Rotation Road

A wall cloud rotates southwest of 210th Street, a gravel road about one mile west of Ute, Iowa around 7:05 PM, Saturday, April 9, 2011. The high inflow buffeting winds made the two utility pole lines (top) whine, making us briefly wonder if it was the sound of a tornado. This location was about 8 miles southeast of Mapleton, Iowa, where our storm chase group drove to within 4.5 miles of about 20 minutes later and witnessed a tornado on the ground there. In the distant background of this image are rain shafts. This wall cloud was probably responsible for the formation of the Mapleton tornado.