Dome Cam wonders

I will be posting over the next few days video diaries of my chase logs for May 8,9,10th...stay tuned.  However, I just wanted to upload this and share the video footage taken from the dome cam during its first real run during a severe weather event.  It came out wonderful and better than I expected.  Better yet, here are the highlights.

March 25th Chase Log

So here we are in the middle of March with the longest tornado-less track record in history for the entire United States. Many chasers including myself were beginning to wonder if there was going to be any storms soon to chase. The weather gods finally answered our prayers when the Storm Prediction Center issued a hint in the change of weather patterns across the US in their 4-8 day outlook.

DAY 4-8 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK

NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK

0333 AM CDT SAT MAR 21 2015 VALID 241200Z - 291200Z ...

DISCUSSION... ECMWF/GFS CONTINUE TO SUGGEST A STRONG SHORT-WAVE TROUGH WILL EJECT ACROSS THE NRN/CNTRL ROCKIES INTO THE CNTRL PLAINS/MID MS VALLEY DURING THE DAY4 PERIOD. GFS IS STRONGER WITH ITS SPEED MAX APPROACHING 100KT AS IT TRANSLATES ACROSS NRN KS INTO NRN MO BY 25/00Z. THIS STRONGER SOLUTION FORCES A DEEPER SFC LOW OVER IA BY PEAK HEATING WHILE ECMWF IS SOMEWHAT WEAKER WITH LOW OVER MO. REGARDLESS...IT APPEARS SUFFICIENT MOISTURE MAY RETURN ACROSS THE WARM SECTOR FOR A THREAT OF DEEP CONVECTION WITHIN A STRONGLY SHEARED ENVIRONMENT. WHILE STRONGEST FORCING WILL BE FOCUSED ACROSS IA/NRN MO...A FEW STORMS MAY DEVELOP SWD ALONG FRONTAL ZONE INTO NERN OK WHERE HEATING/INSTABILITY WILL BE SOMEWHAT GREATER.

Ok, so my interest is now peaked along with hundreds of other chasers following a day of disappointment on Tuesday March 24 with the forecast of a strong cold front sweeping down over the plains. On Tuesday night, I read the latest outlook and found myself seeing this would be a great kick off to the season. The hint of tornadoes was possible and I couldn't resist.
DAY 2 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK

NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK

1223 PM CDT TUE MAR 24 2015 ...


THERE IS AN ENH RISK OF SVR TSTMS ACROSS PARTS OF EXTREME NORTH TX...OK AND FAR NW AR... ...SUMMARY... SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ALONG A COLD FRONT STRETCHING FROM PARTS OF THE MID MISSISSIPPI VALLEY WEST SOUTHWESTWARD INTO PARTS OF THE SOUTHERN PLAINS ON WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS SHOULD BE THE PRIMARY THREATS. ...SRN PLAINS... A POSITIVELY-TILTED UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH WILL MOVE INTO THE SRN ROCKIES AND CNTRL HIGH PLAINS ON WEDNESDAY AS A COLD FRONT ADVANCES SWD ACROSS THE CNTRL AND SRN PLAINS. THE AIRMASS AHEAD OF THE FRONT IS FORECAST TO BECOME MODERATELY UNSTABLE DURING THE DAY AS A CAPPING INVERSION WEAKENS BY AFTERNOON. THESE FACTORS COMBINED WITH INCREASING LOW-LEVEL CONVERGENCE WILL RESULT IN SFC-BASED THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT ALONG THE BOUNDARY IN THE LATE AFTERNOON. SEVERAL CONVECTIVE CLUSTERS SHOULD ORGANIZE LATE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON WITH MCS DEVELOPMENT POSSIBLE ACROSS THE REGION DURING THE EARLY EVENING. NAM FORECAST SOUNDINGS NEAR THE STRONGEST INSTABILITY AT 21Z WEDNESDAY FOR TULSA AND OKLAHOMA CITY SWD TO NEAR THE RED RIVER SHOW SFC DEWPOINTS FROM 60 TO 65 F WITH MLCAPE VALUES IN THE 2500 TO 3500 J/KG RANGE. THIS COMBINED WITH 0-6 KM SHEAR OF 45 TO 50 KT AND 850 TO 500 MB LAPSE RATES NEAR 8.5 C/KM SHOULD BE FAVORABLE FOR SUPERCELLS WITH LARGE HAIL. CELLS THAT ARE DISCRETE EARLY IN THE EVENT AND COINCIDE WITH MAXIMIZED INSTABILITY MAY PRODUCE HAILSTONES OF GREATER THAN 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER. THE AMOUNT OF INSTABILITY COMBINED WITH VERY STEEP LOW-LEVEL LAPSE RATES WILL ALSO MAKE WIND DAMAGE LIKELY WITH THE STRONGER CELLS. A TORNADO OR TWO CAN NOT BE RULED OUT ESPECIALLY IF CELLS CAN BECOME ENHANCED BY MESOSCALE INFLUENCES SUCH AS AN OUTFLOW BOUNDARY. HOWEVER...THE COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO UNDERCUT THE CONVECTION AS STORM COVERAGE INCREASES IN THE LATE AFTERNOON WHICH SHOULD MITIGATE THE TORNADO THREAT AS THE EVENT UNFOLDS. ALTHOUGH SEVERE STORMS WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE ACROSS NCNTRL AND WCNTRL TX...A CAPPING INVERSION SHOULD MAKE CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT MORE ISOLATED WITH SWWD EXTENT.

