Watching It Form

A group of Iowa State University meteorology students observe the approach of a forming wall cloud (background left) from 210th Street, about one mile west of Ute, Iowa just after 7:00 PM, Saturday, April 9, 2011. The storm chasers were using this position as a storm initiation vantage point. They are, from left: Ethan Milius, Ryan Alliss, Bryce Link, Tristan Morath, Nick Carletta, Sam Schreier and Tyler Roney (I was part of car #1 at left). This view looks southwest and the storm's movement was left to right in the image. About 15 minutes later a tornado from the wall cloud touched down and would arrive at the town of Mapleton as an EF3 around 7:30. Note the airborne pieces of corn vegetation near the utility pole at right center. The high inflow winds were causing the power lines to whine, causing all of us to wonder if it was the sound of a tornado.