Rural Rain Cloud

In a cooler and less moist environment, rainclouds nevertheless formed on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 16, 2016 in Eastern Iowa, sometimes in dynamic visual fashion. The above image looks west at 4:14 pm CDT from Arabian Road, .35-mile east of North Alburnett Road and .85-mile southeast of Alburnett Iowa. Below is a black and white version of the above image. Nikon D5000 DSLR camera.

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Cloudbows In Eastern Iowa

Passing rain clouds, some with Virga (light rain that falls from a cloud but evaporates before reaching the ground), formed in Eastern Iowa on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 16, 2016. Viewed in these three images above are refractions of indirect sunlight on the rain--creating streaks--but which weren't enough to disperse the spectrum of colors associated with a classic rainbow. The images look east from Arabian Road, .35-mile east of North Alburnett Road and .85-mile SE of Alburnett, Iowa. Capture times from top to bottom were: 4:13 pm CDT, 4:15 pm and 4:16 pm. Nikon D5000 DSLR camera.

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Rain Check

The afternoon of Wednesday, March 16, 2016 featured a sky layered with cumulus clouds as far as the eye could see. By 4:00 pm it included garden variety rain cells drifting eastward in a steady progression. One of those rain cells--seen above and below--produced a brief shower. Weather conditions at this time were: 54 degree F temps, 30 degree dew points and 40% relative humidity. These images look west and southwest from Arabian Road, .75-mile west of North Alburnett Road and about one mile southwest of Alburnett, Iowa. Nikon D5000 DSLR camera.

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Just Warming Up...

This non-severe storm cell skirted just west of the Cedar Rapids, Iowa metro area with nothing more than a few rumbles of thunder and some rain. The image above, a three photo stitch, looks northwest from Echo Hill Presbyterian Church north of Marion just after 4:00 pm, Tuesday, March 15, 2016. Temperature was 61 degrees F with a dew point of 56. Conditions were much more volatile south and east of here, where tornado-warned cells prowled eastward into north-central Illinois through the night. Nikon D5000 DSLR camera.

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Slices of Time Photography Workshop

I had the honor (above) of being one of the six invited guest photographers during the Slices of Time photography workshop held at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa on Saturday, March 5, 2016. The event was held in the Galvin Fine Arts Center theatre. My presentation was, of course, weather photography. Topics covered during my presentation were: Tracking Down the Storm,
Patience and Tenacity, Safety and Awareness, Protecting the Camera, Challenges of Low Light Situations, Equipment and Post Processing. Other morning presenters were photographers Gregg Stark, Anna Pagnucci, Brian Tugana, Greg Boll and Paul Colletti. Their presentations included photography around the water, composition, documentary photography and sports photography.

Event organizer Brian Tugana is shown above getting video taken of him by photographer Greg Stark while conducting closing remarks during the waning moments of the morning session. Thank you Brian for this opportunity!

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Blink, And You've Missed It

A squall line with the ingredients for tornadic spin-ups embedded in it blew through Henry County, Iowa after 7:00 pm CDT on Saturday, June 20, 2015. The image above clearly shows the leading edge of the storm in the background as it was moving right-to-left at 7:21 pm. Literally moments later, a pencil-shaped tornado (arrow), appeared and disappeared instantaneously from the spinning, churning leading edge of the storm in the image below. This tornado was not even noticed until my post-image processing was done later that night.

Trailing the phantom tornado was the low-hanging circulation seen in the two images below, captured a few moments later than the top two. An obvious vortex of precipitation swirls below it. Several of these leading-edge mini spin-ups produced quick funnels, which appeared and disappeared in a matter of seconds. Location is US Highway 34, about 3.25 miles southeast of the town of Mount Pleasant. Images look southwest. Nikon D5000 DSLR camera.

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