So in a nutshell, hail was a for sure and tornadoes, a big maybe. Then I saw this...

Ok, I'll bite.
So here we are, Wednesday March 25th. I woke to a headache and checked the models to make sure nothing disappeared overnight. Well, surprise, surprise, the Marginal chase day was moved up to Enhanced. Excellent, but I was concerned about the amount of moisture available. Would they climb??

 

 

By 12pm, it was time to make the decision based on the amount of cloud cover and lack of dew points to consider.  I had a strong feeling that the clouds would break and decided to pack up the Envoy and head out.  One of the hardest choices for me to make was, do I take a chance at loading up the roof cam or not?  After verifying the profiles of hail sizes to be expected, I didn't want to risk it. By twelve thirty, I was on the road and set my target for Sand Springs as a starting point.  The sun tried for a while to break out and finally it did after I reached my destination and stopped off at the local IHOP for lunch.  From my window seat, I could see the sun was burning off the morning fog and blue skies were on tap.

I began communicating with one of my chaser buddies from the station, Fred Williams who was located in Cleveland, just to my west.  I decided until the action began, to pay him a visit.  From the top of the hill where he was situated, it gave a great vantage point to all points North, West and South.  We chatted for a while while continuing to watch the radar.  Cells were already beginning to fire along the Kansas/ Oklahoma border, so I began having second thoughts if I should move a little more to the north towards Pawhuska.  

Saying goodby to Fred, I headed north but kept an eye to my southwest where a new cell was beginning to develop.   Then I remembered an image the Tulsa NWS had posted earlier that morning.

Checking the latest dew points, the numbers had changed for the better, not to mention the newly posted thunderstorm watch box..

There was no need to shoot north, so I decided to turn back around and head south.  By this time, the cell entering the Cleveland area was really taking off. 

Reporting to KTUL television station my location, I was advised to sit tight due to 2 inch hail in the area.  Oh really, I remember thinking.  All I could see was pea size and heavy rain obscuring my view.  Anyways, I sat for a few minutes watching the radar and decided to continue south towards highway 412 watching this cell with an impressive view from the east. Compared to the image about taken only 15 minutes prior, this cell was going to throw down some mean hail.

All the while as I watched the cell to the south begin to get its act together, a second cell to my north started laying down some pretty mean hail up to 2 1/2 inches. Ok, it was now time to continue for highway 412 and put some distance between me and the hail shaft.

 

By the time I was back on highway 412 heading back towards Tulsa, the southern cell that I was on was given a tornado warning due to a report coming from Keystone Lake just a few miles down the road ahead of me. In pursuit, I pushed through the rain until breaking into the clear to see the Tornado ahead of me crossing the road as I continued to stream live to the TV station. Pulling off to the side of the highway, the view was amazing.

Below is the approximate GPS logging of my location (Little Black X) on the base reflectivity scan of the storm at 5:40pm.   

The following image is one taken at the same time using base velocity scan taken at the same time.  Estimated winds in the next scan shows the Rear Flank Downdraft into the storm rated at around 94 mph.

 

As you can see, I was pretty close to the tornado after I decided to move under the bridge seen here in the video to avoid the hail shaft coming out of the west.
After the Tornado passed over the road taking out a mobile home park, I followed the cell as it continued towards Sand Springs and lifted just before entering town. Pressing on, I followed the cell as it continued to churn its way towards Tulsa and all I could think about was, would it drop again. I needed to get off this road and head a bit north onto 75 and switch back east on highway 11 near the Tulsa International Airport where I could continue tracking this dangerous storm.

Closer to Tulsa, the visibility was turning for the worst, not to mention the amount of Traffic along the way.  Power flashes were seen along I-244 until i reached an area near the airport to get a better view of the second area of rotation spinning over the city.  The rain was coming down in sheets, so the image was effected as well. Deciding with the conditions, I decided to head home for the day.

