Rock Jet

A jet of fog is blown off the peak of a rock formation located near the Zion National Park visitor's center in Utah by strong upper level winds around 4:42 PM MDT, Wednesday, September 11, 2013. The image looks toward the southwest from near The Watchman Trail. This day in the park was marked by rain, then clearing, then rain again.

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Veiled Rocks At Zion

High humidity due to intermittent light rain produced the fog shrouds that veiled these rocky monoliths in Zion National Park in southwest Utah. This image looks northeast from a parking lot just outside the park entrance check point at 9:00 AM MDT, Tuesday, September 10, 2013. Continuing rain brought flash flooding to various areas of the park.

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Soap Brush From The Sky?

Resembling a giant soap brush scrubbing the land as it goes, this menacing looking shelf cloud rides a squall line as it approaches the grounds at Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa just before 6:30 PM, Thursday, September 19, 2013. As it passed, the later summer storm brought high winds, rain and lightning. These images look northwest.

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Unexpected Waterfall In Zion

Weeping Rock at Zion National Park in Utah gets its name from ground water--under normal conditions-- seeping down from above causing a "drip-drip" effect along the lower edge of the alcove overhang. Damp moss along the rim gives it a striking "hanging gardens" visual appearance. However, when rain is heavy and persistent the weeping can turn into a full-fledged "sob." These two images taken around 12:37 PM, MDT on Wednesday, September 11, 2013, show the latter condition. A resumption of continuous rain suddenly changed the "drip-drip" to an avalanche of water, rock and soil spilling over the Weeping Rock alcove rim (top image) in just over a half-hour's time. In the bottom image, alarmed and awestruck tourists observe and photograph the event from under the shelter of the alcove.

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Cumulus Crowned Mountains

Cumulus clouds billow above the San Bernardino Mountains in this view looking northwest from Dillon Road in Desert Hot Springs, California around 2:32 PM PDT, Sunday, September 8, 2013. The mountains are about 20 miles away. Mountain can be a boundary between air masses of different temperature, pressure changes, and wind directions. The boundary is where they mix, and the changes create these cloud formations. Air temperature here was around 100 degrees F.

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Fog-Shrouded Zion Canyon

Heavy rains within the confines of Zion National Park in Utah produced these fog shrouded images of the canyon as seen from the Weeping Rock location, under the rock rim overhang. These images look west just after noon MDT on Wednesday, September 11, 2013. About 30 minutes after these pictures were taken, a violent deluge of water blasted out over the overhang (foreground, above), the effect of flash flooding emanating from the rock face above.

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Beautifully Structured Shelf Cloud Blows Through

With severe thunderstorm warnings blaring on weather radios announcing its approach, this beautifully structured shelf cloud on the leading edge of a gust front blew through Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Thursday evening, September 19, 2013. The storm was unusual in that it occurred after about two months of dry weather in this part of the state. Cloud striations abound in the top image, captured at 6:32 PM, which looks west. An undulating shape to the line is seen looking south in the middle image, shot at 6:33 PM. The bottom image is a Quad Cities NWS radar image capture from 6:20 PM, showing an obvious bow echo just SW of Cedar Rapids. Top two photos captured from the grounds at Noelridge Christian Church.

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Capturing The Canyons From Above

Allegiant Flight 433 from Moline, Illinois to Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday afternoon, September 6, 2013 provided these views of Glen Canyon (top) and Grand Canyon (middle & bottom image). The Glen Canyon image was shot at 2:48 MDT and the Grand Canyon images at 3:00 and 3:02 MDT. The views of the Grand Canyon were located at its NNW region, about 20 miles south of the Utah border. Our aircraft was cruising at around 35,000 feet, well above the cumulus clouds seen below.

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Weeping Rock Turns To Sobbing Rock

Steady rain had begun to fall when my wife and I arrived at Weeping Rock during our vacation in Zion National Park, Utah around noon (MDT), Wednesday, September 11, 2013. In normal conditions, water seeping from above creates a drip-drip effect along the rim of the cave-like overhang. It started that way, but in about 15 minutes streams of water began to roll down the adjacent rock wall, then another narrow stream joined it from the rim. Tourists enthusiastically photographed the progression until a sudden and violent torrent of water, rock and soil blasted from a hole high above the rock face. The malodorous "super waterfall" pushed alarmed onlookers backward with a start. Many areas of the park erupted in similar spontaneous waterfalls as heavy rains continued to fall, with flash floods occurring in certain areas.

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Slow Moving Balloon

This hot air balloon ride would not be a harrowing one as it moved with barely a breath of wind. The balloon moved here in hazy skies in a southeasterly direction around 6:20 PM, Wednesday, September 4, 2013. This image looks east from Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

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Foggy Panoramic Sunrise

The sun rises through ground fog in this panoramic image taken around 6:21 AM, Tuesday, September 3, 2013 as seen from Progress Drive in Hiawatha, Iowa. Partially obscured by the fog in the background is KCRG TV-9's 1,000 foot transmitter tower along Interstate 380.

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