Stretch Of Cumulus

This line of convection cumulus stretched along the eastern horizon for nearly 225 miles making for a striking contrast to the rest of the sky, which contained only dots of fair weather cumulus. The top photo looks southeast around 3:53 PM, Friday July 26, 2013 along Highway 13, about one mile north of Radio Road, just northeast of Marion, Iowa. In the background at center are the transmitter towers of WMT AM 600. The bottom image was photographed around 3:36 PM from Prairie Chapel Road, about .4-mile east of County Road X20 one mile northeast of the town of Whitier.

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Mammatus Matrix

Subtle mammatus ride the clouds of an approaching storm in this view of the northeast sky as seen from North Marion Road, about .1-mile north of County Home Road and 2.5 miles north of Marion, Iowa. Top photo was imaged at 7:32 PM, Thursday, July 25, 2013 and the bottom, one minute later. The bottom image includes Yellow Coneflower, and Iowa prairie wild flower, in the foreground. The storm was about 1 1/2 hours from the Cedar Rapids area, eventually dropping 1.76 inches of rain at my home location.

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Hefty Line In Lean Conditions

These lines of storms, though not severe, were vigorous enough to produce billowing cumulus on Friday afternoon, July 26, 2013. The line of cumulus stretched for nearly 225 miles (bottom radar image) from southeast Iowa to south-central Wisconsin. The curious thing about this was their formation in not-so-ideal conditions. Temperature was 75 degrees F, dew point 56 degrees and relative humidity 52%--more like early autumn. The top image looks east around 3:26 PM along County Home Road about .8-mile east of Highway 13 and about 3.6 miles west of the town of Whitier, Iowa. The middle image also looks east, around 3:36 PM on Prairie Chapel Road, about .4-mile east of County Road X20 (Whitier Road), and about one mile northeast of Whitier in eastern Linn County.

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Under The Lip

The higher altitude, leading edge of the coming thunderstorm is shown in these two images both taken around 7:36 PM, Thursday, July 25, 2013. Both were shot from North Marion Road, about one-tenth mile north of County Home Road (seen in the background of the top image) and about 2.5 miles north of Marion, Iowa. In both images, the cloud edge is moving toward the patch of blue sky. The top image looks southeast, the bottom, southwest. The storm arrived in the Cedar Rapids area about an hour and a half later. Total rainfall from the storm on my gauge indicated 1.76 inches--much needed--as conditions had been dry for a couple of weeks.

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Stoppage Of Play Coming

It became increasingly evident that the 7:00 PM softball game between St. Mark's Lutheran Church and Basic/Faith would not go the full hour it would usually take as a shelf cloud approached Noelridge Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Monday evening, July 22, 2013. The top and middle images were taken at 7:11 and 7:19 PM. At 7:30 PM the game was called because of lightning and high wind. Very shortly after the gust front arrived in force, kicking up huge clouds of dirt and sending players and spectators alike scurrying for their cars. The white dot on the bottom radar image shows the location of the game at that moment.

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Shortened By Storm

The softball game between St. Mark's Lutheran Church and Basic/Faith at Noelridge Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Monday evening, July 22, 2013 did not go the full seven innings because of an incoming gust front from the northwest. The top image, which looks west, shows the game in the bottom of the third inning around 7:26 PM. Lightning and high wind stopped play about five minutes later, just before huge clouds of dirt from the infield were kicked skyward. The bottom image is a satellite capture of northeast Iowa about 1 1/2 hours earlier, showing the high cloud tops and severe weather. St. Mark's won the game in the top of the fourth inning, 8-1.

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More Impressive Looking Than Reality

These dark billowing clouds appeared more menacing than was their actual substance around 12:58 PM Sunday, July 21, 2013. The cloud tops rose to 35,000-40,000 feet but produced little if any lightning and just a brief spattering of rain. The images look southwest from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

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Twin Pop-Ups

Isolated thunderstorms popped up in southeast Iowa on the evening of Friday, July 19, 2013. Two notable storm cells are shown above. The left storm in the top image was located about 70 miles away in SE Cedar County and SW Scott County in Iowa. It is shown at right on the radar image below. The right cell in the top image was about 50 miles distant in central Washington County and is shown at lower left in the radar image. The camera looks southeast from Archer Drive in the Bowman Meadows housing development in Marion, Iowa around 7:21 PM.

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Pop-Up Storm Cells In Southeast Iowa

Isolated storm cells began popping up along a cold front in southeast Iowa around 6:30 PM, Friday, July 19, 2013. The top two images view two of the cells from Archer Drive in the Bowman Meadows housing development just south of Boyson Road in Marion, Iowa. The top image looks southeast at a severe-warned cell located about 70 miles away in SE Cedar County and SW Scott County around 7:14 PM. The middle image looks south at another cell located about 50 miles away in central Washington County around 7:19 PM. The bottom image is a comparable radar screen capture of the moment, with the camera's position shown in yellow. Temperatures had topped out in the mid-90s earlier in the day for the area.