Event Summary – March 25, 2015



Severe thunderstorms developed late in the afternoon on March 25, 2015 near a warm front that had surged north into northeast Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas. With a highly sheared and unstable air mass in place across the area, discrete supercells were able to develop near the warm front late in the afternoon and into the early evening hours. Several tornadoes were spawned from the supercells from west of Tulsa into northwest Arkansas. As the evening wore on, a cold front surged into the area from the northwest and thunderstorms congealed into a line along the cold front marching to the south and east during the evening and overnight hours. Many of the storms became severe producing large hail and damaging winds before exiting southeast Oklahoma and west-central Arkansas. 

The tornado developed over Keystone Lake in Osage County, and moved ESE across Highway 412 near the bridge. It damaged ranch style homes, barns, and a church on 209th West Ave. The tornado traveled SE damaging several more homes on 193rd West Ave and crossed Highway 412 where it blew over a semi tractor trailer. Large utility poles were snapped south of Highway 412, and a doughnut business was destroyed at 177th West Ave. The tornado continued SE across the Arkansas River, then moved eastward across River Oaks Estates mobile home park where numerous homes were destroyed, resulting in one fatality and 30 injuries. The tornado then crossed the river again, as it headed toward Sand Springs where it dissipated just before reaching Highway 97. Numerous trees were snapped and uprooted along the path, and many power poles were also snapped.

 

 

Spring is in the air

With warmer temperatures on tap, I couldn't resist getting out additions to the Envoy using Driveway Graphics to customize a new windshield decal sporting our station KTUL. 

Fog Lights mounted and ready

Taking advantage of the warm weather today in the low 70's, I've been itching for the last several weeks to get the fog lights mounted on the Envoy.  I was hoping to add the switch above the factory fog lights believing there was some open area behind the panel.  Boy was I wrong.  Good ol' General Motors and Chevy decided to incorporate the fog lights into the headlight switch thus creating an oversized box of circuits.  This was unexpected, but lets keep moving on.

After searching the web for a while, i really liked the style Pilot Automotive puts out for their lights.  Running through their catalog, I came across Pl-2202C Fog Lamps.

After opening the package to display the contents, I began work by checking over the new brush guard and located the two pre-drilled holes for mounting.  They were a bit over-sized for my mounting bolts, so I added a few washers to make up the difference.  With both secured, we end up with this.

 

As I said before, this was the design I really like and after mounting, it gave the Envoy a beefer look to the front.  I also added the newly created license plate displaying my Ham call sign.  With the hood now opened, it was just a matter of fishing the lines through the firewall into the cab.  I think Pilot could offer an additional 4 feet of wire, I had to cut and splice new extensions to the switch which is mounted to the right and below the steering wheel.

With all the lines routed safely under the dash, I finished up by connecting the ground wire and hot wired the positive cable to the battery.  Here is the finished result.

 

I'm really looking forward to using these during the upcoming storm season.  With only a few minor things left to add, I'm ready for whatever nature throws at me.

 

 

Down time updates...

Latest batch of images are now posted in their respected folders..

Omni-Cam shake down capabilities

The Omni-eye Roof Dome camera

One of the biggest challenges for most chasers tracking a specific feature of a storm, while in motion, is capturing it before it disappears before you have time to line up the shot.  In 2012, I fell victim of such an incident while chasing a tornado south of Romona, Oklahoma.  The tornado I was streaming live decided to lift.  Turing back north, I kept tracking the storm.  Well what do you know, it decided to drop again. But oh no, the next exit wasn't for another 3 miles.  By the time I was able to get the streaming camera in position to shoot, the tornado was dissipating.  I lost the shot for the station and cursed myself on my return home to find a better solution.  I had seen the company MesoDome at the Storm Chasers Convention earlier that spring, and found their line of products pretty amazing.  Using a joystick controller, GPS tracking software and a mini exterior dome, you can pretty much lock onto a tornado and continue driving as the camera continues to roll on.  Although you can check out their website, I found with everything that the dome can do, I could do without the steep price of the units.  I don't chase storms 24/7 and I'm not running a chase tour, so I consider it out of my reach for the most point.  But this year with all the changes I'm making setting up the new chase vehicle, one of the top priorities I made sure was, to address the issue.

First off, there is very little on the web in regards to other chasers doing a sort of dome cam from the roof.  I would definitely check out Dory Hayes YouTube video which he explains his device.  So, with an idea in mind, it was time to start building my own.

First off, I already had a rack in mind to put in place on top of the Envoy.  Something simple in design which could carry the roof cam housing, Anemometer and whatever I decide for future use.  I picked this one up at Walmart for $80.00. As you can see in the photo below, it works well with the Envoy.

So now the fun begins.  I decided to order up a dome from Replacement Domes which offers quite a selection of domes to choose from.  I decided on the 9 inch Clear Acrylic. I picked up most of the wood products from Lowes and began drawing out the details. The box would have to be 13" square.

