AM, PM Storm Cells

An SPC "Enhanced Risk" posted for much of Eastern Iowa for the afternoon/evening/overnight of Sunday, July 12, 2015 produced nary a droplet of rain for the Cedar Rapids metro area. A "cry wolf" syndrome seemed to be in place when the storm cell seen at top began drifting southeastward from Minnesota into Eastern Iowa (radar images above) around 5:00 am on Monday, July 13. As it drew nearer to Cedar Rapids the cell displayed itself in a spectacular manner--an anvil skirted with
a shelf cloud. The top image shows this storm and is a six-image stitch captured by my iPhone 6-plus
camera. Photomerging was done in Adobe Bridge. The image looks north from North 15th Avenue in Hiawatha, Iowa at 6:20 am. The cell was at this moment located about 40 miles to the northeast in north central Delaware County. Echo tops were reaching around 50,000 feet.

The day was not done. Temperatures in the low 90s, dew points in the upper 70s and humidities in the mid-60s made conditions ripe for redevelopment. Cumulonimbus towers began to erupt northeast of Cedar Rapids after 3:30 pm (radar images above), creating the classic mushroom clouds from strong updrafts. The two images above show an older cumulonimbus in the background and a new and growing tower in the foreground. Nikon D5000 DSLR camera looks east along Boyson Road at the border of Cedar Rapids and Marion, Iowa. Top image captured at 4:46 pm and middle at 4:50. The most intense part of this storm was located about 40-45 miles away in western Clinton County. Echo tops were spiking to around 55,000 feet. By 7:00 pm this severe-warned cell was 110 miles away in Stark County, Illinois, southeast of Kewanee, in the territory of an SPC "Moderate Risk."