May 26, 2020 Severe Weather in Benton County, Iowa

Storm Prediction Center (SPC) Convective Outlook, posted at 7:50 am CDT, Tuesday, May 26, 2020. Categorical, tornado, wind and hail outlooks are shown, with the greatest potential for all forecasted over central Iowa.

By 12:30 pm CDT Tuesday the SPC posted a Mesoscale Discussion (735) with a 60% probability of a severe thunderstorm watch (above).

At 1:20 pm Tornado Watch 229 was issued (above) including all of central Iowa.

Only five minutes later a tornado warning was issued for an area of Dallas County, just west of Des Moines (WeatherTap radar images above), then at 1:45 pm a severe thunderstorm warning was issued for Washington County in southeastern Iowa. All storms in Iowa had a peculiar NNW track this day. Because of that, I had a particular interest in the Washington County severe storm as its track would most likely bring it west of Cedar Rapids. With spotting equipment already packed and ready to go, my target was US Highway 30, and I quickly departed for an intercept.

2:12 pm CDT. Westbound on US Highway 30, .75-mile east of Highway 287 (27th Avenue) in Benton County. A forming wall cloud is evident, located about 20 miles to my southwest.

2:15 pm. Continuing westbound on Hwy. 30. Wall cloud is becoming more defined.

2:15 pm. Wall cloud looking southwest from near the construction site of US Highway 30 at US Highway 218 in Benton County.

2:16 pm. Zoomed-in capture of the wall cloud.

2:16 pm. Similar capture. Wall cloud is located near the town of Hartwick, in Poweshiek County.

Radarscope image capture corresponding to the time of the photo above it, showing my position (blue target) in relation to the newly designated tornado-warned storm polygon area.

2:23 pm. Continuing westbound on Hwy. 30. Looking southwest at the wall cloud from about .2-mile east of Highway 200 in Benton County.

Weather.us base velocity (left) and echo top captures for 2:27 pm, also showing my position (target icon) in relation to the hot spots.

Pulling off Hwy. 30 at County Road V40 (13th Avenue) in Benton County around 2:25 pm, I began spotting operations and phoned-in a wall cloud report to the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities. The wall cloud (seen above at 2:27 pm) was about 8 miles to my southwest and moving left-to-right in the image.

Radarscope capture for 2:29 pm.

2:30 pm. Wall cloud is about 6 miles to my west (background).

2:30 pm. Panoramic version of the scene.

2:33 pm. Deciding to stay with this storm as it began to move past me, I headed north on V40 and almost immediately received a tornado warning emergency alert on my cell phone.

2:35 pm. Looking west while northbound on V40 (13th Avenue). The wall cloud is beginning to exhibit a more outflow appearance.

2:37 pm. Looking west at storm from V40, 1.5 miles north of US Highway 30 in Benton County.

2:39 pm. Horizontal version of image above it.

2:41 pm. Looking northwest from V40, 1.5 miles north of Hwy. 30. Departing tornadic storm is now about 10 miles distant.

2:41 pm. Departing storm with my spotting vehicle in foreground.

2:56 pm. All tornado warnings in the state had now been lifted. This image looks west at a distant towering updraft with a lowering beneath it while northbound southwest of Vinton, Iowa. I briefly considered intercepting this storm--located about 35 miles away in Tama County--but deemed it a waste of time due to the cancellations.

3:05 pm. Rain curtains southwest of Vinton.

3:10 pm. GoPro Hero 4 Silver video frame capture. Caught in a brief, but intense wind and rain storm southeast of Dysart, Iowa. Rain was blowing across the highway reminiscent of those from RFD winds.

3:12 pm. A stationary look at the departing storm that had rolled over me two minutes before.

3:34 pm. GoPro video frame capture. Westbound on gravel road about 2.5 miles east of Elberon, Iowa in Tama County. Scud is rising into distant cloud feature, located about 5 miles distant.

3:35 pm. GoPro video frame capture. Northbound on gravel road. Most intense part of storm in background was located about 23 miles to the NNE, near the town of Raymond, in Black Hawk County.

3:39 pm. More scud feeding into previously viewed cloud, seen here to my west from 63rd Street, about 3.5 miles southwest of Vinton. Cloud is about 17 miles distant.

3:47 pm. Panorama looking north at storm cell from 19th Avenue, about 5 miles southwest of Vinton in Benton County.

3:47 pm. Similar capture.

4:05 pm. Looking southeast while southbound on US Highway 218 (65th Street) at 24th Avenue, about 5 miles south of Vinton. The approaching line of severe-warned storms in the distance was located about 60 miles away, near the town of Bennett in Cedar County. I was returning home at this moment. These storms would eventually roll through Cedar Rapids, but without much impact. Total driving distance: 132 miles. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.