Sunday, January 21, 2018

Point Roberts Wind Storm

EDIT: My Periscope stream was actually saved. The sound wasn't recorded, but I did get some great shots of the flooding.

Check out the link below.
https://www.pscp.tv/thatchaserchick/1dRKZbErEvvKB


The lower mainland doesn't get much in the way of severe weather but
on this rare occasion, I was able to chase a wind storm in Point Roberts. There was a wind warning, with 100km/hr winds in the forecast. 




It was dark when the winds were strongest, but here is what it was doing to my hair. https://twitter.com/thatchaserchick/status/955082312395276288/video/1

I did some live streaming over Periscope. After the whole Jeff Piotrowski's popularity with the #blueshed during Hurricane Harvey, I figured live streaming was where it was at. And I guess it can be, if you have good reception, but my stream ended up having no sound.. and I didn't realize the streams get deleted after 24 hours. The unfortunate situation was that I ended up streaming more than I did shooting with my actual camera. I got a lot of newsworthy shots of flooding on the roads and in and around people's homes, but it was with the Periscope stream -which had no sound and was deleted a day later. 

All in all though, I picked a good spot, since I got barely and precip. The only water I was hit with was seawater. 



What was unique about this situation was that I took a date with me. He said he wanted to "do something out in nature", so I brought him along for the ride. Even though he likes thunderstorms (and even sort of chased a tornado last year near his hometown in Alberta), I don't think he knew the extent of what he was signing up for when I picked him up at 5am this morning. He hadn't eaten. He wasn't dressed warm enough or wearing anything water resistant. He took it like a champ though. 

There were times where I could tell he was physically uncomfortable and wanted it to be over.. But he didn't explicitly tell me to stop, so I kept going because it felt good. Though, this was the reason I actually didn't take any photos and didn't shoot that much video with my good camera -because I was so aware of him just standing there, covering his ears with this pained expression on his face as the wind cut through him. He was a good sport though. At one point, he held my gear for me while I was live streaming. I appreciated that.

When I bought him breakfast afterwards and then drove him home, he was like.. "That was fun.. Though I guess I just didn't realize we were going to be out in it for that long.." I kind of laughed and was like.. "I cut it short for you. I could have spent all day out there."


I guess the lesson here is, storm chasing is like sex; if you don't have the right partner, it's way more satisfying to just do it alone.

Here is the video I did manage to get.