Tornado Panorama

The top group of images shows the setup for the day, with the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) outlook for 3:00 PM CDT on April, 9, 2011 (left) and satellite images of the supercell development in eastern Nebraska and western Iowa later that afternoon. The bottom image is panoramic shot created by stitching together three separate photos and shows an EF3 tornado (left center) as it was approaching the Western Iowa town of Mapleton. Note the inflow tail cloud at right feeding into the storm. Time and date were 7:21 PM, Saturday, April 9, 2011. This image looks north and the twister was about 7 miles distant. We were parked alongside Sumac Avenue, about .25-mile north of County Highway E34 and about .75-mile west of State Highway 141. In minutes we proceeded north for about 2.5 miles for another look from along the roadside. The tornado roared through Mapleton, damaging about 60% of the town. The two left images used to create this image were shot with a focal length of 18mm, the right image at 24mm focal length. This tornado was the second of eight confirmed touchdowns in Western Iowa on this night.