Hurricane Chaser's Melissa Video Is Horrifying, Heartstopping, Sad And A Must-Watch

A still from Josh Morgerman's video of Category 5 
Hurricane Melissa violently dismantling 
western Jamaica. 

Josh Morgerman, known all over social media as icyclone, has chased down dozens of powerful hurricanes and typhoons worldwide. 

He willingly endures extreme winds and rains, interrupted only by the sudden calm of hurricane eyes. 

Of course Morgerman was in Jamaica for Hurricane Melissa. He said it might have been the most intense hurricane he's ever experienced. 

Morgerman just released his YouTube video of his experiences. It's a long one, lasting an hour and 54 minutes. But it's a must-watch for anyone who wants a glimpse of what a Category 5 hurricane is like. It's nerve-wracking, terrifying, tragic and heartbreaking. 

The video starts with Morgerman stressing out over getting to the right spot that is both safe and in a spot where the worst intensity of Melissa would hit. 

But soon, we get into the storm. Morgerman rode out the storm in solidly built concrete hotel building along the southwest coast of Jamaica. We spend a gusty. r ainy, night in his hotel room the night before Melissa hits. You could hear the howling start in the video by 2 a.m. 

And hit it does in this video. 

The storm ramps up awfully quickly. At 7:56 a.m. he said. "this is going to be a mighty blow."' By 8:15 a.m. there were already full blown tropical storm conditions - the palm tree in front of the hotel already bouncing around in the gales. The air pressure was beginning to fall so fast he could feel it in his years. 

By 9:30 a.m. all hell was breaking out.. By 10:15 debris was flying. At 10:45 a.m. with the hurricane peaking the howling wind and the falling pressure were hurting the ears of the people huddling in the building.

It's just a video, but I found myself getting scared watching it. After the storm, Morgerman interviewed survivors. Some of the stories left me wondering how they were still alive after the storm passed. 

Scenes of obliterated buildings and skeletons of large trees looks very much like the aftermath videos I've seen of especially intense Midwestern tornadoes. 

The video is so much worth watching. Especially since monster Category 5 hurricanes have become more common, and are expected to become even more common. Climate change is making the world more scary, and here's an example. 

I appreciate Morgerman's efforts to let us see for ourselves the power and terror of these hurricanes.  While you're at it, check out the rest of his YouTube channel for other incredible hurricane and typhoon footage. He's also got a web site and he's all over social media.    

Here is Morgerman's video. Click on this link to view, or if you see this image below click on that. 

You Have To Watch Pecos Hanks' Storm Videos. Exhibit # 9,999,990

Storm chaser, storyteller and musician is back with another
 great storm video that's much more than a storm video. 

There's tons of weather porn out there. 

No, not XXX-rated stuff. No sex, no naked bodies. Sorry, this is a family weather blog. 

Weather porn is videos of extreme weather, usually storms to entice and excite weather weenies like myself. Heck, I indulge in making what I call soft weather porn for my YouTube channel. Soft core because storms don't usually get as wild in Vermont as they do in other parts of the nation. 

But at least Vermont weather tends to be pretty. 

The videos I make, amateurish as they are, still tend to be satisfying to make and I hope satisfying to watch.

Then there are the big time storm chasers. 

Some of them are rather loud, with a lot of shouting. I have mad respect for Reed Timmer and his extreme storm videos, since he has an uncanny knack for being in the right place at the right time. But he gets so excited he yells an awful lot, and my ADHD-addled brain has trouble handling that. 

And there's iCyclone, whose real name is Josh Morgerman, who travels the world to enter the eyes of as many hurricanes and typhoons as he can. The results come in unbelievable, amazing footage. And if you want a master class in calmness amid extreme chaos, he's your guy. 

Then there are the incredibly stupid storm chasers, of which there are many. These are the idiots who drive right into tornadoes, pretend to be police officers to clear the path for their own "videography," the ones that cause traffic jams to block escape routes if a tornado makes an unexpected turn, drive at 90 mph and on the wrong side of the road to capture their video, innocent crash victims be damned.

And then there's Pecos Hank, the most unique storm chaser out there, and easily my favorite. I've touted this guy before in this here blog thingy and I have to do it again.  I just hope he doesn't think I'm stalking him.  

The reason I bring all this up is because Pecos Hank  just released a video reflecting on his storm chasing exploits of 2022.

As always, what I love about this latest video is it's not just dramatic storms and tornadoes, though there's plenty of that.  His videos are so good because he doesn't just show clips, he tells a story in his easy Texas drawl. And he's quirky as hell. 

One incredibly endearing aspect of his videos is he's constantly rescuing animals of the creepy crawly variety from rural roads so they don't get run over by cars. 

He's such a fun narrator. In one part of his recent video, he highlights a relatively anemic tornado that has suction vortices, which are min-tornadoes within the main twister. His description: "As this weak tornado passed overhead, a carousel of suction vortices was on the ground terrorizing prairie dogs and flinging grasshoppers."

You cannot get any better cinematography, narration and creativity than that in a storm video.

When you get away from Pecos Hanks' dry humor and look at the cinematography, it's occasionally almost on the level of famed storm videographer Mike Olbinski

Pecos Hank is also an accomplished musician. He uses some of his storm footage in his music videos, such as in "Drive Under The Moon."  He also uses his music in some of his storm videos, like the review of 2022 tornadoes that I've been talking about.

 At one point, he uses the broken nozzle of a Do-It-Yourself car wash slapping against the machine in the wind on a stormy day to establish the beat for a song he sings toward the tail end of the video. 

Here's his Tornado of 2022 video. Click on this link or click on the image below if you see it to view,