Stars 'n' Storms

If you would have nodded off for the night on Tuesday, July 9, 2013 you might have missed this spectacle. A very isolated storm cell (shown in a radar screen capture at bottom) moved from near the Waterloo, Iowa area toward Cedar Rapids creating a prodigious lightning show after dark but producing no rain or wind. Stars surrounded this "oasis" of storm. Also striking was a vigorous updraft structure (seen at left in the top image and at center in the middle image) resembling a "layered cake" or "flying saucer." Lightning was frequent from this area. The two top images face west from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids. They were captured at 10:32 PM and 10:41 PM respectively. The top photo was exposed 13 seconds at  f/9, 500 ISO and 18mm focal length. The middle photo 22 seconds at f/11, ISO 500 and 32mm focal length. With only faintly audible thunder, this is what is commonly (but erroneously) known as "heat lightning." Lastly, while I was engaging the storm, the mosquitoes were engaging ME!