Brandon, Iowa Lowering

I encountered this impressive cloud lowering about 4.5 miles southeast of Brandon, Iowa and about 23 miles northwest of Cedar Rapids on a solo storm chase around 6:23 PM, Wednesday, June 8, 2011. Base radar reflectivity images of the area around the intense structure showed a lavender color and cloud tops above the lowering, a possible wall cloud, reached some 50,000 feet. This image was captured northbound on Interstate 380, about 3/4-mile southeast of the County Highway D62 overpass and about 3.5 miles SE of the Brandon exit (County Highway D48). The photo is somewhat blurry because of the fact I had to shoot the image through the windshield with one hand on the wheel and one hand on the camera, and also because the camera was set on manual focus (autofocus did not work well in the darkened conditions). At this moment the overall storm system--of which this scene was part of--stretched from northeast of Des Moines into central Wisconsin.