LED Lightbar on 2005 Hyundai Tucson

Decided after seeing how useful a lightbar like this can be for storm chasing on a friend's truck. I broke down and bought a cheap one of ebay. This one actually - http://tiny.cc/lightbarebay. I went with the curved to get a better spread of light and to match the curve of the bumper better. The quality of that lightbar actually ended up much better quality than I expected. I still have 2 smaller spotlight led bars to add more coverage in the ditches to help light up deer and other animals. The main use of these lights will be for at dusk and after dark on dirt roads, which is where you end up storm chasing a lot. Nearly hit a number of animals at that time of day and this could help with that. Those roads can be difficult to see even without the animals running around.

I measured the gap in the lower air inlet on my 2005 Hyundai Tucson to be about 25", so I decided to settle on a 22" light bar due to the mounts. Turn out the one I bought was just small enough to fit. You will want to take your headlights out for the install. You can run the wiring right through the grill. I bought this wiring kit just to make the install a bit faster - http://tiny.cc/wiringkitebay. There are actually good option to run the wires through some rubber seals out in the wheel well and in through the firewall if you want a clean install. If you have the none 4x4 model like me, you should have plenty of spaces to put the switch in, like pictured below. That switch is for amber lights currently but I will be changing out that switch and adding others for the light bar and other ambers flashers.

Will be building my new camera dome and will be posting updates on the build soon.

Nov 16, 2015 Pampa tornado (#2 analysis)

I talked with Amarillo NWS throughout the week, while they tried to figure out what all exactly happened.  The overlapping paths caused all sorts of problems in determining which tornado did what damage and the correct times for each. I was sitting about 2 miles south of Miami for 7:05pm to 8pm. From there I saw the end of Pampa wedge #1 from 7:08 to 7:18. Next I thought I saw one continuous wedge from 7:23pm (on going before this, but I couldn't see it) to 7:53pm from storm #2. Through what the NWS saw in the archived radar and my pictures, we determined that storm # 2 actually created 2 wedges within 10 minutes of each other. Around 7:28 wedge number 2 (on storm #2) faded fast with a new wedge forming in close proximity. My view was slightly obstructed from 7:30 to 7:34, but as the area emerged from behind the radio tower that blinded my view the new wedge was on going. That bumped my total for the evening to 6 tornadoes (3 different wedges), from 3 different storms. All that with me ending my chase at 8 and being home by 9:30 on only 1 tank of gas ($22).

Here is a photo analysis of the "wedge hand off" NE of Pampa at ~7:25pm to 7:35.

My first view of Pampa storm number 2 to my SW as the wedge leaves the SE part of town near the Halliburton plant at 7:23pm. First few of these shots are out of focus. The orange glow is from a nearby prison. All pictures are clickable for larger size.

7:24pm the wedge is quickly moving away from the city. Looking WSW.

7:25pm. Looking WSW at the wedge and a possible satellite tornado.

7:28pm the size is shrinking fast as it moves NE.

7:29pm. Still looking WSW, tornado losing ground connection

7:29pm looking WSW still. Size decreasing even more and wrapping rain more present.

7:29pm even further disconnect with the ground.

7:30pm hard to tell if it is even still on the ground. Though not evident from this photo another tornado is forming to the right.

7:34pm Looking west (powerlines run due west). Hard to see, but the original wedge is gone and a new one has formed behind the radio tower (the 2 lights, which are located here: https://goo.gl/maps/pF4KoKbE3Jz).

7:35 pm looking west. Though blurry, something large is evident behind the tower. The old tornado vanished into the rain blob to its left.

7:35pm looking west. Something large still hiding behind the tower.

7:36pm Large wedge has emerged from behind the radio tower moving in the same path as the previous tornado. Tracking NE, missing Miami by 4 miles to the NW.

7:37 looking WNW at the new wedge.

7:39pm. Looking WNW. Wedge is slowly losing its size.

7:39 still looking WNW. My clearest view of my 3rd wedge of the evening.

7:40 Looking NW by this point. One of my best shots of the evening. Large tornado with a huge rfd cut. Possible satellite can be seen right of the main tornado. Tornado still has 12 minutes of life at this point.

7:50pm Looking north. Tornado has shrank drastically but still stout. My last shot of the tornado comes a 7:52, but it likely lasted a few minutes after that due to its size in that picture.

I am hoping to add some corresponding radar data to this analysis at some point.

Nov 16, 2015 TX Panhandle Tornado Outbreak - Chase Recap

Almost waited for storms to go up from Amarillo, but decided to venture out east and wait at Claude around 2pm. I decided against crossing the canyon to catch the storms that fired down by Tulia, as I didn’t want to be out of cell service that long. With Rhonda pregnant and about 10 days from her due date, that wouldnt be a smart move. Was also set on not venturing too far from Amarillo, for that reason. It took a while for storms to take off. If it looked good on radar, it looked bad visually. If it looked good visually, it looked horrible on radar. Met up with Blake and Chris (other Amarillo chasers) at Claude and tried to figure out if to stay with the northern storm, or wait on the Tulia storm to cross the canyon. The northern storm finally started to organize after it passed us moving +50mph. It was at White Deer before we left I-40. We got fortunate, because as it began to spin, it slowed to 35kts. As it passed between Skellytown and Pampa, it dropped a large bowl that I thought was a wall cloud. Only realized it was a funnel after it began to rope out. By this point I was west of Pampa and the southern storm was just getting north of the Canyon.

