Oh, The Irony Of It All...

Okay, I had been complaining about the "quiet" 2012 severe storm season for Cedar Rapids, Iowa for months. Several conditions had conspired to inhibit storm formation in the eastern part of the state. Storms either moved north or south as they progressed eastward or fizzled out. Things were looking different--and much more promising--on the evening of June 29, 2012. A large storm cell that had earlier overturned semi trucks on Interstate 80 near Newton was staying strong and moving right toward Cedar Rapids. This was a straight-line wind gust front, one typical of summer. The top two images above show the ominous shelf cloud at the leading edge of the gust front as seen from my spotting position at Noelridge Christian Church on C Avenue NE around 5:33 PM. Despite winds around 60 mph here and for many blocks around, I could see no significant damage anywhere. But upon my return home a little over a mile away, our house was the only one to have a good-sized limb fall on it--this one even smashing my roof-mounted weather station! The bottom images show the limb on the roof the next morning and me clearing the lighter stuff. I would have to hire a professional business to remove the rest. The limb was weaken by "dry rot."