Nasty Night Stuff

Night or not, severe storm energy levels were significant on the evening of Monday, June 16, 2014 in Eastern Iowa. The images seen above were actually part of a second wave of storms to roll through that day. Warning sirens were blaring during the capture of the top image at 10:10 PM CDT. It looks high into the NW sky as sections of ominous clouds roll over the back of our house. The alert was not sounded because of sighted tornadoes, but because of radar-detected rotations aloft. The middle image, captured at 10:24 PM, looks west over Bowman Woods Elementary School in Cedar Rapids, at roiling clouds on the storm's approaching edge. A few moments after this image was taken I broke and ran for home--about 100 yards away--as the storm hit. It produced 40-50 mph winds, lightning and heavy rain. The bottom image shows a radar screen view of that moment.