12/12/08 Winter Break: "Electric Photography"

Lightning statue showing electricity at it's best

Well on the 'off-season' from storm chasing I like to use this time to understand my camera a little better so I'm more prepared as a photographer come May and June when I'm chasing supercells and tornadoes. Of course, I'm still photographing winter weather, but when I'm not I'll use some free time to try a few different things. I guess you could say it's kind of like broadening your horizons as a photographer. Today, I decided to test my cameras limits with photography of the 'electric' sort. I've added a few images (my favorites) of a 'lightning' device that I purchased a good few years ago. It's not a lightning ball, but it does the same purpose. Touch it and well you know you're dealing with electricity. Find yourself a dark room and well let your camera do the res.

Not your normal plasma lighting ball as the lightning in this case changes colors

My fingers starting to feel the heat from the electriciy

Another different perspective...

A longer exposure gets this effect (above)

My thumb becoming a positive streamer?

Well that's about all for this post. Hopefully, this is the closest I'll be getting to electricity anytime soon. I don't want to be this close to electricity in the Great Plains this spring no doubt. This was actually a cool experiment to get the correct settings on the camera to get some of the images pictured above. It was well worth the time and patience.

12/09/08 A Snowy End to a Fall Semester

Winter campus view from atop the parking garage

Well folks we dodged a bullet...well sort of. Wisconsin ended up with 10" of the white stuff from a major winter storm today. I guess you could say we missed the main coarse, but ended up with the dessert instead. Thanks to some upward vertical motion i.e. -ω this afternoon and evening we ended up with around 3" of snow. We missed the 'main event' being the heavy snow last night. After a night full of flooding rains with near 1 inch of rainfall we changed that to sleet around midday. Finally, the column cooled enough to allow the sleet to change over to snow around 2pm this afternoon and the snow finally shut off around 9pm this evening.

Altgeld Hall the most photogenic building on campus

Davis Hall with the fresh 3" of snow

Another view atop the parking garage looking toward Davis Hall and Normal Rd...(I really wish I thought of this type of view when I took my fall images, but eh oh well)

Another typical winter scene on campus

Nice view behind Davis Hall

Amazing!

Another view behind Davis Hall looking toward Altgeld Hall

That's about it for now...I don't think I'll get back out tomorrow morning with 2 finals to keep me busy, but if I do I'll be sure to post again.

12/03/08 Frontogenetic Snowstorm

Similar photo I took during the last snowstorm, this time the Holmes Student Center appears as if it's glowing...hmm

Today, another bout of winter weather was felt across the Midwest and Dekalb, IL. A cold front pushed through during the morning and frontogenetic forcing behind the front was able to produce 2" of new snow accumulation. I'll go into this in more detail below with some images. This was a really good frontogenetic forcing event. Furthermore, today could have been worse with a longer duration to the event. Many areas missed out on a projected 3-5" total. I guess we dodged a bullet on this one. When you live in this area 2" is a tad different to people say in Atlanta, GA or the south in general. 2" would shut down city's in the southern U.S. Most of the roads were alright here with most of the snow not accumulating on the roads due to above freezing temperatures through most of the day. Don't expect that to last because by tomorrow morning you'll be literally 'freezing'. Temperatures could dip into the single digits, even if they don't expect the wind chills to add to the discomfort. Winter is here a few weeks early folks!

Behind Davis Hall here, it's amazing the colors that appear thanks to the city lights

That's all for now...check back over the next few days as we are currently in an active winter weather pattern with chances of snow every few days. I'll update when the next 'event' presents itself.

11/30/08 Northern Illinois Snowstorm

Wide-angle view of the entrance to Castle Drive

Tonight, I arrived in Dekalb, IL amidst an on-going winter storm that had just dropped 3 inches on Dekalb with more very heavy 'banding' taking place. Route 38 was a mess as outside Creston, IL I was stopped for a good half hour as a tow truck worked to pull out 2 vehicles out of the ditch. That took place when the snow was really coming down around 6:30pm or so.

Davis Hall amidst the heavy wet snow

I had just arrived in Dekalb...I think this picture tells the story at that time huh?

Behind Davis Hall...nice scene with 'untouched snow'

Altgeld Hall winter scene

The Escape's first snowstorm

Myself posing for a quick photo and doing my best impersonation of Jim Cantore...well without the baldness of course

The East Lagoon a tad frozen with a 'frosty' look and the city lights providing the 'glow'

At last we have our first inch or snow and well more then that...looks like Dekalb will end up with around 4-6 inches of the white stuff before the storm system pulls on out...you got to love 'phasing' if your a meteorologist or weather enthusiast.

11/30/08 Snowstorm

Holiday decorations taking a beating with the snow
and blustery northwest wind

Today, we officially have our 1st inch of snowfall across my hometown and much or Northern Illinois as a fairly slow-moving low-pressure system tracks along the Ohio River Valley throwing some moisture up and over the cold air setting up a deformation zone axis from Burlington, IA northeast to Milwaukee, WI. Snow started around 9:30 last night of the light-stuff, but occasionally you'd get a good moderate burst of snow here and there. The duration has been key with several hours of light snow falling allowing for accumulation on roads and grassy surfaces. Climatology, the 1st inch of snow is usually observed the first week of December across much of Northern Illinois so we are right on track this year according to the statistics. I snapped a few photos this morning before I made the trip back to Dekalb, IL after the holiday weekend. I felt like I was in a storm chase only chasing snow squalls on the 2-hour drive that turned into a 3 1/2 drive thanks to lots of poor soles not remembering how to drive in winter weather. Before I left home we had just around 3 inches and a few reports now of 5" inches of snow in Kewanee, IL. The snow is tapering off now in that area so I don't expect much of any additional accumulation there.

A little different from walking on a beach eh?

Looking toward the 'white' heavens

Well that's all for now...I did get out on campus in Dekalb, IL tonight for some more photography so I'll be updating with a "Part II" to this post shortly.