It's Calm Here, But...

I was playing softball at Noelridge Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on the evening of July 27, 2009 and couldn't get to my camera as a billowing cumulonimbus cloud formed beautifully in the northeast sky. After the game and as I neared home, I finally captured the developing structure (shown here) at 8:20 PM, illuminated by the sun which had just set and sporting an overshooting top. This view looks east from the parking lot at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids. The storm cell skirted north of the Cedar Rapids metropolitan area and later passed eastward into Jo Daviess and Stephenson counties in northwest Illinois, some 90 miles away, which was where it was located when this picture was taken. Both Illinois counties experienced severe thunderstorm warnings as a result of the storm cell.