2014 Christmas Star

The 0.75 magnitude star Altair (center) in the constellation Aquila shines through an area of altocumulus clouds which appear to rotate around the roof star on our house in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Christmas evening, Thursday, December 25, 2014. The clouds were partially illuminated by a crescent moon which was hidden by the darker clouds at left. Air temperature was an unseasonably warm 43 degrees F. This image looks west.

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Drizzly Anticipation Of Christmas

A steady-to-heavy drizzle on Monday evening, December 22, 2014, created the misty appearances seen in the three images above. A warmer than usual December in Cedar Rapids, Iowa has kept the ground free of snow and indeed at the time of photo capture of these images, the temperature was around 37 degrees F. The top image looks NE toward Bowman Lane NE as seen from Bowman Woods Park just before 8:00 PM, and is a .6-second exposure at f/9, 1600 ISO and 55mm focal length. The middle image is of similar direction and exposure. The bottom image looks the other direction in Bowman Woods Park, showing the misty surface appearance among the trees. This image was captured just after 8:00 PM and is a 13-second exposure at f/9, 1600 ISO and 55mm focal length.

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Frosty Thanksgiving Field

Happy Thanksgiving! Although the sun shown prominently over this open field near the Boyson Trail in Marion, Iowa on Thanksgiving morning, it was far from warming the landscape. The temperature was a chilly 11 degrees F, well below the seasonal norm. This view looks east. Thursday, November 27, 2014.

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November Passover?

Blowing snow, 13 degree F temperatures accompanied by -7 wind chills on Monday, November 17, 2014. Did someone passover December and go straight to January? This polar vortex-induced bitter weather came on the heals of a three-inch snowfall that fell Saturday evening. The image above looks south from Progress Drive at Martha's Way in Hiawatha, Iowa. Temps were about 30 degrees below normal. The high for this day was 14 degrees F. The last time in this area that a high of 14 degrees occurred in November was 1977.

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Colorful Prelude To A November Sunrise

The southeast sky was splashed with color from the unseen sun at 6:20 AM CST as seen here from Progress Drive in Hiawatha, Iowa. Sunrise was still 25 minutes away. The temperature was a chilly 27 degrees F.

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Eclipse Teaser

Anxiety on my part grew as to whether the partial solar eclipse of Thursday, October 23, 2014 would be visible before sunset with cloudy conditions prevailing most of the day. Clearing began along the western horizon as seen here from Marion, Iowa before 6:00 PM CDT. A hint of the possibility of viewing the eclipse occurred above when the sun momentarily appeared through a small opening in the clouds at 5:53 PM. Ten minutes later the sun dipped below the clouds and showed the eclipse in all its glory!

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Sun Block

Weather reports for the week of October 19-25, 2014 in Eastern Iowa called for mostly fair skies--except for Thursday, October 23. That day called for rain, and of course that was the day that the partial solar eclipse would be visible across most of North America. Two bands of rain showers moved through the state during the morning hours, leaving overcast skies in its wake. Prospects suddenly improved, however, as the western and central parts began to clear. The clearing moved east, but the big question and anticipation was whether it would get here in time before sunset. Sunset was 6:12 PM CDT. A clear band approached along the western horizon before 6:00 PM and just after 6:00 the partially eclipsed sun dipped below the line of clouds, finally revealing itself! The images above look west toward Cedar Rapids from near the grounds at Christ Community United Methodist Church near the intersection of East Robins Road and Alburnett Road in Marion, Iowa. The top two images were captured at 6:08 PM. The bottom image is a sequential view of the setting sun, from 6:02-6:09 PM.

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Less Than Desirable Timing For October Lunar Eclipse

The timing of this lunar eclipse did not fit well into my morning schedule as did the previous eclipse last April. The lunar eclipse of Wednesday, October 8, 2014 began around 4:00 AM CDT and achieved totality just after 5:00 AM. This conflicted with my getting ready for and going to work. Indeed, I had a lovely copper-colored, fully eclipsed moon to view through my windshield on the way to work. The image above is a combination of the foreground, a 1.3-second exposure at f/4.5, 2000 ISO and 18mm focal length, captured at 4:27 AM, and the moon (itself a combination of two images) shot at 4:54 AM. This image looks west from White Road, just west of North Marion Road, about four miles north of Marion, Iowa.

