Turbulent Skies, High Winds In Center Point

Winds above 50 mph howl out of the north as a gust front moves through Center Point, Iowa around 5:45 PM on Friday, June 18, 2010. The clouds were churning in this view looking northwest from Rydell Chevrolet just off Exit 35 on Interstate 380. I had earlier set up spotting position just northwest of Marion, Iowa when I received information that conditions north of the town of Toddville were more favorable, so I set off on a quick chase to catch the storm in its prime. The severe weather eventually found its way to my former position to the south, affecting all of the Cedar Rapids metro area.

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Scintillating Sundown

An overhead cloud layer is brilliantly illuminated with bright colors a half an hour after sunset at 8:45 PM on Saturday, July 24, 2010. This view looks west from the grounds of Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Mostly hidden in the shadows is Bowman Woods Elementary School, in the background.

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Risin' Orion

The constellation Orion rises in the southeastern sky as seen from along 30th Street Drive SE just east of Tama Street in Cedar Rapids, Iowa around 2:15 AM on October 8, 1974. This image is a created duotone from an original black and white print. Prominent bright stars in Orion are Betelgeuse (upper left); the belt stars, (upper center) from left: Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka; and Saiph (lower center). The star streak effect was caused by the 5-10 minute exposure.

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Wind Farm After Some Really Windy Weather

Cumulonimbus remnants of a storm system that swept across northeast Iowa are shown west of a wind farm along US Highway 218, about 1 1/2 miles southwest of Charles City, around 6:30 PM on May 25, 2008. An hour and a half earlier, an EF5 tornado spawned from the powerful system devastated Parkersburg, about 34 miles to the south of this location. An EF (Enhanced Fujita) 5 tornado packs wind speeds of over 200 mph, and is at the top end of the wind (damage) measurement scale.

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Raining Rays

Rays from an auroral display radiate earthward around 9:30 PM on November 5, 2001. The northern lights were a result of a coronal mass ejection (CME) on the sun two days earlier. This view looks northwest over the grounds of Northbrook Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The bright star at left center is Vega, in the constellation Lyra.

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Pulling The Curtain

The passing squall line at Echo Hill Presbyterian Church in Marion, Iowa on June 5, 2010 resembled a giant curtain being drawn overhead. As the front passed, rain and high wind ensued. This view, shot at 7:00 PM, looks southwest from the church's grounds.

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Moon And Jupiter On The Rise

The moon, two days removed from being full, rises above the treetops accompanied by the bright planet Jupiter (right) at 8:35 PM on Friday, September 24, 2010. This composite photo was taken from a rooftop on Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. On Wednesday, Jupiter was located just under the full moon, the closet the pair had been since 1963. Unfortunately, cloud cover in my area frustrated any possible photo op that night as well as Thursday. Jupiter is situated in the zodiac constellation Pisces. This was a 20-second exposure at f/5.4, with a 32 mm focal length and an ISO rating of 200.

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Summer Solstice Sunset

A smattering of altocumulus clouds accentuate a brilliant sunset near the first day of summer in 2000. This photo was taken around 8:45 PM in the Northbrook II residential development area of Cedar Rapids, Iowa and looks northwest. The silhouetted area is part of the grounds of Northbrook Baptist Church, located just north of Boyson Road NE.

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Descending Into The Storm

Lights from a commercial airliner trace its descent into an approaching thunderstorm just before 10:00 PM Friday, August 13, 2010. The aircraft appeared unexpectedly and was heading in a southwesterly direction toward the Eastern Iowa Airport south of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was captured in this time exposure taken from Noelridge Christian Church on C Avenue NE near Boyson Road. The airliner eventually banked left and disappeared into the advancing clouds on the horizon at lower left. The light area to the right and below the streak was made by lightning.

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Hail Harvest

A line of severe thunderstorms that blew through the Cedar Rapids metro area just after 1:00 PM on Tuesday, September 21, 2010, produced these hailstones, collected by my daughter around 1:20 PM near Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and saved in the freezer. The left image is not a single hailstone but a handful of several together, while the image at right shows their individual sizes and shapes in relation to a tape measure. The largest measures about 1 3/4 inches wide. Note the conglomerate look to them, as they were tossed around aloft in the storm cell several times before finally dropping to Earth. The hail fall cause little if any damage at this location.

