End Of A Long Chase Day

Lightning flashes from the eastern flank of a supercell thunderstorm that had earlier produced several tornadoes in western Iowa on Saturday, April 9, 2011. This view looks northeast along County Road D15, just east of its junction with County Road N33. The lights at lower right down the highway are from the town of Knoke, Iowa, about 1 1/2 miles distant. This was our chase team's final setup from a very successful chase on this day. My son Ryan Alliss and I left Cedar Rapids, Iowa around 11:30 AM on April 9, added another car and six more storm chasers, all Iowa State University meteorology students, and proceeded west where our official chase began just before 5:00 PM. Following the southeast flank of the powerful storm system from Mapleton, Iowa starting at 7:30 PM, we zig-zagged northeastward observing at least six more tornadoes before stopping for our last view at this image's location around 9:47 PM. The desire for a well-deserved rest prevailed, and any further thoughts of continuing the chase were dispelled. The ISU storm chasers were dropped off in Ames just before midnight and Ryan and I arrived back home in Cedar Rapids around 1:45 AM Sunday. Buffeting RFD winds made this 13 second exposure from a tripod very hard to remain stationary. It was shot with an aperture of f/8, ISO of 250 and focal length of 18mm. The lights along the horizon at left are from a nearby wind farm. The ISU storm chasers included Ethan Milius, Bryce Link, Tyler Roney, Nick Carletta, Tristan Morath and Sam Schreier.