Eastern Iowa Finally Gets Severe Weather, Cedar Rapids Dodges the Bullet Again

The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) upgraded a Marginal Risk for the northern region of the state of Iowa to a Slight Risk at 11:40 am CDT on Wednesday, June 11, 2025 (above). The new upgrade was mainly for high wind and hail.

2:55 pm. The National Weather Service (NWS) issues Severe Thunderstorm Watch 408 for basically the same area, as seen in this Radarscope image.

During the 5 o'clock hour, storms were firing up and moving into eastern Iowa from the central part of the state. Time to intercept from home base in Cedar Rapids. I selected Interstate 380 as a faster and more direct route to the severe-warned storms. The image above looks northwest at 7:08 pm at a line of advancing storms from a location just under 7 miles southeast of the Gilbertville, Iowa exit.

Radarscope image corresponding to the photo above it, showing the severe-warned polygons.

7:13 pm. On the road again and looking northwest toward the storms about 1.5 miles southeast of the Gilbertville exit in Black Hawk County. The storm is about 23 miles distant, near the town of Dike in Grundy County.

Radarscope image for 7:18 pm. My mobile position is indicated by the blue target icon.

7:19 pm. I had taken the US Highway 20 exit from I-380 (Dubuque) and exited again a half-mile later on to South Canfield Road (north toward Dunkerton), and instantly winds gusted from 50-60 mph (above). Dust and dirt swirled over the highway, trees bended and my vehicle was buffeted.  Another severe-warned storm cell with a hail core was directly ahead, about 10 miles distant.

7:21 pm Radarscope image. Note the continuous forming line of storms to my west and southwest.

7:22 pm. Brief stationary position from Young Road (foreground) and South Canfield Road, about a half-mile north of US Highway 20. 

7:22 pm. Looking northeast. This is the northern cell that contained the pronounced hail core.

7:24 pm Radarscope image. Decision time. I was receiving numerous storm alert notifications, so I quickly decided to head back the way I had come, and out of harm's way.

7:33 pm. Westbound on US Highway 20 back toward the exit for I-380 (background) and southeast to safety. For this very short time I was "playing chicken" with the approaching storms. I also received a notification of hail in the area at this time, making my escape all the more urgent.

The southeast direction of I-380 made it possible to put more separation between me and the line of storms. I was able to arrive at my next spotting location (above) at the BP gas station at the Toddville exit in Linn County with plenty of time to spare. This image, captured at 8:08 pm, looks west, with the southern-most edge of the severe-warned storms seen at left. The storm was about 22 miles distant. 

8:14 pm Radarscope image. This image shows how much storm separation I had achieved in the south, compared to being almost overrun in the north.

8:31 pm. Panorama looking west (left) and northwest. The line of storms is now taking on a shelf cloud (outflow) appearance.

8:31 pm. Looking northwest.

8:36 pm. Looking south from the BP station. The wall of the dark cloud of the storm is now quickly approaching from the right, and wind is beginning to pick up.

8:39 pm. Storm has arrived. Wind gusts here were around 60 mph, with dust and dirt being kicked up in big swirls. I decided to high tail it for home, turning left (east, background) on County Home Road. Very soon, tumbling debris from a house's driveway struck the right front of my vehicle, alarming me, but causing no apparent damage. Just a short distance to the southeast, Cedar Rapids missed most if not all of the southern edge of the storm and was spared! Nikon Z6ii camera.