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The High Road

Birds wheel over rising flood waters on the Cedar River between the First Avenue bridge (camera vantage point) and the Five-In-One bridge and dam (background) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa around 6:45 AM on Wednesday, June 11, 2008. The First, Second and Third Avenue bridges over May's Island all would be closed after June 12, leaving the high-and-dry Five-In-One bridge--carrying traffic for Interstate 380--as the only accessible bridge downtown throughout the devastating flood. The Quaker Oats plant is seen in the background in this view looking north.

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Bonfire Night

Smoke and fire from a large bonfire rises into the clear night sky in rural Shueyville, Iowa just after 8:45 PM on August 21, 2010. Just above the house in the distant background is the bright planet Venus. Less conspicuous is the planet Mars, located just above and right of Venus. This image, looking southwest, was a three-second exposure at f/8.0, with an ISO rating of 400 and a focal length of 24mm.

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Cirrus Sky

Icy cirrus fibratus clouds fill the western sky above the grounds of Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 7:50 PM on Monday, May 17, 2010. These types of clouds generally occur at altitudes of higher than 16,500 feet and may indicate the arrival of precipitation in a day or two.

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Collecting The Comet

This 5-10-minute time exposure captured the comet Hale-Bopp low in the northwest sky of Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 8:30 PM on March 19, 1997. The illumination in the foreground was created from ambient light emanating from a house window. The coma (head) of the comet set about an hour later. Above Hale-Bopp is the constellation Cassiopeia. This image was shot from Inwood Court NE in the Northbrook II residential development.

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Here It Comes!

A squall line approaches the grounds of Echo Hill Presbyterian Church in Marion, Iowa from the northwest just before 7:00 PM on Saturday, June 5, 2010. The gust front produced some brief heavy rain but its winds caused no damage, being less than 50 mph.

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Jupiter In Aquarius

The planet Jupiter (brightest object, top center) shines brightly from among the stars of the zodiac constellation Aquarius in this October 8, 1974 10-minute time exposure, started around 10:00 PM. This photograph, which was converted into a duotone from an original black and white print, looks SSE from near 30th Street Drive and Tama Street SE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Jupiter is the second brightest planet in our skies after Venus.

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The One That Struck Parkersburg

The trailing edge of a still-formidable looking supercell covers the southeast horizon as seen from the front passenger-side window of our vehicle around 6:25 PM on Sunday, May 25, 2008. Less than an hour and a half earlier, this supercell produced an EF5 tornado that ravaged the town of Parkersburg, some 35 miles to the south of this location (along US Highway 18 one mile west of Floyd, Iowa). Leaving the fishing wildernesses of northeast Minnesota that morning, skies were overcast and the temperatures cool. Between Duluth and the Twin Cities the sun began to emerge and the humidity began to rise as instability grew. From the mix, a tornado touched down near St. Paul, Minnesota a couple of hours after we had passed the city, and we were (thankfully) too late for the Parkersburg event.

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Pegasus On Wing Above Noelridge Church

The constellation Pegasus dominates the eastern sky as seen from the grounds of Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa around 10:35 PM on Wednesday, August 4, 2010. The "Great Square" of Pegasus is situated diagonally in this image, with the lowest corner star (Algenib) being just above the thick clump of trees left of the church. The square represents the body portion of the winged horse known from ancient Greek mythology. This shot was a 30-second exposure at f/4.5, with a focal length of 18mm and an ISO rating of 200.

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In The Misty Moonlight

A setting moon shines over misty ground fog rolling along the grounds of Noelridge Christian Church on the morning of Wednesday, September 17, 2008. This image, looking west, was shot at 6:45 AM when the moon was just past full.

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Happy Trails

This ten-minute exposure of the north sky as seen from rural Shueyville, Iowa on August 21, 2010, shows star trails created by the rotation of the Earth. The bright star that appears fixed just above the tree line at right center is Polaris, the north star. Polaris does not appear to show a "trail" because it is located just one degree from the exact pole. Polaris has not always been the pole star. 5,000 years ago it was the faint Thuban, in the constellation Draco. Gamma Cephei will take over the distinction about 1,000 years from now. Polaris is located at the end of the "handle" of the Little Dipper. This shot, began at 9:50 PM, was imaged with a focal length of 18mm at f/3.5, and an ISO rating of 400.

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It Was Just Water Under The Bridge--But Lots Of It!

Flood waters from the Cedar River flow under the Second Avenue bridge in Cedar Rapids, Iowa around 6:45 AM on Wednesday, June 11, 2008. This view looks upstream from the Third Avenue bridge, with City Hall and May's Island on the left and Quaker Oats, Cedar River Tower and the former Federal Courthouse on the right. The water level at this time was about 19.6 feet, reaching an astounding 31.3 feet two days later and inundating the downtown area.

