Tag Archives: timelapse

Webcam Timelapse – July 22, 2007

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Missed us again!

The forecast actually called for rain here in Wickenburg. And the storm got ever closer, as you can see in this timelapse, with dark gray clouds and high winds. But, in the end, it past northwest of us.

Dang!

Here’s the timelapse:

Remember, after clicking this image, you may have to wait a few seconds for it to load before it starts playing. Be patient and click only once. It’ll play right in this window. QuickTime is required.

The good news is, the storm also dropped temperatures. At about 3 PM, when I stepped outside, I discovered that it was in the low 80s outside. That’s 20° lower than normal! Yippee! We shut off the air conditioner and opened as many windows as we could. Even slept with the windows open last night!

WebCam Timelapse – July 16, 2007

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It’s getting closer!

My WebCam has been faithfully making timelapse movies every day. I’m trying not to bore you by showing you all of them.

Yesterday’s sky was extremely active. Cloudy then mostly sunny then cloudy with an approaching thunderstorm. This video shows an excellent example of a typical monsoon summer day here in Arizona. The storm was fast approaching and Mike and I really thought we’d get poured on. But when the sun sets, the storm’s main source of energy is removed. It dissipates quickly — usually within an hour of sunset. And although yesterday’s storm got close — probably within 20 miles — it died before it reached us.

Darn!

Here’s the video from the day. I’ve tweaked the settings to shoot a new frame every 8 minutes and create the video at the framrate of 5 frames per second. That stretches out the video to 20 seconds without making a major increase in the file size.

Remember, after clicking this image, you may have to wait a few seconds for it to load before it starts playing. Be patient and click only once. It’ll play right in this window. QuickTime is required.

WebCam Timelapse – July 11, 2007

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Lots of confused cloud activity.

The Arizona sky is making me a liar. In a post earlier this month, I talked about how most days started clear and the clouds built up throughout the day. This week, however, it’s been cloudy early in the day and clears up in the late afternoon. Makes me look like I haven’t got a clue, huh?

This is a great video (in the new “large” size) that shows off all the confusion in yesterday’s sky. Watch the clouds carefully — they move in various directions throughout the day!

After clicking this image, you may have to wait a few seconds for it to load before it starts playing. Be patient and click only once. It’ll play right in this window. QuickTime is required.

Although I can do a larger image movie, I think the 1.1 MB bandwidth is enough. I’d like to increase the number of images that make up the movie, but that’ll also increase the movie size and bandwidth when it’s played. If you have any preferences about this, use the Comments link or form to be heard.

And I do want to note that I’m not releasing these every day — just the days when there’s something interesting to see. This time of year, that can be several times a week.

WebCam Timelapse – July 9, 2007

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Another interesting timelapse.

What I like about this one is:

  • Nice colors at sunrise. Remember, this camera points northeast, so we don’t actually see the sun.
  • About halfway through the day, the clouds going by seem to make a right turn as they move across the sky. I think there was a wind shift up there. Interesting.

You need to click the image to download and play the file with QuickTime. I did this purposely for the folks who aren’t interested in wasting bandwidth on something as trivial as this.

For those of you who requested a larger image, one is on the way. Yesterday’s big image was too big, so we’ll have to wait until the next interesting sky. Today’s might be a good candidate; lots of clouds. We’ll see.

And for those of you just tuning in, these images are my attempt to show how the weather changes here in Arizona during out annual monsoon season. Usually we don’t have any clouds at all, so these images really do show something special. I’m hoping that images created later in the season will include storms and, if we’re lucky, even a few lightning strikes.

WebCam Timelapse – July 6, 2007

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The first timelapse of monsoon season.

I’ve set up my WebCam to create small timelapse movies of the scene out my window. Here’s the one from yesterday, the first day this season that clouds began to build up and come our way.

You’ll have to click the movie frame to play it; I’ve set it up like this so the folks who don’t want the download don’t need it clogging up their bandwidth. You’ll also need QuickTime player (or a related plugin, I guess) to view it.

If you like this kind of stuff, please let me know. I might use the larger WebCam image to make a movie, but I won’t bother if no one wants to see it.

Also, I know the camera’s placement isn’t perfect. My Mexican Bird of Paradise bush has gotten quite large and is blocking the view. Unfortunately, the camera has to be within cable distance of my Mac. Again, if folks like the WebCam and the movies — and take a moment to tell me using the Comments link or form for this post — I’m far more likely to fine tune things to improve them.

January 3, 2009 Update: Since writing this, I’ve taken the Webcam offline. It really wasn’t worth keeping a computer turned on all day, every day. I may revisit this in the future, but at this point, I wouldn’t count on it.