Beautiful But Ominous Clouds

Gathering photogenic supercell storms clouds--with a hint of fading sunlight behind them--build to the southwest in this view from just west of Smithland, Iowa. The time and date was 6:48 PM, Saturday, April 9, 2011. Our two-vehicle storm chase team was proceeding east along Highway 141 and our next town after Smithland was Mapleton. We drove through Mapleton minutes later then observed the area southwest of town being in the direct path of an EF3 tornado, occurring around 7:25 PM.