July Storm Clouds

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

While visiting in Waterloo, Iowa on Thursday, July 2, 2026, storms rolled in during the afternoon hours--some severe. This image of dark sky looks north from Tilbury Road at 2:03 pm CDT. The left horizon looks toward Waverly, Iowa in Bremer County to the northwest, where the most intense area was located about 17 miles distant. Toward the right horizon and to the northeast was located two tornado-warned cells near Oelwein, Iowa in Fayette County, about 34 miles distant.

Radarscope images corresponding to 2:06 pm showing the Waverly direction (left panel) and the Oelwein direction.

2:04 pm. Looking southwest at an approaching anvil cloud at 2:04 pm CDT as seen from Tilbury Road. This storm cell would mainly produce heavy downpours of rain after it arrived in the Waterloo area. 

The following day (Friday, July 3) 5:18 pm CDT. Looking northeast at billowing updraft from our home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Though this departing storm cell was not severe warned, it was still robust and visually impressive. Nikon Z6ii camera.

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End of the World Vision?

Wednesday, June 10, 2026 actually had two separate rounds of severe weather in Eastern Iowa. The first round, shown above, was a bit of a "baby derecho", blowing through quickly without many preliminaries--visually speaking. This image, which looks south, was captured at 12:10 pm CDT and was located on Sutton Road, about a quarter mile south of Central City Road in northern Linn County, Iowa. Estimated wind speeds here were from 50-60 mph.

3:00 pm CDT. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) posts an updated Enhanced Risk for the day, also showing tornado, hail and wind probabilities for Eastern Iowa.

Round two. With tornado warnings being issued for the far southern border of Iowa with Missouri starting around 4:00 pm, I headed south from Cedar Rapids in pursuit of a possible interception. As it turned out, the tornadic storms would stay south and west of my range, but weather radio reports continued to blare tornado warnings for Decatur, Appanoose and Davis counties. My first spotting location (above) was at the McDonald's in Mount Pleasant, Iowa in Henry County. Storm clouds are gathering in the west sky at 5:17 pm. I would soon vacate this location in favor of one with better all-around visibility.

5:43 pm. New location at Detrick's Truck and Trailer Service LLC on Winfield Avenue in Mount Pleasant. This image looks south as the storm was approaching from the southwest.

5:54 pm. Looking southwest. At this point the tornadic storms to the west and south are now becoming more outflow dominant as it approaches my location, and the distinct look of a shelf cloud is now apparent. An earlier warning notification at 5:06 pm stated "a confirmed large and extremely dangerous tornado was located near Moulton (Iowa)".

5:56 pm. Despite its outflow dominance, this storm still features a robust and solid inflow cloud feeding into it. Image looks northwest.

5:57 pm. Looking southwest. Note the striated layers above the shelf cloud, giving this scene an apocalyptic appearance. Though shelf clouds often look more scary than their wall cloud cousins, they are usually less dangerous. The striated layer feature above the shelf cloud is caused by updrafts of warm, humid air being lifted, rotated and sheared by the storm's dynamics. The shelf cloud itself is cold air overrunning moist warm air.

5:58 pm. The center of this storm had a lower and thicker aspect to it, prompting me to give it extra attention for the possibility of a QLCS embedded spin-up.

5:58 pm. The dramatic joining spot (center) of the severe-warned storm's outflow (left) and inflow (right). The inflow cloud looked so solid that in my imagination I wondered if you could walk along the top of it like a causeway... (not really).

6:00 pm. Weather.us radar image, showing my location (target icon) and arrows indicating storm motion. 

6:00 pm. Southwest view of the leading edge of the approaching storm. The classic "end-of-the-world" appearance.

6:00 pm. The heavy and thick center of the shelf cloud. It merited several long looks to make sure there wasn't a tornado in there.

6:02 pm. Dramatic view to the southwest as the leading edge of the storm approaches my position.

6:02 pm. Looking northwest. Another view of the connection of the storm's outflow and inflow clouds.

