More August 28 Post-Tornado Clouds

This was as far as I got when the NWS lifted the tornado warning for northern Linn County Iowa at 5:00 pm CDT, Sunday, August 28, 2016. Location is on Stone Road, about one-tenth mile north of County Home Road, and about 1 mile west of Whittier, Iowa. Panorama image looks north.

A zoomed-in view down the road at the same moment.

5:14 pm. Another panorama image looking north. Location is 35th Avenue in Marion, about .2-mile east of 35th Street.

5:17 pm. Looking at another cell in the northwest sky from 35th Avenue at 35th Street in Marion. Used an ND4 52mm neutral density filter for this capture. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

Above is a NEXRAD view of Iowa for 4:35 pm, showing the red polygon tornado warning box.

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Caught Napping

Literally. I was watching the Texans/Cardinals NFL preseason game on Sunday afternoon, August 28, 2016 when I dozed off. Weather forecasts had been benign: the SPC had a virtual no risk for Eastern Iowa, and I had lazily monitored garden variety cells drifting around the Cedar Rapids area an hour or so before. Sometime before 4:30, my better half verbally woke me amid the sounds of a siren saying there was a tornado warning for Linn County. What?? I know I was only half awake, but this sounded impossible! After I gathered my wits about me it was time to gather my gear and head north. A tornado was spotted on the ground near Troy Mills in northern Linn County at 4:33 pm. Tornadoes at this time of the year are almost always weak and short-lived, so I had no illusions about catching up to this one while it was still on the ground. My objective was to capture cloud structure, and I believe I at least achieved that. The above image shows my vehicle eastbound on Boyson Road in Marion, about .3-mile west of 10th Street at 4:46 pm. The cell at left is located about 18 miles to the NNE, near Coggon, and the cell at right to the northeast, about 35 miles distant near Cascade.

4:52 pm. Looking northeast from the intersection of 29th Avenue and Highway 13 in Marion.

4:55 pm. Northbound on Highway 13, about a half-mile south of County Home Road.

4:57 pm. Eastbound on County Home Road, about a half-mile east of Highway 13. It was about this time that the storm had weakened and the tornado warning was soon to be removed by the NWS. Too late for me! Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

Above is a progression of radar screen captures from 4:10-4:50 pm, showing the evolution of the cell.
Besides materializing out of "nowhere," this storm was also curious by the fact that it was nearly devoid of all electrical activity and energized by a moisture-laden outflow boundary.

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Sunrise Over The Soybeans

Looking east at sunrise over a soybean field from near Progress Drive in Hiawatha, Iowa. Both images captured at 6:16 am CDT, Thursday, August 4, 2016. Sunrise was officially at 6:03 am. iPhone 6 Plus camera.

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Pastel Skies Following The Storm

Arriving near home from a storm spotting trip to Delaware County in northeast Iowa on Thursday, August 18, 2016, the skies were in a state of pastel-like hue. All of the posted images today were captured from 35th Avenue, just west of Highway 13 and just NE of Marion. The above image looks west at 8:10 pm CDT.

Looking northwest at the same time.

8:11 pm, looking north. The image below is different only in being converted into black & white using the Nik Collection Silver Efex Pro 2. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Brilliant Sky On Way Home

After I had decided to head for home following my storm spotting drive to Delaware County, Iowa on Thursday evening, August 18, 2016, I was compelled to stop several times while southbound on Highway 13. As I distanced myself from the approaching line of storms to the northwest, the setting sun broke out from behind the clouds in spectacular fashion. In the image above, a panorama captured at 7:44 pm, the setting sun begins to emerge from the clouds as seen from 325th Street, about 2 miles south of Ryan, Iowa.

7:46 pm. Once clear of the obstructing clouds, the sun created a fiery red sky. A segment of the approaching line of storms can be seen on the horizon at far right. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Not THAT Group Of Planets, THIS One

Arriving too late at a good observing site to view the close conjunction of Venus, Jupiter and Mercury in the west sky after sunset on Monday, August 22, 2016, I had an alternative. Gleaming in the SSW sky was another group of planets--and a red giant star in the constellation Scorpius. All three images were shot from the grounds at Echo Hill Presbyterian Church just north of Marion, Iowa, and were captured from 9:01-9:04 pm CDT. All are exposures of from 6-8 seconds at f/9, ISO 2500 and 34mm focal length, and feature foreground weeds light-painted by my cell phone flashlight. The three bright objects at center of the images are, bottom-to-top: red giant star Antares (apparent magnitude 1.03), planet Mars (-0.41) and planet Saturn (0.43). Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Too Distant To Stay

Though this line of storms had been my objective as I left Cedar Rapids, Iowa on the evening of Thursday, August 18, 2016, the severe-warned cell seen in the previous two days' posts soon became the main event. The line was approaching from the northwest, some 50 miles distant in NW Fayette County Iowa when the above image was captured (7:00 pm CDT).

