Mid-February Fun

Ok so it's the middle of February. This has to be the worst time SDS (supercell deprivation syndrome) for storm chasers. Spring is so close, yet to so far away. It has been quite chilly the last few days and we still have 4 foot snow banks, with about 1-2 feet of snow left on the ground.

Last night I froze my butt off watching the lunar eclipse. I went out 4 times, in 10 minute intervals because it was so cold that one could get frostbite. It was almost -20C! Ice crystals in the air formed light pillars from various light sources. I decided to try my hand at moon/eclipse photography. Needless to say, I did run into issues such as blur (long exposures don't help because the moon moves across the sky quickly) and sometimes the moon would come out looking like a white glowing orb with ghosting/flare. I must have taken about 60 photos last night, but I finally managed to get one of Saturn and the eclipse that I thought was somewhat decent.

I used 400 ISO, 8 second exposure, with F stop 14, on my 18-200 Tamron
lens (focal length is 200 in this pic).

More chase plans

So I haven't posted much since my last tornado alley chase trip... for the first time since 1998, I haven't chased locally here in Ontario in 2007. July 8th was very frustrating for me because I had no means of transportation to go chase after a classic cyclic tornadic supercell, which I must say is a very hard find here. Congrats to those who ventured out that day! My friend Ron Gravelle caught some awesome photos of a white cone tornado - it looked like Kansas! I think that day was the only real storm action that season. Just thank goodness for my tornado alley trips otherwise my SDS would make me go ballistic.

And speaking of tornado alley trips, Ron and I are once again planning another trip for last week of May and first week of June. This time my sister will be coming along with us! This kinda thing can be very addicting.