Cumulonimbus Splendor

My wife and I spent Memorial Day in Des Moines and Central Iowa and I had the good fortune of watching this cumulonimbus storm cell blossom to the east--in the direction of our return home to Cedar Rapids. The cell began forming west of Ottumwa, Iowa just after 2:00 PM, Monday, May 28, 2012. A "pit stop" at the Casey's General Store for gas on 1st Avenue North in Altoona, Iowa just off Interstate 80 presented me with this magnificent view of the structure at 3:21 PM. The cell's anvil tip is at left, with the trailing updraft "engine" some 26 miles behind it (right), with cloud tops there around 45,000 feet. The storm was actually located 80 miles away in NW Washington County. The building seen at left is operated by Interstate Powersystems Inc. at 407 Adventureland Drive NE Altoona. The bottom radar image shows the storm (between Ottumwa and Cedar Rapids) and our vehicle's position in relation to it (the star just east of Des Moines) at 3:21 PM.