6:03 pm. The storm is moments away. The line at right which was once the inflow cloud now accelerates in my direction. Time to leave this place and head back home! Heavy rain, high wind and frequent lightning ensued, and accompanied me almost to Iowa City on my way north to Cedar Rapids. Nikon Z6ii camera.

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Late Show at the Pictures

 

A recent family vacation that included a four day, 46-mile backpacking trek in Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan provided the following images of sunsets and a post-sunset capture of three planets. All of these images were shot from the shore of Lake Superior at the Twelvemile Beach Campground on Sunday, May 31, 2026. Because of this area's high latitude (46° 38' 20") and time of year, sunset did not occur until around 9:30 pm. The above image was captured at 9:16 pm EDT. It is a 1/200 second exposure at f/13, ISO 100, 24mm focal length.

9:28 pm. 1/100 exposure at f/9, ISO 125, 24mm focal length. There was no wind, meaning the lake had a smooth, glassy appearance.

9:42 pm. This image features sunbeams emanating from behind the dark horizon cloud and a distant flock of geese flying through the scene. 1/60 second exposure at f/9, ISO 125, 24mm focal length.

10:30 pm. Three planets are visible in the waning sunlight. In descending order from upper left are: Jupiter (magnitude -1.88), Venus (magnitude -3.86) and Mercury (magnitude -0.53). Mercury is faintly seen above the dark cloud. At upper right is the -0.54 magnitude star Capella in the constellation Auriga. 1/25 second exposure at f/1.8, ISO 500, 35mm focal length. Nikon Z6ii camera.

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A Bust and a Blip

Dire forecasts for severe weather, including "intense" tornadoes and "tornado outbreaks" were predicted by many weather sources for Monday, April 27, 2026, several days in advance, including a Moderate Risk for areas in eastern Missouri and southern Illinois on the morning of the expected event. For the most part it did not happen, and would be described by many as a major "bust"--weak to no storm events. Eastern Iowa was included in the predicted tornado "hatching" area the day before, but saw nothing...except the small "blip" event that occurred during the late afternoon of April 27. Around 4:00 pm a small storm cell formed near the border of Tama and Poweshiek counties, began to intensify and moved in an east-to-northeasterly track toward Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Radarscope reflectivity capture above from 5:03 pm CDT shows the cell with lightning and small areas of hail as it began to draw attention.

5:12 pm. Radar capture. Pink areas showing hail is increasing as the storm approaches. 

5:20 pm. The storm draws near to my location at Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids. This image looks west. A lowering feature which included a brief weak rotation and a wispy funnel was observed. 

Corresponding Radarscope capture to the photo above it showing reflectivity (top) and velocity (bottom). My location is indicated by the blue target icon.

5:22 pm. The storm is ever closer, but has now lost its rotational appearance and looks more "whale's mouth" outflow dominant.

5:24 pm. The leading edge of the (outflow) storm seen in the northeast sky as it pushes through. Nikon Z6ii camera.

5:31 pm. Radar capture. Largest area of hail (pink) just north of my position. Reports from the nearby town of Robins told of "quarter size hail that littered their yards." This prompted the National Weather Service (NWS) to tag this storm as severe warned.

5:35 pm. Hail size comparison to a dime at my location five minutes after the largest of the small stones had fallen. iPhone 11 camera. This isolated event was the only severe occurrence in the state of Iowa, and generally speaking in the midwest, happening this day. A mere "blip."

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Tornado Watch 129

 

Unstable conditions warranted the issuance of Tornado Watch 129 at 12:40 pm CDT on Friday afternoon, April 17, 2026. The watch area stretched from much of the eastern half of Iowa northeastward into northwest Illinois and a large portion of Wisconsin (graphic above). The watch was valid until 8:00 pm. For eastern Iowa, storms were forecasted to initiate much earlier in the day, and I had to be on my toes in order to get on a cell that might go severe or tornado warned in an instant. I did not have long to wait--storms began firing up within minutes in Iowa and Linn counties and began moving on northeastern tracks, with the Linn County going severe-warned as it tracked into northwest Jones County.