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Hand-Held Moon

This shot of a waning crescent moon on the rise was taken without the benefit of a tripod. The capture looks east from Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa just before 6:30 AM on September 5, 2010. The exposure was 1/40 second at f/8.0 with an ISO rating of 200 and a focal length of 66 mm.

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Impressive Even At That Distance

Even though it was located some 60 miles away, this storm cell looked very impressive as seen here in the northern sky from the grounds of Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. At 6:00 PM on April 6, 2010--when this photo was taken--the cell was located in Fayette and Clayton counties in northeast Iowa and was producing severe weather there. Back in the Cedar Rapids metro area over an hour later, worsening weather produced funnel-like scud lowerings with warning sirens being set off in neighboring Marion.

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Electrifying Finish To Labor Day Weekend

Cloud-to-ground and cloud-to-cloud lightning appears to emanate from the same point a mile or more behind a building unit of the Colton Circle Condominums in Cedar Rapids, Iowa just before 9:00 PM, Monday, September 6, 2010. The condos are located near the intersection of Boyson Road and C Avenue NE in Cedar Rapids. The Labor Day thunderstorm was approaching head-on from the perspective of the camera and immediately after this capture I needed to gather my gear quickly and head for my car as it began to rain. A strong line of storms began to fire up around the Atlantic area in southwest Iowa around 6:00 PM and moved swiftly northeast around 55 mph, reaching this location about three hours later. This image is a 15-second exposure at f/10 with an ISO rating of 200.

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Sunset At ADM

The rays from the setting sun are seen behind clouds near the Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM) Company plant in southwest Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 7:40 PM on Saturday, August 21, 2010. This view looks west along Interstate 380 just south of the US Highway 30 interchange. ADM is a major food processing and wet corn milling business in Cedar Rapids.

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Edge Of The Storm

Shown here is the northern edge of a storm system that prompted a tornado warning in Lone Tree, Iowa--about 40 miles to the southeast of this location--about 4:15 PM on June 23, 2010. This scene looks east from the parking lot at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids. In this area of Cedar Rapids the edge of the strong storm looked dark and ominous but skirted just south and caused no damage.

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Summer Shueyville Night Sky

This wide-open night sky image in rural Shueyville, Iowa was loaded with stars on the clear night of Saturday, August 21, 2010. The capture was a 30-second exposure taken at f/4.0 with an ISO rating of 400. Stars making up the constellation Scorpius (the scorpion) are seen just above the tree line at center. The brightest of these stars is the red giant Antares, some 300 times larger than our sun. According to one ancient legend, Scorpius stung the legendary hunter Orion, killing him, making Orion spend eternity fleeing Scorpius in the sky. Thus, when Scorpius rises in the east, Orion sets in the west. This image looks south at 9:35 PM and also includes stars of the constellation Ophiuchus (serpent bearer) at top center.

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Clouds Out, Venus In

The planet Venus (center) shines in the southwest sky after most of the clouds that had earlier brought rain and lightning to the area moved out. The sky still glows from the sun which set an hour earlier. This image was captured from the grounds of Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 8:25 PM, September 2, 2010. Venus, with its highly reflective atmosphere and close proximity to Earth make it the third brightest object in our skies. It has been said it can even cast shadows from your hand onto white paper during very dark nights. As seen from Earth, the planet is actually at its brightest in its crescent phase.

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A Little Bit Of Everything This Evening

A "mock sun" reflects from the underside of a brilliantly illuminated shelf of clouds as weather clears to the west at 7:50 PM on Thursday, September 2, 2010. The real sun had already dropped below the horizon. This scene was captured from the grounds of Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The evening saw a mixed-bag of weather observation: fast moving low-level clouds, rain, lightning, rainbows, blazing sunsets and finally a clear western sky that revealed a brightly shining planet Venus.

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Filaments From Heaven

An intense geomagnetic storm produced this scene around 7:30 PM on November 5, 2001 as the resulting aurora borealis display got going. The surreal sky from the northern lights appeared as though tendrils of light from heaven were drifting downward upon the ground from all directions. The geomagnetic storm lit up skies in the United States as far south as California, Texas and Florida. This view looks northwest from Inwood Court NE in the Northbrook II housing development in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The bright star at center is Vega, part of the constellation Lyra.

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