I really hesitate to post this, 'cuz I'm not particularly proud of the following (and most of our wind & rain occurred in the middle of the night). But here goes:



...Jerry

Its crazy to me, watching Jerry's and other videos on the web, how UN-intense things always look. Probably the sound! Although in the moment its not really the sound that gets to you.

I will be using our footage in an upcoming project where there will be editing and sound work going on-definitely will be making it more intense.

kairosmatt

kairosmatt, as much as I hate to say it, the problem with the footage you and Jerry posted is that it's far too stable.
This is one time where, IMO, "shaky cam" looks better :)

Mike

Its crazy to me, watching Jerry's and other videos on the web, how UN-intense things always look. I have had this same problem. I'm on a hill four miles from the Pacific, and we get storms through here about every three years that approach the intensity that most people experienced with Irene, at least in terms of wind gusts. I have a weather station on the roof, and have measured gusts over 75 mph, which is about what most people saw outside their windows on the East Coast this weekend. This level of wind is pretty frightening. Despite this, when I shot video out the window, it doesn't look like much at all. So, I tried going out in it. Big mistake. Things are flying all around you and it really hurts. Also, it actually does feel like you can flap your arms and take off.

The problem is, I think, that you can't film the invisible air (obvious), and the action of hurricane wind on most trees doesn't seem to get that much more violent even as the wind increases. The force of the wind goes up as the square of the wind speed (I think), so a 75 mph wind is four times as powerful as a 37.5 mph wind, but the action of the threes seems to stay about the same after you get to gale force winds.

Therefore, the only way to really get across the force is to be able to show something sailing through the air that normally would not be airborne, or to capture something breaking or failing, like a roof blowing off. However, to get video like that means putting yourself in a position where the probability of dying is larger than the probability of getting a good shot.

"Its crazy to me, watching Jerry's and other videos on the web, how UN-intense things always look.I have to admit, it wasn't very intense when I grabbed the shots - and I selected the most intense clips. The worst was midnight til 3:00am - and even that wasn't bad. We've had bands of thunderstorms and noreasters that have been much worse.

Here's something that was intense. I snapped the following when I lived in Nashville during the Super Outbreak of April 1974. The next block over from my house was leveled. I wish I had a recording of that sound - it was, indeed, just like a freight train.



Full story is here.

...Jerry

Woulda replied to this earlier but power and internet went down on our island again.

John, it was interesting watching different trees. Coconut trees show the most varied reaction, because of their height and general isolation (no other trees to break the wind). You could tell a difference between 70 and 115 with them (of course we couldn't get footage of that)

At the same time it was really hypnotic to watch the wind blow through the tree tops like gusts on the water. Not everyday you see that.

Fortunately, we didn't have any tornadoes, but they did on the main island.

kairosmatt

Here is another look at Irene from Wrightsville Beach NC. Feel free to comment...

http://vimeo.com/28473948

01:16 - Is that person (can't tell if it's a man or woman) smoking a cigarette in the middle of a Hurricane? Edit: Should have put a smiley face here :-)

...Jerry