The northwest sky was growing ever darker as I captured the above image at 7:16 pm. Both the above and top image show my vehicle parked alongside 255th Street (D34) in Delaware County just west of Highway 13 and about 4 miles south of Manchester.

7:34 pm. The line of storms are more visible now, but still some 30 miles away. Because of their lack of strength and the fact that daylight was waning fast, I soon decided to call it a day and head for home. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

NEXRAD radar image of the weather situation around the time of the middle image. The target icon shows my position in relation to the storms. The boxes are severe thunderstorm watches.

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Parting Shots From Popup Cell

Daylight was waning fast as the structure of the severe-warned storm cell located in northwest Illinois continued to expand on the evening of Thursday, August 18, 2016. Knowing that my photography opportunities were fading here in Delaware County, Iowa, I decided to head back to Cedar Rapids. While southbound on Highway 13, I captured the four images posted today. Above, my vehicle was located about 1.3 miles north of 275th Street (D42) at 7:36 pm CDT. The storm was moving away and about 73 miles to the east at this time, near Stockton, Illinois. The small bright area of the overshooting top can still be seen.

A more zoomed-in view a minute later.

7:44 pm. Looking east from 325th Street at Highway 13, about 2 miles south of Ryan, Iowa.

7:46 pm. With my vehicle as a foreground element. Because of distance or a decrease in severity, the overshooting top has now disappeared from the structure. Note the thin inflow cloud at right in all four images. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Where Did This Come From?

My attention was squarely on the line of severe storms riding east along the Minnesota/Iowa state border around 6:30 pm CDT on Thursday, August 18, 2016. My intent was to capture some potential distant cloud structure by driving north on Highway 13 into northeast Iowa. Leaving Marion, Iowa, two small cells began to appear to my right (east), located along the Mississippi River just southeast of Bellevue, Iowa. As I continued my drive north to intercept the northern storms, the two twin cells grew. I thought, "Oh cool, that's a nice little scene..." The above image looks east at 6:49 pm on the big bend section of Highway 13 about 1 mile east of the town of Coggon in northern Linn County.

Stopping at one of my favorite spotting locations on 255th Street (D34) at Highway 13, about 4 miles south of Manchester in Delaware County, the two cells to the east had merged into one. The above image looks that direction at 7:15 pm, during the time the storm had become severe-warned. Note the strong "ice cream dollop" overshooting top at center, indicating its very strong updraft. The storm was now located about 68 miles distant, near the Elizabeth, Illinois area just east of the Mississippi River.

Briefly pulling up shop and driving east across Highway 13, I stopped here at a railroad crossing located on 255th Street about .7-mile east of the highway. Time was 7:21 pm. The overshooting top is partially obscured by a wisp of anvil cloud.

Back to my former spotting position. 7:27 pm. The mature storm's anvil has spread some 25 miles across. Though the line of (weak) storms--my original target--were at this moment advancing from the northwest, this storm cell stole the evening's show. What had been perceived by me as a superficial little pop-up cell to the east had become the main event! Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

Radar screen capture of 6:50 pm (top panel) and again at 7:30 pm, showing the state of the eastern storm cell and my spotting position (target icon at left) in relation to it.

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Morning Mammatus

Red sky at morning usually spells rain, and indeed it did happen a little later in Cedar Rapids, Marion and Hiawatha, Iowa on Thursday, August 11, 2016. This fiery red sky also contained numerous small mammatus, enhancing the view. The above image looks northwest at 6:02 am CDT from Brentwood Drive at Boyson Road NE in Cedar Rapids, just west of the Marion city limits.

Located at Progress Drive in Hiawatha, Iowa about ten minutes later. Image looks north.

Same moment but with a panoramic view. In the background at left is the AirFX Trampoline Park building in Hiawatha. iPhone 6 plus camera.

