing up, my dream job was to be a storm chaser chasing Tornados in the mid-west (in college was where I learned just how many of those jobs exist and what they paid...). As Hurricane Sandy gets closer and looks as if it will directly impact where I live, I've been spending more and more of my time over the last few days glued to the advisories being released by the National Hurricane Center, our local weather geniuses at Capital Weather Gang, and other good sources of weather info. This morning, as I kept finding more and more great resources I began having difficulty in keeping track of them all and decided that I should just build my own page with links to them to make it easier. It occurred to me that other people might appreciate being able to see this page as well. Here it is. I've yet to come up with a good name for it and I've intentionally put near zero effort in its design (other than slapping it together with bootstrap) in order to keep it as light-weight as possible for speed. Please use the contact form on the site linked in the nav to send me sites you think would be good to include on the page. Hurricane Sandy Weather Resources Note: The site is a work in progress and I'm still updating it. I could consider it incomplete at this time but will continue to update it over the next 48 hours or so with links.
For all of you west coasters who heard us east coasters complain about the big storm that hit us at the end of June. Here is a video shot by someone who was caught out in the storm and had to take shelter in the Jefferson Memorial in DC.
More info at Capital Weather Gang.
Paul Krugman, writing for the New York Times:
A few weeks ago, Mr. Cantor was the hard man in the confrontation over the debt ceiling; he was willing to endanger America’s financial credibility, putting our whole economy at risk, in order to extract budget concessions from President Obama. Now he’s doing it again, this time over disaster relief, making headlines by insisting that any federal aid to the victims of Hurricane Irene be offset by cuts in other spending. In effect, he is threatening to take Irene’s victims hostage. How is it that his supporters can continue to defend him and yet, still sleep at night?
After browsing around Youtube, I saw a few videos showing the incredible damage to the Outer Banks due to Hurricane Irene. Here are a few good ones: From the Virginia Pilot: From Outer Beaches Realty: The Coast Guard:
I tooted about this earlier, but I couldn't help but writing a post here as well.
I'm very familiar with the Outer Banks. My family and friends vacation there a lot, and it's one of my favorite places in the world (especially Ocracoke Island). Because of the familiarly of OBX, I guess this piece of news feels the most real to me out of all of the other damage that Hurrican Irene caused.
So check this out:
Source: MSNBC & Steve Helber, Associated Press
MSNBC added this caption to these photos:
Officials survey the damage to Route 12 on Hatteras Island, N.C., on Aug. 28. Hurricane Irene swept through the area Saturday cutting the roadway in five locations. Irene caused more than 4.5 million homes and businesses along the East Coast to reportedly lose power over the weekend, and at least 11 deaths were blamed on the storm. A local North Carolina TV station had this video on their site: An article accompanied this video which contains more specific information. I was curious, however, about where exactly the two inlets are. Based on the lone building in the first photo and about 10 minutes searching Google Maps' Satellite View, I think I found the location. Check the Street View as well. See the small structure next to it? Now look at the satellite view ago and the photo above. Fairly certain they're the same. Now for the second photo. This is the most interesting of the two, I think, because it shows that there was a house that was destroyed and was washed out to sea. I think the second photo was at this location. See the northernmost house on the left side of the road? See the circular feature on the right side of it? See how those western-most houses are arranged in a semi-circle?. Now, notice the northern-most house on the right? See how its almost in-line with the northern most house on the left? Now check out the street view. You can see the large square brown sign on the left side of the road with white lettering. Its on both the Google Maps link and the MSNBC photo. Now look for the northernmost eastern house? Instead of the house, the new inlet is there. The house no longer exists, at least in constructed, house-form - I'm sure it exists, but in many parts, all floating in the ocean or washed up along the beach elsewhere. Stunning, for me at least.