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Light Play On The Fields

A mix of fair weather cumulus clouds and sun created these shadow patterns on a farm field north of Strawberry Point, Iowa on Thursday afternoon, September 18, 2014. This image looks east along Highway 13 around 11:45 AM CDT.

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Tree Canopies From Effigy Mounds

Two views of different tree canopy tops along the Effigy Mounds National Monument trail on Thursday, September 18, 2014. The top image, shot at 2:09 PM CDT, shows the tops of a stand of quaking aspens. The bottom image, shot at 1:20 PM, looks up into sugar maples. Effigy Mounds is located in Allamakee County in NE Iowa.

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Fire Point Foliage

The tree foliage along the Mississippi River as seen from Fire Point at Effigy Mounds National Monument in NE Iowa on September 18, 2014 was showing signs of autumn. Even those these photo captures were probably a week too early, the area is always an eye catcher. The top image, shot at 3:13 PM CDT, looks northeast across to the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi. The middle image looks west and was captured at 3:10 PM. The bottom image, also shot at 3:10 PM, looks south toward the town of Marquette, Iowa. Fair weather cumulus dotted the sunny sky in the gorgeous 70 degree F weather.

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Pillar Of Fire

Flames, embers and smoke shoots skyward from this large bonfire Saturday evening, September 20, 2014 in rural Shueyville, Iowa as spectators watch from a safe distance. The Shueyville fire department is always notified in advance when this twice-yearly event takes place. The top image, captured at 8:09 PM CDT, looks west and is a 2.3 second exposure at f/20, 2500 ISO and 18mm focal length. The bottom image, shot at 8:03 PM, looks east and is a 1/1.6-second exposure at f/18, 1000 ISO and 18mm focal length.

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Blazin' Mornin'

Cloud conditions, which included sprinkles of rain, created these blazing red formations as the sun rose on Wednesday morning, September 24, 2014. These images look west (top) and southwest from Progress Drive and Martha's Way in Hiawatha, Iowa at 6:55 AM CDT.

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Night Pond

City lights of Cedar Rapids, Iowa (background) and a dock illuminated by a nearby bonfire show up
well in dark conditions from this nine second exposure of a acreage pond in northern Johnson County, just west of Shueyville. The city lights in the NW sky created a mirror image on the pond. The exposure was shot at f/4.5, 320 ISO and 18mm focal length. 8:16 PM, Saturday, September 20, 2014.

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A Good Ol' Capitol Evening

This view looking northwest from the grounds of the Pentacrest in Iowa City, Iowa at 7:37 PM on Saturday, September 13, 2014 shows the waning light of the setting sun and the illuminated Old Capitol Building. The image was captured during a walk of the grounds following the Iowa-Iowa State football game, held this year in Iowa City. Official sunset was at 7:19 PM. The Old Captiol building was completed in 1842 and was the capitol building of the state of Iowa from 1846-1857.

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Flaming Sky Followed By Falling Rain

The sky took on a surreal yellowish hue on the morning of Friday, August 22, 2014 as seen from Miller Road, just north of Boyson Road in Hiawatha, Iowa. This was a prelude to approaching thundershowers, which arrived within an hour of capture. Photo looks southeast at 6:18 AM CDT.

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Ocean Waves In The Sky

Five minutes on the road without my Nikon D5000 DSLR camera Tuesday morning, August 26, 2014 and I knew I was going to miss out on something big. Vicious lightning and a photogenic shelf cloud was approaching from the west. So my cell phone camera at once had to suffice. Low light conditions rendered noise on these digital images, but the spectacular flowing cloud formations provided some consolation. All three images were shot near North 15th Avenue and Progress Drive in Hiawatha, Iowa. The top two images, looking north, were captured at 6:16 and 6:21 AM. The bottom image was captured at 6:22 AM and looks south.

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Morning Storms Reflecting Sun's Rays

A severe-warned storm system in southern Iowa caught the rays of the rising sun as seen in the top two images captured on Wednesday morning, August 20, 2014. Both images were taken just after sunrise and look southwest from Progress Drive and Martha's Way in Hiawatha, Iowa. The storm was located about 115 miles distant--along the border of Wayne and Appanoose counties. The top image--a panoramic shot--was captured around 6:25 AM CDT and the middle image at 6:37 AM. The bottom image is a radar screen capture of the storm.

