What: Storms of 2007 (DVD)
Produced by: Several storm chasers...
http://www.thestormsof2007.org/producers.htm
Available at:
http://www.thestormsof2007.org
Review: This is the 4th in the series of "Storms of 200X". Started in 2004 by Greg Stumpf and Bobby Prentice to raise funds for victims of severe weather, all proceeds go to
the Red Cross and other charitable organizations in dealing with weather disasters.
I got my copy this past weekend. And with lousy weather and a cold, there wasn't else much to do. And what better way to pass the time than by watching great storms?
I don't have the video in front of me, but as always, there's an introduction, and then quite a few chapters from each severe weather day that chasers were on in 2007,
including the big Enterprise, AL tornado which DID have chasers on it! Going out of "tornado alley" was a plus for this video. The format is straightforward: each day starts
with a basic surface map and 500 MB or 300 MB chart, with a simple explanation of how the atmospheric setup was like. Then, you are whisked into chase vehicle(s) of those who
were there and videotaped the event. The cool thing that they do each year is that they showed radar screen pop-ups so that you know where they are in relation to the storm.
This year, they didn't do that as much (more on that later), but when they did, it was very effective. Furthermore, on some days, chasers had angles from 4 different
quadrants. At times, they went to a "split screen", time-synced so that you could see what was happening from 2, 3 or 4 angles simultaneously. Way cool!
The good: each day was well-organized, the radar shots and multiple camera angles add depth, good commentary, good to excellent video.
The Greensburg, KS day took up a lot of time and every second kept you riveted. Storm chasing video which had not yet been released to the public was on here, when
chasers...literally seconds behind the tornado...drove into Greensburg. If you don't get a lump in your throat when those scenes pops onto your screen, you have no soul. If I
were the producer, I might have had a warning graphic ahead of time put up, since some of it was pretty intense, especially as they were combing through what were houses,
pulling people out. That section of the DVD was worth the cost of it right there. Real-time audio from the NOAA radio, police scanners...it virtually puts you in the driver's
seat. I know some folks were bummed missing this one. But after it happened, and now seeing this video...I'm not so sure I wanted to see this. The police officer who was
killed driving through a town northeast of Greensburg warning the residents was talking to chasers via radio as he was coming into the city to warn them. Per the scanner, it
seems that was the last conversation he had. Also, that was the first time I have ever seen video of that 2+ mile-wide tornado (the one after Greensburg). Dang.
Even with all of that, the best, IMO, was saved for the "bonus" section of the DVD. After seeing a storm chase on the Minnesota/Wisconsin border produce baseball sized hail
shown all over the ground, the best video was of Canada's first ever F5 tornado from Elie, Manitoba. Sure, there's a low-grade 2 minute segment on YouTube, but watch this
sucker almost in it's entirety and it's easy to see why this caused so much devastation. Honestly, it's tough recalling seeing any tornado have a debris cloud spin as fast as
this one does. The camerawoman zooms in and out at the appropriate times, and manages to film and incredible ropeout with vortex breakdown occurring at the same time. I let
out an audible "wow!" seeing that happen. That was truly a violent and very interesting tornado.
Finally, a neat and touching video was produced of the late Eric Nguyen.
For those in the Stormtrack/CFDG/online and chasing communities, everyone knew of him, and so this video is for us as much as it was a tribute to Eric, to remember him and
his accomplishments.
The bad: There was only one core thing that I didn't like about this year's production over previous years. The video was somewhat rushed, due to all of the events in 2007,
and because the Greensburg, KS tornadoes and day took up a lot of time and was not rushed. Squeezing in all the days and a tribute to chaser Eric Nguyen meant something had
to give. In the other videos, you could watch the tornado from beginning to end. Not this time, as portions were cut out, including some "what did the radar look like at the
time" squeeze boxes. The first touchdown and rope-out were always seen, but some of the inbetween was not, and I miss that. I would rather have a higher cost of the DVD and
have two DVDs with the full tornado lifecycles instead of one with some things cut out,but that's just me. Having 4 or 6 hours of tornado video would not have disappointed me
any! In future editions, particularly as more and more chasing is done outside the traditional "tornado alley", I think this should be considered.
But all in all, I thought it was very good. My rating is 4 stars out of 5 (or EF-4 out of EF-5, if you prefer!). Had it not been rushed some, it would have been 5 out of 5,
and I don't give those out liberally: I've only given out one, to "Tornado Video Classics 1" by Tom Grazulis. Still, it was well done and very interesting to watch, and the
Greensburg, KS segment is worth the price of admission and then some, along with pretty much all of the rest of the content. Plus, each producer added a little of themselves
to the video, and that always keeps things more interesting. Definitely worth a slot in your library! Thumbs u...oops, that's copyrighted. Errr...both arms in the air with a
"whoo hoo!"
