Author: Doug

Hey, wow, I am posting on my site again that I said I was going to post on more and less on Anti Social Media. Well, kinda and been kinda busy.

First off, today I was working at home and studying some new computer setups for SCV along with building some custom stuff when all the sudden it started snowing. I know rare in Minnesota right? Well at least for the last 5 weeks it has been pretty rare.

I did not think much of it until the call came out about a multi vehicle crash just north of town on Highway 10 .

Some other work over the last week that I did that was not about the weather was some freelance work in the crime news scene.

I got a message that something was going down on the east side of town on March 4th. Something was up as there was a heavy police prescience and nobody was talking and giving me the look of WTF are you doing here. I did see them bring the man out and load him into the ambulance but did not record that part since I could tell he did not look good and that footage never is used anyway. I did document the scene as they put up the tape and lock down the area.

Then as if there was something in the air that day, while calling it a night, a police chase passes right by me on the way home and crashes a few blocks from home.

From the radio traffic and the jail booking details, the guy had a bunch of warrants out for him for drugs and other crimes.

Not much else to update, not hording toilet paper, not building a bunker, luckily not getting sick so I do have my health. Just trying to keep the family healthy and working on new projects out side of chasing to work on in tandem before the spring chase season.

Wow, what another busy day here. I heard the news about the Press Bar on fire and as soon as I dropped off Laura to daycare / pre school, I headed home to switch out vehicles with all the gear in the work truck and headed downtown to cover the fire.

I was able to get the drone up as soon as I got on scene and used the building’s in downtown Saint Cloud to over over as to not over over any people. I was able to pull off this amazing photograph that I posted above and get some great footage of the scene.

And by the time I was finished and got the footage out to the networks, round two came into the area with heavy snow and icy roads. I was able to get on scene asap to document what was happening.

Footage made it on ABC News and The Weather Channel. the next day. All in all it was a productive, chaotic and busy day, just the way I like them.

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New footage of the powerful ground blizzard and extreme cold weather that hit northwestern Minnesota this afternoon.   Footage shot in the -45F or -45C wind chills near Fergus Falls, MN.  Includes vivid Sun dogs, white out conditions and shots of time and temp showing double digit sub zero air temp.

Yes you read that correctly, -45F/C because at -45 Fahrenheit and -45 Celsius the temp is basically the same . This was wind chill and not air temp so it was a lot more raw on the skin and thinly covered hands. I found out the hard way as my thin gloves where no match for the windchill.

I was hyper focused on getting certain shots for archive usage and was not thinking about the wind chill being as bad as it was. Lucky no damage was done and I was able to warm up in the truck. Another down side tot he extreme cold is the wear and tear on the camera equipment and the batteries. I swear the batteries that should last at least an hour where dead in about 12 minutes.

In the end it was all worth it.

Later this week I hope to get the missing blogs from the past month up on the site. Life Happens 🙂

With winds gusting up to 49MPH and sustained winds near 30MPH the blowing and drifting snow over the roadways in rural Stearns County made for slippery driving conditions today.

The snow blew over the roadways that warmed up in the in the midday sun and then refroze as Glaze Ice and then had more ice and snow build up on top to create extremely dangerous driving conditions in the high winds.

Footage of the blowing snow and numerous accidents around southeastern Stearns County on Highway 23 and Highway 15.

Shot Description

• First part of the video shot just north of Paynesville, MN *

Clip 1 Blowing and drifting snow over a road.

Clip 2 POV Drive By of a Jack Knifed Semi Truck on Highway 23.

Clip 3 – 7 Drone footage of the Jack Knifed Semi Truck on Highway 23.

Clip 8 Tow truck arriving on scene for the Jack Knifed Semi.

Clip 9 – 12 Various recovery shots of the Jack Knifed Semi Truck.

• Second part of the video was shot on Highway 15 near Kimbal, MN *

Clip 13 Blowing and drifting snow on Highway 15.

Clip 14 Snow plow on Highway 15.

Clip 15 Vehicle in the ditch in the blowing snow on Highway 15.

Clip 16 American Flag blowing in the clear blue sky.

Clip 17 Vehicle in the ditch and town truck with a plow truck driving past the scene.

Clip 18 Tow truck driver shoveling out the car in the ditch.

Clip 19 POV clip of a wreck on Highway 15.

Clip 20 Blowing snow over a snow drift with tree’s in the back ground.

Clip 21 Blowing snow and a stop sign with the blowing snow drifting.

Clip 22 Blowing and drifting snow over a open field.

Clip 23 Blowing and drifting snow with a long orange snow fence causing the snow to pile up along the side of the road in the field.

Clip 24 POV Driving in blowing snow over the road making everything look white.

Clip 25 Following slow moving traffic with the blowing snow over the Highway.

Clip 26 – 29 Various shots of snow plows.

Was out covering the slick roads and crashes today and came upon one that was pretty classic. Someone rear ended a insurance company SUV.

A fast moving clipper system moved through the state of Minnesota today and brought just enough snow to make the roads extremely slick during the afternoon rush hour.

Dozens of Accidents where reported around the Saint Cloud, MN metro area with one aftermath of a Progressive Auto Insurance vehicle that was rear ended. We think someone wanted to really name their own price, EXPENSIVE, for hitting an insurance company vehicle…

Well, 2020 is off to an interesting start. I finally got to use my Drone License today on a crash aftermath and cleanup of the Semi Truck that crashed in the westbound side of Interstate 94 just west of Highway 15 in Saint Cloud, MN.

The semi ended up in the right hand ditch only and only injuries reported where to the driver. Cause of the accident is unknown at the time of the event, the sky was overcast with winds 15-25mph and slick road conditions around the area.

Now that my backlog of To Do’s are Done, going to be getting out more in 2020 to chase and more drone work.

Gez, it was a mess today. Another round of extremely difficult driving conditions in central Minnesota with the latest winter storm system impacting the area. Footage shot on Interstate 94 in Monticello and in Saint Cloud, MN as well as Sherburne and Becker Counties . Pretty much wherever you drove you had to be careful not to spin out in crash.

Got back to my roots and was in downtown Minneapolis, MN covering the Alberta Clipper weather system that moved into through Minneapolis, MN this afternoon bringing another blanket of snow on the Twin Cities metro area. Footage shot in downtown Minneapolis on the Nicollett Mall as people where out going about their day in downtown Minneapolis, MN as the snow was falling.

I was back out today for another round of snow combined with near zero temps created extremely slick road conditions on Interstate 94 in Stearns County, MN that resulted in several areas of multiple vehicle piles up’s.

Just got in from documenting the brutal cold weather around Saint Cloud, MN.