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August Pre-Dawn Conjunction

The planets Venus and Jupiter were in conjunction as shown here 35 minutes before sunrise on Tuesday, August 19, 2014. The -3.91 magnitude Venus and the -1.80 magnitude Jupiter were within two degrees of one another in the ENE sky. This image, captured at 5:43 AM CDT, was taken from Archer Drive in the Bowman Meadows housing development in Marion, Iowa. It is a 3-second exposure at f/13, 200 ISO and 50mm focal length.

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Blurred Vision

Ground fog on Sunday and Monday mornings, August 17 and 18, 2014, made clear viewing a little on the difficult side. The fog shrouded the landscape producing these images. The top image looks east toward the rising sun from Blairs Ferry Road just west of Interstate 380 in Hiawatha, Iowa at 6:58 AM on Sunday, August 17. The bottom image looks southeast from Archer Drive in the Bowman Meadows housing development in Marion, Iowa around 5:42 AM on Monday, August 18.

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Mooned During Perseids Meteor Shower

Conditions for the viewing of the annual Perseids meteor shower peak during the early morning hours of Wednesday, August 13, 2014 would have been ideal: clear skies, 55 degrees F, little or no wind and no insect or "critter" interference. The only problem was that the moon also occupied the sky and it was three-quarters full. This light glare hid all but the brightest of meteor streaks. But there were some. All three of the images seen above contain the brightest fireball (whose angle seems to defy the radiant direction of the constellation Perseus toward the upper right). This photo location was at the NW corner of Radio Road and Highway 13 northeast of Marion, Iowa and looks north. The top image is a stacked composite of 102 exposures, taken from 1:23-2:20 AM CDT; each a 30 second exposure at f/3.5, 320 ISO and 18mm focal length. The length of time created the star trails effect. I set my camera to shoot each exposure continuously, which allowed me to sit back and watch the "show." The farm structures in the top image have been "light painted" from my flashlight. The middle image is one of the 102 exposures and includes the brightest meteor streak. The bottom image is a cropped version of the middle image.

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Star Trails And ISS

This image is a stacked set of 57 exposures taken from 10:25-11:00 PM CDT on Friday, August 8, 2014. Each exposure was shot at 30 seconds, f/3.5, 200 ISO and 18mm focal length. The image looks north from Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The horizontal streak at lower right is the International Space Station, which was moving left to right. The tree at left center was light painted.

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Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Brilliant sunrises, aided by forest fires in Canada, have been gracing U.S. skies recently. These offerings show the spectacle from Hiawatha, Iowa on Friday, August 1, 2014. The top two images are seen from Miller Road, just north of Boyson Road and were captured at 6:21 and 6:23 AM CDT respectively. The bottom image, shot at 6:26 AM, looks east from North 18th Avenue, just north of Progress Drive.

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Sky Lights

A combination of the right kind of clouds, openings in them and the sun's angle produced these colorful displays on Thursday evening, July 24, 2014. My attention to the sky was prompted by the yellowish color I noticed from within my house and I captured these three images just after 8:30 PM CDT. The display preceded the arrival of rain by about 8 hours. From top to bottom, the images face west, north and northeast. Shot from our back deck on Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

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Ragged Wall Cloud

These images of a wall cloud hanging below a meso were captured looking east from Escort Lane SW, just south of the US Highway 218 and Highway 1 interchange in southern Iowa City, Iowa. The wall cloud, which would produce a funnel a few minutes later, was located at this moment (6:42 PM CDT, Saturday, July 12, 2014) at the tri-county borders of Johnson, Cedar and Muscatine in Iowa, about 14 miles distant.

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Wicked Wall Cloud

This severe storm cell, located near Iowa City, Iowa on the evening of Saturday, July 12, 2014 produced a wicked appearing wall cloud, but no tornado. The top image, captured at 6:30 PM, shows the cell as seen from US Highway 218 just south of Interstate 80. The middle image shows the cloud three minutes later from near the Melrose Avenue exit. The bottom image is the cloud along Highway 1 looking southeast from the Highway 218 off ramp at 6:36 PM.

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