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Charged Updraft

A vigorous updraft (striations) at the rear of an isolated storm cell was a highly charged source on the night of Tuesday, July 9, 2013 as seen from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 28 and 38 second exposures captured numerous lightning discharges emanating from this area. The exposures were shot at f/11, 500 ISO and 34mm focal length. These images, captured around 10:44 PM, look west. At lower right is part of Bowman Woods Elementary School.

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Illumination Source

These were actually bonus photos. I was traveling north of Alburnett Road about three miles north of Marion, Iowa on Monday, July 9, 2013 to get my camera closer to a towering cumulonimbus cloud that was high enough to be brilliantly illuminated by the setting sun while all else was in fading light. The source of that illumination turned out to be spectacular as well. The top image shows the setting sun at 8:29 PM, about 1.7-mile south of County Home Road. The bottom image shows the scene from two miles further north at 8:34 PM from the Pioneer Marion Research Center. The cumulonimbus cloud was in the northeast sky. Sunset was at 8:43 PM.

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Lighting Up At Night

Not particularly menacing 18 minutes after sunset, an isolated storm cell is shown in the northwest sky (top image) at 9:01 PM, Tuesday, July 9, 2013 as seen from Edgewood Road NW in Cedar Rapids, Iowa just south of Ellis Road. In the foreground is the Cedar Rapids Community School District "bus barn." The middle image shows a decidedly different appearance after dark. Lightning illuminates the upper part of the cloud while a vigorous updraft creates a spiral formation below. This image looks west from Bowman Woods Park at 10:28 PM and is a 8-second exposure at f/6.3, 200 ISO and 24mm focal length. Cloud-to-cloud lightning was frequent as the cell moved in a southeasterly direction (see radar screen capture in the bottom image).

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Stars 'n' Storms

If you would have nodded off for the night on Tuesday, July 9, 2013 you might have missed this spectacle. A very isolated storm cell (shown in a radar screen capture at bottom) moved from near the Waterloo, Iowa area toward Cedar Rapids creating a prodigious lightning show after dark but producing no rain or wind. Stars surrounded this "oasis" of storm. Also striking was a vigorous updraft structure (seen at left in the top image and at center in the middle image) resembling a "layered cake" or "flying saucer." Lightning was frequent from this area. The two top images face west from Bowman Woods Park in Cedar Rapids. They were captured at 10:32 PM and 10:41 PM respectively. The top photo was exposed 13 seconds at  f/9, 500 ISO and 18mm focal length. The middle photo 22 seconds at f/11, ISO 500 and 32mm focal length. With only faintly audible thunder, this is what is commonly (but erroneously) known as "heat lightning." Lastly, while I was engaging the storm, the mosquitoes were engaging ME!

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Not All Warm And Fuzzy

Looking benignly "fluffy" from 35 miles away, the storm that was manufacturing these clouds was anything but. The updraft was lifting the clouds to an altitude of 50,000-55,000 feet. Beneath the storm cell in northern Delaware County, Iowa were flash flood warnings and even a small funnel cloud sighted near the town of Manchester. The top two images--facing northeast from the Pioneer Marion Research Center--shows the cumulonimbus reflecting the fading sunlight around 8:32 PM, Monday, July 8, 2013. Sunset was at 8:43 PM. The camera's position was along North Alburnett Road, about .3-mile north of County Home Road intersection and about three miles north of Marion, Iowa. The bottom image shows the position of the camera in relation to a radar screen capture of the moment.

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Cool Night For Fireworks

The weather was coolin', the fireworks were poppin' and the mosquitoes were buzzin'. These two images are a combination of several separate images. The top image is a combination of 6 exposures, using a focal length of 55mm. The exposures were shot from 9:12-9:23 PM, Thursday, July 4, 2013. The image looks west toward Cedar Rapids, Iowa from the grounds at Christ Community United Methodist Church in neighboring Marion. The bottom image is a combination of 9 exposures, each shot from 5-10 seconds at f/10, 200 ISO and 18mm focal length. It looks east toward Alburnett Road from the same position as the top image. The 9 images were shot from 9:30-9:36 PM. Temperature during this time was a very cool 67 degrees F. At upper right in the top image is the -3.91 magnitude planet Venus.

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High Wapsi

The Wapsipinicon River is shown in flood stage as seen from the Highway 13 bridge at Central City, Iowa around 7:15 PM on Wednesday, June 26, 2013. Continual heavy rains contributed to the flooding, which prompted fears of road closings. In the background at right is the Main Street bridge. A roller dam, located between this vantage point and the distant bridge is entirely under water and not visible. This image looks east toward town.

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