With the sides cut and placed together, I decided to run a bead of clear silicone between the boards to help keep out the moisture.

With the base complete, it was time to finish the top where the dome would be placed upon.  I pre-drilled on one side of the casing holes large enough to fish the USB camera cable through as well as the power cable.  I picked up a blend door actuator off line which will rotate the camera 360 degrees.  With the center hole cut, it was time to mount the actuator from below, cut and sand a 3/8 dowel to sit in the actuator and attach the camera to the base.

With all the pieces in place, I hot wired the actuator with 9 volts, and it rotated beautifully.

With everything fitting perfectly, it was time to place the dome over the top and mark the areas of where the hold down clamps will seat it to the top cover.

With everything checking out, I removed the camera, actuator and sealed the rest of the casing together with the exception to the top cover.  I sprayed the entire unit with bed liner spray found in most auto parts stores.  This will seal the remaining areas of the wood and make for a nice finish. After the spray had dried, it was time to create the handheld controller which will be able to rotate the camera in all directions.  Many of the parts I found were from Radio Shack. 

And now the Video.

As you can see, I shelled out about 80 bucks in material minus the web camera which retailed for about $60.00. 

With the casing finalized, it was time to begin with the mounting screws.  I decided on 1/2 U-bolts to secure the camera to the rack.  The poles attached to the camera box are ordinary shelf mounts for the wall which are pretty stiff.  Anchoring it to the base, the U-bolts are attached to the roof rack.  Checking over the tightness, its ready to deploy. 



Prior to securing the dome cover, I thought hard about setting up a sort of venting system in order to circulate the air within the dome.  One of the things I took in consideration was the build up of excessive heat which could damage the camera.  A simple solution was made by installing two 1/2 PCV pipes that run from below the camera box up through to the dome cover.  I'm not really sure how much air flow to allow without creating a whirl of air inside, so I decided to drill holes into the inlet port.  See below.

And of course the simple exhaust port which is off centered from the inlet port.

 And finally the controller for the whole setup.  I reduced the power required from 12vcc to 9vcc which gives the motion a very smooth flow to it.

In conclusion, once I have the dome secured in place, I'll mount the rack on top of the Envoy and take it out for a test drive.  Stay tuned.

Its beginning to look a lot like 2015....

Deciding it was time to upgrade everything for the new chase vehicle, I decided to finally let go of my homemade computer stand in favor for the Ram Mount stand.  The cost was a bit pricy for my taste, but considering that I had enough of the original swing arm swinging when taking a corner, it was time for a serious upgrade.  I searched high and low all over the internet trying to find a decent priced stand which I finally did at GPSCheap.com  These guys did a great job hooking me up with a good deal and within 8 days it finally arrived this afternoon.  I was too excited to wait till spring to see what it looked like.  So here it is, after I signed for it.

Pretty much everything was accounted for opening the box, but if your not too savvy working without instructions, I would suggest going to the Ram Mount website and open the PDF files for your needed info.

The box came with 4 separate bags holding different parts to the setup.  The arm joint was easy to put together as was the floor brace.  The instructions for the base was easy, remove the two front bolts holding the seat in place and slip in the brace. Noting how hard it would be to attach the lower leg of the stand to the base with it installed, I decided to attach the bolts/nuts first before putting it in place in the Envoy.

As you can see, the base bracket fits well in the Envoy.  I used a 1/2 breaker bar to remove the 18mm bolts holding the seat in place.  With everything tightened down, it was time to return to building the upper half. I apologize for not taking pictures of the build of the computer base, but you can find info on it clicking this link:  Ram Mounts instructional page

With the upper arm joint built and the computer base set, it was time to set it in place.  I really like the ease of building this mount and I can't wait to test it out this spring.  Coming up in the next build is the installation of a new roof dome camera.

Gotta have a plan in place first

So I've been tooling around with different ideas for the GMC Envoy, and these are the final exterior details I've come up with to build.  Giving me an idea on the direction I'm heading for, will make the process so much easier during the long winter months.  Interior shots will be loaded up soon once I install the ram mount for the computer.  Stay tuned.....

The new chase vehicle. 2005 GMC Envoy

Ok, here's the latest post on my storm blog.  Following the departure of the 2003 Chevy Blazer comes my next chase vehicle.  I decided on the 2005 GMC Envoy to carry on the tradition of my storm chasing adventures.  I plan to do a complete writeup of each step as the vehicle is transformed and upgraded.  For now, I have switched over my ham radio and scanner to the new vehicle.  More serious upgrades will be posted at a later date.  I have found there is hardly any GMC Envoy chase vehicles out there on the web with pictures. I guess there's a beginning for everything.  Stay tuned...