Pacific Northwest Night Skies

 

A recent vacation to Redwood National Park, Lassen Volcanic National Park and Crater Lake National Park in California and Oregon produced the images seen in this post. The image above was captured during the peak Perseids meteor shower on Thursday, August 13, 2026. Image looks east from the Butte Lake Campground in Lassen Volcanic National Park. Time was 3:53 am PDT. A meteor streak is at left center. Toward the upper right, the fuzzy appearance of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) can be seen. 15 second exposure at f/1.8, ISO 2500, 35mm focal length. Despite the dark skies, it was not a particularly active meteor show from this location.

Milky Way and core, looking SSE from the South Summit Campground in Lassen Volcanic National Park at 10:17 pm on Friday, August 14. Bright star at upper left is the 0.75 magnitude Altair in the constellation Aquila. 15 second exposure at f/1.8, ISO 2000, 35mm focal length.

9:29 pm PDT, Saturday, August 15. Crater Lake (National Park), Oregon looking south from the Merriam Point Overlook. At this point I was in the process of setting up my Nikon Z6ii camera for Milky Way shots. Red glow at right is from family member's head lamps. Wizard Island can be seen at lower left.

9:49 pm. Looking the opposite direction from the lake (northwest) at Ursa Major (The Big Dipper). Clouds toward the bottom. The glow at bottom is from distant towns. 13 second exposure at f/4, ISO 5000, 24mm focal length.

10:03 pm. Milky Way and core vertical capture from Merriam Point, Crater Lake. Wizard Island behind dead pine tree. Windy and chilly conditions at this location! 20 second exposure at f/4, ISO 5000, 24mm focal length. Image is one of the 11 images used to create the panorama below.

Panoramic image of Crater Lake looking south from Merriam Point Overlook. Image is a stitch of 11 shots, all 20 second exposures at f/4, ISO 5000, 24mm focal length. Time was 10:00-10:05 pm. Mix of clouds and stars. Bright star at top center is 0.75 magnitude Altair in the constellation Aquila. Bright skies along the horizon is due to glow from distant towns. Glow at lower right is another camera on a tripod.

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96% Lunar Eclipse

 

Mostly clear skies and warm conditions made observing the partial lunar eclipse event over Eastern Iowa during the night of August 27-28, 2026 ideal. The penumbral phase of the eclipse started at 8:23 pm CDT on Thursday, August 27, and at 9:33 pm the Earth's direct shadow began covering the moon. Maximum eclipse (96% of the moon's surface) occurred around 11:12 pm. The image above captures the eclipse in a progression spaced in 15 minute increments, starting at 9:30 pm (lower left) and finishing at 11:13 pm (maximum, at upper right). The 9:30 pm image is a 1/500 second exposure at f/9, ISO 400, 70mm focal length, while the 11:13 pm is a 1/5 second exposure at f/4, ISO 640 and 70mm focal length. The image looks southeast from Lowe Park in Marion, Iowa, with the Klopfenstein Amphitheater in the foreground. It was captured separately as a 3 second exposure at f/8, ISO 125, 29mm focal length.

Individual capture of the moon around maximum eclipse (11:12 pm). 1/10 second exposure at f/4, ISO 640, 70mm focal length. Nikon Z6ii camera.

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It Made Me Leap Out of Bed!

 

Friday, July 31, 2026 in Eastern Iowa had been a mixture of rain and clouds, with nothing significant forecasted as far as severe weather was concerned. I was not concerned that evening as I relaxed at my home in Cedar Rapids watching TV. Around 6:50 pm my bedside weather radio went off. What could this be, I wondered -- amber alert? flash flood watch? No, a tornado warning, and for southeastern Linn County no less! I leaped out of bed and went outside to check the southeastern sky, which had a turbulent appearance. Without any other spotting frills I grabbed my camera and with only a quarter tank of gas negotiated an advantageous route that would take me quickly to that area before the tornado warning was lifted. The image above is from 7:04 pm CDT and looks toward the tornado warned area (right) while I was eastbound on County Home Road, west of Highway 13 and north of Marion, Iowa.

As is common this time of year, summer spin up tornado warnings are fleeting. And such was the case here. By 7:10 the warning was lifted. Clouds were still amazing though. I found a spotting location on Hindman Road at County Home Road northeast of Marion. The image above is from that location at 7:11 pm and looks northeast.

7:18 pm Radarscope capture. My location is the blue target icon. The storm cell was tracking to the northeast, so I remained where I was to allow it to slide by me to the east. A more intense area of the storm is shown near Bertram, Iowa.

7:19 pm. Partially sunlit turbulent clouds behind a substation looking southeast.

7:22 pm. Similar view looking east.

7:25 pm. Looking west at sunbeams peeking through a gap in the clouds.

7:28 pm. Turbulent and ominous looking clouds to the south.

7:30 pm. Looking east at low-base clouds moving from right-to-left (northeast). Significant rain on July 31 and August 1 provided some welcome relief to a couple of weeks of dry conditions in the area. Nikon Z6ii camera.

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Recent Miscellaneous Sky Pics

 

Recent Canadian wildfires created air quality advisories but also sometimes brilliant sunsets in Iowa. Such was the case on the evening of Sunday, July 19, 2026. The image above looks west just before sunset as seen from Lowe Park in Marion, Iowa. At left is the stainless steel reflective sphere located in the park.

