Still Crazy After All These Miles

A weak line of thundershowers moved through the Cedar Rapids/Marion Iowa area just before 5:00 PM, Tuesday, May 15, 2012. Three hours later the storm cells looked impressive even at extreme distances and intensified as they moved southeast into the state of Illinois. The top image shows a lineup of three storm cells as seen in the east-southeast sky from the new Bowman Meadows housing development just south of Boyson Road and west of Alburnett Road in Marion, Iowa. The far left cell

was at this moment averaging a distance of about 160 miles. Its area stretched about 60 miles from SW-to-NE and included the Illinois counties of LaSalle, DeKalb, Kendall and Cook (into the Chicago area).

The middle cell (severe warned at this moment) was about 120 miles to the SE, in Stark County, around 40 miles to the NE of Galesburg, Illinois. The far right cell was about 100 miles to the SE, near the border of Knox and Henry counties, about 17 miles NE of Galesburg. The bottom image is a radar capture of the cells at 8:08 PM, the time of the top photo. Left cell was at 40,000 feet, middle cell 35,000 feet and right cell 45,000 feet.