Not Much, But Something

On a day when a record was broken for the most days in a row without a tornado in Iowa--held since 1956--the line of thundershowers that moved through the area at least provided some photo opportunities. In a decidedly uneventful year of thunderstorms so far, these thundershowers moved through the Cedar Rapids, Iowa area around 4:30 PM, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. The top image shows rain shafts beneath storm clouds that have just passed east of Archer Drive in the Bowman Meadows housing development in Marion around 4:37 PM. The middle image is a radar screen capturecomparable to the time of the top image. Despite low-energy atmospheric conditions (humidity 52%, dew point 56 degrees) the cloud structure in the bottom image managed to form striations. Cloud tops here reached about 30,000-35,000 feet. This image looks east from the eastern border of Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids around 4:50 PM.