Getting Energized

Iowa State University meteorology student and storm chaser Sam Schreier walks hurriedly back to his vehicle while keeping an eye on a developing wall cloud (upper right) as it prepares to cross 210th Street a couple miles west of Ute, Iowa around 7:10 PM, Saturday, April 9, 2011. Note the rain shaft in the distant background. In about five minutes the wall cloud would drop a tornado, eventually growing in strength to an EF3, and would significantly damage the town of Mapleton about 15 minutes later. Shortly after this photo was taken our chase teams jumped back into our two vehicles and headed north, staying just outside the storm's SE flank but coming no closer than five miles of Mapleton, where we had actually driven through the town from the west about a half hour earlier. This view looks southwest.