 

12:49 pm Radarscope capture. My position (blue target icon) west of the severe warned storm cell.

1:20 pm. Looking east at severe-warned cell as seen from Langworthy Road at Highway 151 at the edge of Langworthy, Iowa in Jones County. Heavy rain is falling. At this early stage of my mobile spotting, it seemed like I had done a lot of driving without much to report or show for it.

 

1:41 pm. Well, finally I must be on the right track as the KGAN 2 Weather First Road Warrior vehicle passes me (above) eastbound on Highway 64, while I prepared to turn left (east) from Highway 38, about 4.3 miles west of Wyoming, Iowa in Jones County.

 

1:47 pm. Stationary position along Highway X75, about a half-mile south of Wyoming, Iowa in Jones County. This view looks northwest. The pause here was partially to view sky and partially to check radar in order to plan my next move.

1:56 pm. The plan was to continue northeast with the severe-warned storm. In this image I have pulled over at the entrance of Wendling Quarries, just northeast of Wyoming. Immediately, this tornadic feature appears to my northwest. The feature is moving left-to-right in this image.

 

1:57 pm. Corresponding Radarscope capture with my location indicated by the blue target icon. Note the beginnings of a hook echo forming to my southwest.

2:01 pm. Looking northeast now and the leading edge of the feature (right) developing into a ragged wall cloud. Although the entire feature originally appeared to me as a shelf cloud, it was probably an inflow cloud directly connected to the wall cloud. The feature was now drifting away from me so it was time to resume driving to stay with it.

2:08 pm. Eastbound again on Highway 64 in eastern Jones County, about 2.5 miles west of Monmouth, Iowa. Close up of the developing wall cloud to my north.

2:10 pm. Northbound on North Division Street in Monmouth, Iowa in western Jackson County. The wall cloud of previous minutes has progressed and can clearly be seen north of town in the background.

2:10 pm. Similar image on North Division Street at Pleasant Street in Monmouth.

2:12 pm. Stationary alongside Highway E29, about .2-mile north of Monmouth. Image looks north at the wall cloud which has now drifted across the road. The wall cloud drags weak scud beneath it.

2:13 pm. Looking NNE as the wall cloud matures and continues to move toward the northeast.

 

2:14. A healthy scud tendril begins to rise into the wall cloud feature (left center).

2:14 pm. Tornado Emergency Alert sounds on my iPhone.

2:15 pm. Scud grows to very robust proportions as it feeds into the wall cloud. This is probably the strongest looking scud formation I have ever seen and I can understand why the untrained observer would report this as a tornado (especially since the emergency alert had just sounded).

 

2:20 pm. I had moved on to observe this tornadic storm as it continued to track northeast. This image looks east from 10th Avenue, about .2-mile northeast of 17th Avenue, and about 1.6 miles north of Monmouth. The feature is very large now but moving swiftly away from me.

2:23 pm. Last view of this structure. Image looks northeast from Highway E29, about .8-mile north of Monmouth. Tornadic structure looks more ragged now, but possibly made a brief touchdown (center) before I was able to get out of my vehicle to capture it. I continued to follow this cell until I reached Maquoketa, Iowa in Jackson County, where I realized any further chance of catching it would be futile, so I decided to turn around and head back home. 

3:00 pm. "It ain't over 'til it's over" as they say...on my return from Highway 64, I was greeted by this striking feature towering to my southwest and heading in my direction (above). Location is at the west edge of Baldwin, Iowa in Jackson County. The storm is about 60 miles distant and would go severe-warned in about 20 minutes.

4:26 pm. Last spotting position at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This image looks northwest at tornado-warned cell that was moving away to the northeast. I quickly made an attempt to head north to see if it was making contact with the ground, but about a mile later it became completely rain-wrapped, forcing me back to this location for safety reasons.  Nikon Z6ii camera. 

4:33 pm. Dual-pane radar showing reflectivity (top) and velocity (below).

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