Distant Updraft
Tuesday, July 1, 2025
Radarscope image corresponding to the photo above it, showing my location (target icon), and an arrow pointing to the mushroom cloud located in Delaware County, Iowa.
Radarscope image corresponding to the photo above it, showing my location (target icon), and an arrow pointing to the mushroom cloud located in Delaware County, Iowa.
During the two-day span of June 25-26, 2025, the Cedar Rapids, Iowa area had a little bit of everything overhead, with optical phenomena and some stormy skies. The image above looks southeast at a partial sun halo at 9:16 am CDT, Wednesday, June 25. Sun halos are caused by ice crystal refraction high in the atmosphere and often precede precipitation. In this case, a rain shower arrived at this location on Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids about 15 minutes later.
8:25 pm. Another optical phenomenon: Crepuscular rays beam forth from behind a line of thunderstorms located 50-60 miles distant in Black Hawk and Buchanan counties in Iowa. This image was captured from Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids.
8:27 pm. Looking north. Backlit storm cell located in Buchanan County, southeast of the town of Oelwein. This image was also captured from Noelridge Christian Church.
These images were also captured from Noelridge Church. Panoramic view of an incoming shelf cloud looking northwest at 6:51 pm CDT, Thursday, June 26, 2025.
6:53 pm. Looking southeast at leading edge of approaching shelf cloud (left), with the trailing "whale's mouth" feature at right.
6:55 pm. Looking northwest at strong downdraft area containing heavy rain. Nikon Z6ii camera.
Like most storm systems that have approached the Cedar Rapids, Iowa metro area thus far in 2025, severe warning tags were lifted as it approached the city during the morning hours of Friday, June 20. Much needed rain did arrive, however, as seen in the Radarscope image above for 8:12 am CDT.
By 12:40 pm (above) the system and the rain had cleared out. This image looks south at the area of departing rain from Boyson Road just west of Alburnett Road in Marion, Iowa in the Bowman Meadows housing development.
Similar panoramic image captured at nearly the same time and near the same location. iPhone 11 camera.
Read more...2:48 pm. Now at my stationary spotting location. Panorama looking west (center) from Central City Road (left) and Sutton Road (right). Incoming line of severe-warned storms in background.
2:49 pm Radarscope image, showing severe-warned polygon.
2:59 pm. Looking west. Severe warning tag now removed. This storm, like most with severe warnings in the 2025 season, lost its tag when it approached the Cedar Rapids metro area. Note the "whale's mouth" appearance of the clouds. Time to depart this location and head for home.
3:16 pm. Southbound on North Marion Road, just south of Central City Road. Looking southeast at distant rain shafts.
3:21 pm. Looking southeast at same storm as seen from North Marion Road, just under 2 miles north of County Home Road. Cedar Rapids has seemingly lived a charmed life when it comes to avoiding severe weather in the 2025 season. Nikon Z6ii camera.
The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) upgraded a Marginal Risk for the northern region of the state of Iowa to a Slight Risk at 11:40 am CDT on Wednesday, June 11, 2025 (above). The new upgrade was mainly for high wind and hail.
2:55 pm. The National Weather Service (NWS) issues Severe Thunderstorm Watch 408 for basically the same area, as seen in this Radarscope image.
During the 5 o'clock hour, storms were firing up and moving into eastern Iowa from the central part of the state. Time to intercept from home base in Cedar Rapids. I selected Interstate 380 as a faster and more direct route to the severe-warned storms. The image above looks northwest at 7:08 pm at a line of advancing storms from a location just under 7 miles southeast of the Gilbertville, Iowa exit.
Radarscope image corresponding to the photo above it, showing the severe-warned polygons.
7:13 pm. On the road again and looking northwest toward the storms about 1.5 miles southeast of the Gilbertville exit in Black Hawk County. The storm is about 23 miles distant, near the town of Dike in Grundy County.
Radarscope image for 7:18 pm. My mobile position is indicated by the blue target icon.
7:19 pm. I had taken the US Highway 20 exit from I-380 (Dubuque) and exited again a half-mile later on to South Canfield Road (north toward Dunkerton), and instantly winds gusted from 50-60 mph (above). Dust and dirt swirled over the highway, trees bended and my vehicle was buffeted. Another severe-warned storm cell with a hail core was directly ahead, about 10 miles distant.
7:21 pm Radarscope image. Note the continuous forming line of storms to my west and southwest.
7:22 pm. Brief stationary position from Young Road (foreground) and South Canfield Road, about a half-mile north of US Highway 20.
7:22 pm. Looking northeast. This is the northern cell that contained the pronounced hail core.
7:24 pm Radarscope image. Decision time. I was receiving numerous storm alert notifications, so I quickly decided to head back the way I had come, and out of harm's way.
7:33 pm. Westbound on US Highway 20 back toward the exit for I-380 (background) and southeast to safety. For this very short time I was "playing chicken" with the approaching storms. I also received a notification of hail in the area at this time, making my escape all the more urgent.
The southeast direction of I-380 made it possible to put more separation between me and the line of storms. I was able to arrive at my next spotting location (above) at the BP gas station at the Toddville exit in Linn County with plenty of time to spare. This image, captured at 8:08 pm, looks west, with the southern-most edge of the severe-warned storms seen at left. The storm was about 22 miles distant.
8:14 pm Radarscope image. This image shows how much storm separation I had achieved in the south, compared to being almost overrun in the north.
8:31 pm. Looking northwest.
8:36 pm. Looking south from the BP station. The wall of the dark cloud of the storm is now quickly approaching from the right, and wind is beginning to pick up.
9:08 pm. Rising Strawberry full moon in southeast sky as seen from North Alburnett Road about .8-mile north of County Home Road, north of Marion, Iowa. Image is a 2/5 second exposure at f/7.1, ISO 160, 65mm focal length. Nikon Z6ii camera. A "Strawberry" moon is defined as a full moon that occurs in the month of June. Official moonrise was at 8:46 pm.
4:29 pm. Looking southeast. Cloud movement here was right-to-left. This storm cell produced moderate amounts of lightning, wind and rain. Nikon Z6ii camera.
This Radarscope image from 4:26 pm shows the line of non-severe storms, with my position indicated by a white target icon. Some isolated tornado-warned areas near Mount Pleasant and Burlington in southeastern Iowa did form from this system.
4:31 pm. Radarscope reflectivity (top) and velocity images.
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