Author: Doug

If you Google the term, “what is the phoenix”? you come up with this answer.
phoe·nix/ˈfēniks/nounnoun: phoenix; plural noun: phoenixes

1. (in classical mythology) a unique bird that lived for five or six centuries in the Arabian desert, after this time burning itself on a funeral pyre and rising from the ashes with renewed youth to live through another cycle.
   • a person or thing regarded as uniquely remarkable in some respect.

Right now, I’m in the process of burning this site down and having it reborn.  The older blogs are going first and then it will be onto the hurricane blogs and how to pages.   Hope to have this done by next week. 1/8/2019.  If you are seeing this, you are on the new platform for the site.

Yes I could use an automated system to convert this form the outdated system but I have found so many damn spelling errors and just messed up stuff tied into the old BNVN system, burning it down and rebuilding is the only way to move forward.

Happy New Year and happy new chase season.

Here is an image from yesterdays chase of the winter storm system on the west side of Stearns County, MN.

Yesterday was pretty active for weather here in Minnesota that started almost as soon as the day began at midnight.

The first video I shot was this one where MNDot crews attacked this snow system with a vengeance and were on this like they were schooling the rest of the country with how to clean up the snow.

Freezing Rain & Heavy Snow cause slick roads in Saint Cloud, MN – 12/31/2018 https://youtu.be/eIADApbLrNU

Later on New Years Eve, I did not feel like driving to the South Dakota boarder for the really extreme conditions since it was New Years Eve and I knew most of the media was shut down and I did not want to get suck out in the middle of nowhere BFE on New Years and not be home with the family.

So I opted to stay somewhat local and got another Unicorn or Great White Buffalo on video which is a tow truck in a wreck or stuck or a snow plow crashed. I call them that since they are so rare up here. I know down south it happens a lot but I would like to think that the plow drivers and tow truck drivers in Minnesota have a little more experience and skill in the winter weather then their counter parts down south.

Sauk Centre, MN Crashes, High Winds And Blowing Snow – 12/31/2018

As I promised, in 2019 I will be more focused on posting and updating this page then ever before since I’m pretty much sick of the time I have wasted on the social media sites like Facebook that are nothing more then people bitching about political crap.

So over the next few days and weeks I will be migrating my old blog over here to the new platform if you are seeing this here on the temp WeatherPaparazzi.net page. If you are seeing this on the Weatherpaparazzi.com page, well that means everything worked.

In this video, we take a look at the extreme cold “Polar Vortex” sub zero weather where we freeze items that you would think should be safe from the cold weather.

Shot in Minnesota during the overnight hours where the outside air temp was -28F.

We did a time lapse of summer blend or non treated Diesel fuel in the extreme cold and you can see it freezing and jelling up into a thick sludge that looked like wax. Imagine that in your fuel tank and in your fuel system.

Also included along side the diesel freezing, we froze old antifreeze that was rated for -10F to show that if you do not have the properly rated antifreeze in your engine, you will be in big trouble as this expanded. In a sealed system, this could ruin your engine.

We also revisited the freezing 40 Proof Vodka and freezing 35 Proof Rum to show the time lapse of the alcohol freezing.

As a control, we did freeze a bottle of water and last but not least, we froze time. Ok not really time but a scuba diving watch / dive computer in a large glass where it became a huge block of ice.

Special thank you to the staff at GATR Truck Center in Sauk Rapids, MN for finding the impossible to find non treated summer blend of diesel fuel that I used in this video.
Check them out at their website and Twitter at :
https://www.gatr.net
https://twitter.com/gatrtruckcenter

Also check out our TeeSpring Merch below the video.

© www.stormchasingvideo.com

A quick but powerful winter weather system moved into central Minnesota and started out as freezing rain then transitioned into heavy snow in the Saint Cloud, MN metro area during the overnight hours.

Footage of MNDot crews hitting the roads hard to clear them before the morning rush, people driving around in the snow and a couple of cars spun out and crashed because of the slippery road conditions.
Shot Description

Clip 1 Saint Cloud sign with heavy snow falling.

Clip 2 MNDot Gang Plows on Highway 15 clearing the snow and ice.

Clip 3 MNDot Gang Plows on Highway 23 clearing the snow and ice.

Clip 4 Same shot as clip three but with fixed wide angle low view.

Clip 5 MNDot plow waiting at a stop light on Highway 23 in downtown Saint Cloud, MN.

Clip 6 Following MNDot plows on Highway 15.

Clip 7 Tight shot of plow blade clearing snow.

Clip 8 MNDot Plow on Highway 10 and Highway 15.

Clip 9 – 11 Car crashed in the ditch on the south side of town.

Clip 12 Driving in heavy snow on Interstate 94.

Clip 13 Car in the ditch on Interstate 94.

Clip 14 Tight shot of the front of a car in the snow.

