Electrifying Chase

This stab of lightning was part of a brilliant display around the outer fringes of a mesocyclone located just out of the image at left. The image is a video frame capture looking NNE along US Highway 71 a quarter-mile south of 280th Street and about 5.3 miles south of Early, Iowa. It was shot around 8:50 PM, Saturday, April 9, 2011. I had been capturing video of an amazing lightning display through the window of our vehicle here, unaware that the meso just to our north was already disgorging a wedge tornado as we chased along the storm's SE flank. Tornadic activity lasted well past 10:00 PM on this night.