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Meteoric Decline

The wee hours of the morning on Friday, August 12, 2016 were prime time for this year's viewing of the annual Perseids meteor shower--that is, if the sky was clear. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, it wasn't. Also no go 24 hours later. I tried my luck in capturing any residuals from my back deck two days later, early in the morning on Sunday, August 14 as the sky was finally clear. I used my trusty Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens. My camera was set up to take continuous 20-second exposures at f/2.8, 500 ISO and 11mm focal length and was aimed at the constellation Perseus. I stopped at 125 exposures, which took place from 2:11-2:53 am CDT. Hope was that during this automatic capturing of images some bright meteors would register. As it turned out I did see three medium-bright meteors during this time, but only one faintly registered. Que sera, sera! All the effort wasn't for naught though, as I stacked all 125 images in StarStaX 2 to produce the star trails image seen above. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Bringing The Curtain Down On The Day's Chase

The final act of severe weather for Eastern Iowa on Thursday, August 4, 2016, was about to roll over my position at Oliver Court in Marion, Iowa. The gust front stretched at this moment from just east of Des Moines to just north of Cedar Rapids. In these three images the leading edge of a shelf cloud plows methodically onward with Bowman Meadows housing development in the foreground. Image capture above was 7:49 pm CDT, looking just a little south of west.

The defined ragged appearance of the shelf cloud has now become more evident a minute later, despite the darkening, low-contrast conditions experienced by my camera. Focusing on the approach of the storm was achieved by an auto-focus lock on the brighter sky in the opposite direction, then switching to manual focus. The ragged appearance of the shelf cloud was created by warm, moist air condensing from its interaction with the rain-chilled (downdraft) air spreading behind it.

Another capture from 7:50 pm. To be on the safe side, I took these shots inside from the open window of my vehicle. As the gust front quickly passed overhead, I waited out drenching rain, lightning and high winds for about another half hour. Winds speeds here, in my estimation, never exceeded 50 mph. Darkness now and the end of my day's chase! This storm system would produce a tornado-warned area just west of Davenport as it moved east. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Last Wave Of Storms Coming In

The funnel had disappeared minutes ago, but the heavy moisture-laden air it spawned from was creating bizarre cloud formations on the leading edge of an approaching line of severe storms on the evening of August 4, 2016. The hand-like formation seen above looking north at Oliver Court in Marion, Iowa at 7:39 pm CDT is an example of that. 

And then a shelf cloud from the anticipated gust front finally showed itself. Above, the approaching ominous-looking shelf cloud hangs low on the western horizon as seen from Oliver Court at 7:48 pm. In its path are homes in the Bowman Meadows housing development.

Stretching from the northwest (left) to the northeast sky is this panoramic view of the shelf cloud at 7:48 pm. Air and dew temperatures were identical at 72 degrees, humidity was at 100%. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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More Funnel Pics From August 4

The funnel on Thursday, August 4, 2016 continued to widen--and would eventually drop about three-quarters of the way to the ground. I began to ponder my escape route from my spotting position on Oliver Court in Marion, Iowa if that should become necessary. The image above shows the funnel with an apparent smaller companion at 7:33 pm CDT.

Less than a minute later the funnel (and its companion) began to decay and orient itself more horizontally.

7:35 pm. Remnants of the funnel stretch horizontally across the southeast sky while the line of severe storms continued their eastward advance some 25 miles to the west. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Best Part Of The Chase Knocked On My Back Door

A little fatigued from my chase up to around 7:00 pm CDT on Thursday, August 4, 2016 , I decided to stop at home briefly and then set up and wait close by for another line of severe storms approaching from the west. My spotting choice was Oliver Court in the Bowman Meadows housing development in Marion, Iowa, just off Boyson Road and about .15-mile west of Alburnett Road. Oliver Court is currently an open cul-de-sac on a slight rise of ground with a good view of the west sky and is only .65-mile from home. My attention was fully on waiting for the line of storms to the west, but like any smart spotter knows one should check out the full 360 degrees. Good thing too. Overhead in the southeast sky around 7:30 pm, I observed a curious group of miniature dark "puffs" of cumulus form in a vertical chain, then coalesce into a tube of air and begin to drop. The above image, captured at 7:32 pm, shows the funnel forming about 2 miles distant.

The above and below image show the funnel quickly developing less than a minute later. My vehicle is shown in the foreground for scale. It seemed to me that the funnel and the cloud it emanated from was "swimming upstream" of the approaching line of severe storms in the west. Strangely, no reports were made of this funnel and apparently no notice was made of it, but it was the highlight of the day's chase and occurred virtually in my own back yard! Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

Below are two radar screen images corresponding to 7:35 pm. In the first, note the line of severe storms to the west and the white circled area indicating the area where the funnel emanated from. The target icon shows my position.

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