Also just before sunset on July 19-- this time seen from Meadows Field Drive at C Avenue in Marion.

Monday morning, July 27, 2026. Morning clouds--some stormy--covered the rising sun, creating these beautiful crepuscular rays, more like cloud shadows in the sky. Image looks east over our roof in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Nikon Z6ii camera.

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July 20 Spring Reset Storms

 

Forecasts for severe weather on July 20, 2026 for areas of southeast Minnesota, northeast Iowa and western Wisconsin were remarkably springlike, with plenty of moisture and forcing in play. The Convective Outlook (shown above) from the Storm Prediction Center at 11:30 am CDT on July 20 shows significant areas of categorical (Enhanced Risk), tornado, hail and wind.

This mesoscale discussion posted by the SPC around 1:55 pm forecasted the likelihood of a tornado watch probability at 95%, with all other severe hazards on the board. With the "hotspot" for tornadoes being forecasted in extreme northeast Iowa and a line of storms beginning to initiate along the Minnesota/Iowa border, I decided to head north from Cedar Rapids on Highway 13 with a target being around Decorah in Winneshiek County around 2:00 pm. Around 2:50 pm storms tracking southeast in north-central Iowa went severe warned, distracting my interest to my original objective. I was then advised to abandon the northeast intercept and turn west, which I did, just south of Strawberry Point in Clayton County. (Storms never did initiate in the northeast).

With an eye of radar and the storm's southeast track, I negotiated myself through the towns of Dundee and Lamont, then headed south on Highway 187 to US Highway 20, then proceeded west. The image above, captured at 3:22 pm CDT, looks west from US Highway 20, about 1.2 miles WSW of Winthrop, Iowa in Buchanan County. The storm seen low on the horizon is located about 75 miles distant, in Franklin County. Storm tracking was toward the lower left of this image.

3:24 pm. Westbound on US Highway 20 about 4.4 miles east of Independence, Iowa in Buchanan County. Severe-warned storm looming ever closer.

3:31 pm. A quick stop at the Independence Walmart to obtain my situational awareness and be advised of a cell to the west of more significant potential, now located near Parkersburg, Iowa in Butler County. I had spotted at this very location on April 14 of this year.

3:35 pm. Under the storm's anvil westbound on US Highway 20, about 2 miles west of Independence.

4:18 pm. Radarscope image, showing my location (blue target icon) and the red tornado-warned polygon. The area near Grundy Center in Grundy County went tornado warned around 4:00 pm. Storms were still tracking to the southeast.

 

4:28 pm. Because of the storm's swift progress (around 40 mph), I realized I had to get south to get to a safer location south of the storm, and I was not currently in a good orientation. This image shows the storm directly ahead of me while westbound on Highway 8, with a tail cloud feeding into it at left. I am a quarter-mile east of Highway 21--my next left turn (south). This location is just north of Dysart, Iowa in Tama County.

4:32 pm radar image, showing the red tornado warning polygon and my blue target icon spotter's location.

4:40 pm radar image. Now stopped at my brief spotting location on 210th Street at Highway 21, 2 miles south of Dysart, Iowa. 

4:41 pm. Looking west from 210th Street at Highway 21. Tornado-warned storm, now exhibiting a shelf cloud appearance, is quickly bearing down upon me.

4:42 pm. A panoramic version of the image above it, with my vehicle in the foreground.

4:45 pm. Similar view.

4:47 pm. Looking southwest from 230th Street at Highway 21, 4 miles south of Dysart. Leading edge of storm is almost upon me! Time to bail and head south (left).

4:55 pm. Southbound on County Road V42 (15th Avenue), about 4.5 miles north of Keystone, Iowa in Benton County. A lowering can be seen in the background. I had unfortunately allowed myself to get swallowed up in the storm and now found myself fighting to negotiate through the high winds and rain. 

5:00 pm. (GoPro Hero 4 frame capture). Southbound on County Road V42 (5th Avenue) in Keystone, Iowa. I was being blasted by 60 or more mph winds, which at the moment I was unable to determine if they were tornadic, RFD or straight line. It got a little dicey from here too. From Keystone I continued south to US Highway 30, then back east toward Cedar Rapids. Almost the entire way I was blasted by wind and rain and spent all of it concentrating on staying on the road! But eventually back safe and sound.

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How We Viewed Our Independence Day

 

We decided to do something different this year for the Fourth of July as far as fireworks viewing, so we headed up to Central City, Iowa, where a dusk fireworks display was held from the Linn County Fairgrounds. On the way there, mother nature had her own special viewing as well. This view looks east at 8:04 pm CDT while northbound on Highway 13 just south of Central City. Occurring at this time was a towering updraft with a lowering beneath it -- but with no watches or warnings attached.

 

Close-up of the lowering.

8:25 pm. Now at our fireworks viewing location on Marion Road South at Central City Road just outside the fairgrounds. This view looks southeast at a sunlit sheared cloud from the previously seen updraft. The system is now dissipating.

9:49 pm. Fireworks under way. Five second exposure at f/5, ISO 100, 27mm focal length.

9:50 pm. 5 second exposure at f/8, ISO 100, 27mm focal length.

A group of four fireworks bursts with similar exposures and settings.

9:48-9:49 pm. Blend of three separate exposures, each 5 seconds at f/8, ISO 100, 27mm focal length.

Another blended image, this one with two exposures. The fireworks display lasted about 15 minutes. Nikon Z6ii camera. 

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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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