False Dawn, Genuine Mars

Faint zodiacal light (center) competes weakly with artificial light from the horizon in this view looking east from Echo Hill Presbyterian Church in Marion, Iowa around 4:53 AM, Friday, September 30, 2011. Zodiacal light, also known as "false dawn," is the product of sunlight reflected off meteoroid dust particles in the ecliptic plane. At upper right in the image is the bright (1.30 magnitude) planet Mars, located just right and above M44--the Beehive Cluster. At center lower is the "head" of the constellation Leo the Lion. Located about 10 degrees above the horizon at center is the brightest star in Leo--Regulus--shining at a nearly identical magnitude to Mars. This image is a 15-second exposure at f/3.5, 800 ISO and 18mm focal length.

Read more...

Altocumulus Sunrise

The rising sun (lower left) is covered by an obscuring bank of altocumulus undulatus clouds as seen from just east of the Sport Zone complex along North 18th Avenue in Hiawatha, Iowa around 7:20 AM, Thursday, September 29, 2011. Light rain arrived in this location by mid-morning and high winds by early afternoon.

Read more...

Fogbound Brentwood

Beams of light are created from a streetlamp on Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa amid foggy conditions around 3:35 AM, Wednesday, September 28, 2011. The fog was preceded here by rain showers. Fog is common in the months of September and October with the combination of longer nights and lingering summer moisture. Fog is basically a cloud that forms on the ground as the temperature falls to the dew point, the relative humidity reaches 100% and the air becomes saturated. This image was created from a 6.5-second exposure at f/10 with an ISO of 800, and the view looks south.

Read more...

My First Tornado

Debris from farmland churns under the funnel of an EF3 tornado seen about ten minutes after its formation in western Iowa around 7:25 PM, Saturday, April 9, 2011. This view looks northwest from Sumac Avenue, about 7 miles southeast of Mapleton. The town of Mapleton would bear the brunt of the twister minutes later, damaging about 60% of the town. This was my first confirmed tornado ever witnessed and was the first of six or more seen on this day's storm chase, which began with a departure from Cedar Rapids in eastern Iowa about 8 hours earlier.

Read more...

Ready For The Chase

Storm chasers (from left) Bryce Link, Ethan Milius and Ryan Alliss observe a tornadic lowering from alongside County Highway M31, just north of its junction with County Road D54 about 7 miles south of Arthur, Iowa. Our chase team proceeded north on M31 (toward background at upper right) moments later, and the tornado became a wedge shape on the ground. A couple of miles south of Arthur the tornado would reshape as a stovepipe. The time and date here was about 8:20 PM, Saturday, April 9, 2011. This is a video frame capture illuminated by a flash of lightning.

Read more...

Cirrus Moon

A waning crescent moon shines

brightly through a thin veil of

cirrus fibratus clouds just after

7:00 AM on Thursday,

September 22, 2011. Though

not visible here, the sun had

peeked above the horizon about

ten minutes earlier. This image

looks east from Brentwood Drive

NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Cirrus

fibratus clouds are often seen

ahead of advancing weather systems

and can indicate a change toward

a more active weather situation.

Read more...

Altocumulus Ripples

Ripples form in the underside of an altocumulus cloud as seen from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa just after 5:00 PM, Tuesday, September 20, 2011. This view looks west from the park.

Read more...

Vantage Point of Hope

The storm chase team of Ryan Alliss, Nick Carletta, Bryce Link, Ethan Milius, Tristan Morath, Tyler Roney, Sam Schreier and yours truly observe a wall cloud from Hope Avenue (right) just north of Highway 175 (330th Street, toward foreground), about two miles east of Odebolt, Iowa. The time and date was 8:38 PM, Saturday, April 9, 2011. The clump of trees in the distant background which appears to be directly under the wall cloud (but was in fact much closer) is a farmstead about .6 mile NW of our location. The wall cloud was continuously dropping and retracting a tornado funnel as it moved in a northeasterly direction. This is a video frame capture whose image was made visible by a flash of lightning. Carletta, Link, Milius, Morath, Roney and Schreier were all Iowa State University meteorology students. Ryan Alliss had received his meteorology degree from the school the previous December.