We continued north of Pampa as the storm dropped another funnel that would last ~20 minutes. We got all the way up to the Canadian River and watched it rope out slowly. After giving that storm one more chance and no new lowering we finally bailed back south using the FM283 that cuts off Highway 70 to Miami, TX. It was a gamble to beat the fast moving storm that was bearing down on Pampa by that point with multiple reports of tornadoes. Clipping through the outer edges of the core the reports of “wedge” start getting through. Hearing “wedge” makes you want to get out of there faster, but being on that winding 2 lane road in the core at night made that not an option. I was able to clear the core a few miles before Miami while the tornado was still close to Pampa. It was an eerie feeling entering Miami that had already lost power and the only lights were emergency vehicles running around town probably trying to warn as many as they could. With the direction the storm was going I wondered if the town would still be there in 15 minutes as I blasted south out of town to get out of the canyon and try and see the “wedge”.

I got to the ridge where I had set on chases before with Marcus and Steve back in 2010, only difference this time was a huge wedge in the darkness coming my way. I could see the large tornado right as I stopped being lit up by the lightning. I got out and set up the tripod, but every shot kept getting blown out by close CGs. On top of the lightning barrage, the inflow winds were enough to blow the tripod over even without a camera on it so I couldnt even leave it out there. I scampered back in the car and used my window mount to take pictures. Not the steadiest shots as the vehicle was being rocked by the winds. I only got a couple shots of the wedge, before it occluded into the rain and disappeared into the darkness. The next cycled tried to produce just a few miles to my north but couldn’t do it.

It was at this time I noticed another wedge with the storm that was behind the first wedge producing storm. The tornado was illuminated, not by lightning, but by a prison that was nearly hit by the tornado. It is very freaky to be able to see a tornado at night by lights on the ground. I lost visual of that tornado till it got closer to Miami. It was still going strong but had shrunk down to an elephant trunk in size. I viewed it for another 5 minutes till it vanished. At that point I called the chase off and began to try and figure out how to get home as I was not sure if I could drive home through Pampa or not. Only encountered some power line and tree damage along the highway, but was able to get through town and back to Amarillo using only 1 tank of gas on the entire chase. $22 for 5 tornadoes and 2 wedges is a great deal in any month, but insane for November. If this is a taste of what this El Nino winter has in store, hold onto your butts.

Windmill Star Trail (Jan 4, 2015)

2013 Nissan Altima - Headlight Adjustment/Fix for Beam Height

Make your 2013/2014/2015 Nissan Altima safe to drive at night. Seeing 60 feet in front of you is bad enough at 30mph, but down right scary at 60+mph.

This is a very simple mod that anyone can do. (EDIT:  There are is a super easy way to make the adjustment from inside the engine bay if you have a long enough screwdriver. Find details below in the comments that others have left). If that doesnt work for you, you can try my method as a backup.)  I could not find any clear directions online (when I wrote this in 2014) on how to fix the Altima headlight problem (lights only shine 60 feet in front of the car), so I did some digging around on my car while changing the oil. At a minimum you will need a screwdriver, but a jack will make your life a lot easier. I have my tire removed for the picture, but when the car is jacked up it creates enough room that wheel removal isnt necessary. This process can also be used for changing the headlight bulbs too. (The oil filter has the worst location I have ever seen on any car.)

1. Jack either the passenger or driver side, so that it will open the wheel well up so you can get in there easier.

2. Remove the plastic clips on the wheel well cover with the screwdriver, so you can pull the wheel well cover down and get to the headlights in front of the wheel.

(The yellow markings are where the most important clips to remove are located)

3. Pull the wheel well cover down like in the photo below. It will bend so dont worry about breaking it.

4. To adjust the headlight beam, you need to turn the silver screw (circled in the photo below) in a counter-clockwise direction to raise it.

5. Lower your car and check your beam height. When you get it to where you want it, put the clips back in the wheel well and you are done.

McGavock Nissan Amarillo, the last place to buy a Nissan

My first dealings with McGavock Nissan in Amarillo is when we were looking for a new Altima. We test drove one on the used lot why the salesman telling me he could get me $500 for my car. I could have sold the engine alone for that much. Their prices were a couple grand above where they should be, so we found one elsewhere. Your typical shady dealership in my mind.

So we come to today. I needed a recall done so I thought I would get us a 2nd key, since we only had 1. I was quoted $100 for a new key when I set up the appointment along with having a recall done. Drop the car off and never hear anything about the cost or what it should be. The new keys are expensive, I know this before hand. The prices I had seen online never topped $200 to have it done, so I thought maybe they had a decent rate. WRONG!  When I come back a few hours later to pick it up, all I hear is that it will be $362. WHAT!?

Who and the hell quotes $100 and doesnt mention the other $262? The $100 is the labor cost alone (which is a rip in any profession for what was maybe 30 minutes of work at best). $13 for the blank key and $15 to cut it. $200 for the blank microchip part with $20 in tax.

Want to buy a Nissan and live in the TX Panhandle around Amarillo? Go elsewhere unless you want to deal with the worst dealerships around.

I am so sick of dishonest practices in this world. Dont want to get blasted on the internet, treat your customer right and I would be praising your work instead.

Happy Union, TX Tornado Timelapse Oct 12, 2012

Timelapsed video of the Happy Union, TX tornado (SE of Plainview) on Friday Oct 12, 2012. Textbook supercell mesocyclone evolution which produced atleast 3 tornadoes, 2 of which can be seen clearly on this video.