Clip 15 Traffic on Highway 23

Clip 16 Car waiting at a stop light on Highway 23 in downtown Saint Cloud.

Clip 17 Flag blowing in the wind and snow falling.

Clip 18 Tight shot of street lights and the heavy snow falling.

SID: Your Mom

Very slipper road conditions continued throughout the evening for central Minnesota along Interstate 94 in Douglas County where numerous accidents were reported including several jack knifed semi trucks.

Clip 1 POV Drive past a Jack Knifed semi truck

Clip 2-3 Static shot from the side of the interstate looking down at the Jack Knifed Semi truck as crews worked to pull it back onto the road.

Clip 4 Tight shot of the crews pulling the semi truck out of the ditch

Clip 5 State Trooper SUV blocking traffic

Clip 6 Pulling the Semi onto the road

Clip 7 Snow plow passes the scene

Clip 8 American Flag blowing in the high winds

Clip 9 Passing a truck in the ditch

Clip 10 POV Passing a snow plow coming towards the camera

Clip 11 Driving in poor road conditions and blowing snow

Clip 12 SUV stuck in the ditch

Clip 13 Passing a crash scene with multiple vehicles being recovered (long clip)

Clip 14 Passing a crash scene on Interstate 94

Clip 15 SUV stuck in the ditch in the cable barrier

A powerful winter storm is hitting the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota during the overnight hours.

Footage shot around the Twin Cities metro area and in Saint Cloud, MN. See shot sheet for full details.

Footage shot in 4K
Shot Description

Clips 1-16 from the Twin Cities Metro area.
Clip 17-End from Saint Cloud, MN

Clip 01 Minneapolis skyline

Clip 02 Tow truck on highway 169 stuck in the ditch with a car on the back.

Clip 03 Tight shot of the tow truck spinning its wheels.

Clip 04 Wide shot of the tow truck stuck and cars driving by.

Clip 05 SUV stuck in the ditch

Clip 06 Car stuck in the ditch

Clip 07 Car trying to recover after spinning out and almost hitting the wall.

Clip 08 Car in the ditch with squad cars and tow truck.

Clip 09 Flags blowing in the snow

Clip 10 Crews clearing the snow off the runway at the Minneapolis Saint Paul international Airport

Clip 11 – 13 Snow plows on 494

Clip 14 Snow plow coming towards the camera

Clip 15 Car stuck in the snow.

Clip 16 Truck stuck in the cables on interstate 94.

** Following clips from Saint Cloud, MN **

Clip 17 Sign warning of the winter storm.

Clip 18 – 25 Various shots of snow plows on highway 23 in Saint Cloud, MN.

Real time 4k video of the Geminid Meteor shower along with Comet 46P-Wirtanen (fuzzy green glow)in Benton County, MN. Video shows numerous shooting stars in real time shooting through the frame along with the faint glow of the comet near the constellation Pleiades.

From the old site…

So, its been a while since I have updated this page.  Been busy and the architect of this page is so out dated from what the vision was to be that I’m working on a major overhaul and archive of this site before I launch the new site that will focus more on the photography and video work, not the story and blogs so much. 

So what is up?  I love it when people say I don’t chase anymore…  I just don’t chase garbage storms.  Here is a still image from the video of me after I drove through the eastern right front quadrant of Category Five Hurricane Michael from Mexico Beach, FL as the storm surge was coming in and the winds were raging.

Here is the image that I’m calling Stadium Of The Gods. 

Like I said the setup of this page sucks, I can’t even embed Youtube videos so I will be burning it down and starting over. 

Here is a quick video recap of what I saw during the storm.

https://youtu.be/Aa-kYEIi0E0

Here is a quick recap of the damage I saw while the storm was still raging but the storm surge had gone down enough to get back into Mexico Beach.

The most dangerous winter weather on the road is always the one that does not seem like that much, until it turns to ice. B-Roll footage of the snow storm that impacted central Minnesota this evening causing slick roads and dozens of accidents around Stearns County, Minnesota.
Shot Description

Clip 1 Road turned from dry pavement to glare ice without warning and we ended up going for a ride. Note camera time on screen is east coast time. Luckily the truck is built for off roading.

Clip 2 – 4 Snow plow on Interstate 94.

Clip 5 – 6 Vehicle in the ditch on Interstate 94.

Clip 7 Blinding snow on Interstate 94 in traffic.

Clip 8 – 12 Police and State Patrol responding to a crash off of highway 15.

Clip 13 Van that crashed on Interstate 94.

Clip 14 – 15 Snow plow on Highway 23.

Clip 16 Traffic in heavy snow.

Clip 17 Snow Plow Passing Shot.

Clip 18 – 19 Driving in the falling snow.

Clip 20 Passing wreck and snow plow blocking the wrecker on interstate 94.