Read more...

Snowy Field In Marion

Large flakes of heavy snow falls in this open field scene looking northeast from the Boyson Park nature trail in Marion, Iowa around 1:25 PM, Saturday, December 11, 2010. The area between the dark fence at center and the distant trees is currently a new housing development, under construction. Running just this side of the tree line is Boyson Road. The land had previously been used as a corn/soybean field.

Read more...

October Waning Gibbous Moon

A waning gibbous moon rises in the east as seen from the grounds at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa around 9:15 PM, Tuesday, October 26, 2010. This image was captured using a 200mm focal length, aperture of f/5.6, 200 ISO and a shutter speed of 1/1000 second. The dark circular area seen at the one o'clock position along the moon's terminator is Mare Tranquillitatis (Sea of Tranquility) where Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the first manned landing on July 24, 1969.

Read more...

Dangerous Road To Arthur

The dark funnel of a wedge tornado, made visible by a flash of lightning, looms in the distance as our storm chase vehicle speeds northward toward it along County Highway M31 in southeastern Ida County in the state of Iowa. The time and date was 8:25 PM, Saturday, April 9, 2011. We were located just north of 310th Street (County Road D56) and about five miles south of the town of Arthur. The dark post-like silhouette right of the tornado and just left of the yellow blur of a No Passing Zone sign is the support of a water tower. The tornado would morph into a stovepipe shape minutes later while northwest of Arthur. Driving our chase vehicle at left is son Ryan Alliss. The bluish smudges at top are windshield reflections from dashboard lights. This image is a video frame capture.

Read more...

Heavy Flakes A-Fallin'

Heavy and wet snowflakes fall near this footbridge just south of Boyson Road at the Cedar Rapids-Marion, Iowa border around 1:10 PM, Sunday, December 11, 2010. Snow was just beginning to collect on the warm ground and foliage. The weather really got going in this area about eight hours later as blizzard conditions intruded. This view along Dry Run Creek looks west.

Read more...

Color My World

The entire western horizon was ablaze with color at sunset around 8:50 PM, Saturday, July 23, 2011 in this view overlooking Bowman Woods Elementary School along Boyson Road NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. All was not the same throughout the state however, as severe weather was taking place southwest of this location.

Read more...

Incoming Outflow

Outflow turbulence with mammatus approaches from the west in this view from Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa around 6:25 AM, Thursday, June 2, 2011. The short-lived turbulent looking sky was followed by some lightning and light rain, part of a weak thundershower. This fast moving outflow forced the cloud features shown above ahead of it.

Read more...

Snowflake Orbs

By using the flash on my camera, snowflakes falling in the foreground during this intense winter blizzard were captured as illuminated orbs. These inclement conditions were taking place around 9:45 PM, Tuesday, February 1, 2011. This image looks northeast from the parking lot at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The blizzard stretched across much of the Midwest and delivered to Chicago one of the worst weather events in its history.

Read more...

Cumulus Mix

This high-angle view of the north sky shows a mix of color created from cumulus clouds. The location was at Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids and the time and date was 7:05 AM, Friday, September 2, 2011.

Read more...

Electric Avenue

Lightning strikes less than a mile from this position looking north along Keystone Avenue at 330th Street, about 8 miles south of Ida Grove, Iowa around 8:10 PM, Saturday, April 9, 2011. The lightning was frequent and energy-filled in this powerful tornadic storm system. Accompanying the brilliant lightning display was sustained RFD winds of around 50 mph. Storm chase driver Ryan Alliss is shown at lower left. On the move again to the northeast, we trailed a wedge tornado that eventually morphed into a stovepipe shape about 10-15 minutes after this video frame capture was made.

Read more...