Late Season Severe Weather Event A Surpriser

Glancing at an AccuWeather alert on my cell phone just before noon on Monday, November 28, 2016, it indicated "strong thunderstorms and half-inch hail," and left me thinking, "wait, what??" Tornado reports began coming in a couple of hours later, and I almost forgot about what time of the season it was! The thin line of severe weather was plodding along at 18 mph at 4:00 pm CST between Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, and I knew the likelihood of it holding up or even being able to see funnels in the growing darkness was very slim, so I stayed put in Cedar Rapids. After one solitary loud crack of thunder, I captured the panorama shown above. The line of storms, now considerably weakened, had finally arrived. Image looks northwest over Bowman Woods Park at 6:11 pm CST. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

The upper radar image above shows four tornado-warned cells at 4:08 pm. These cells would produce five confirmed (EF0) twisters. The lower radar image shows the line of storms corresponding to the top photograph. Air temperature was 50 degrees F, dew point 50 degrees, humidity 100%, and the wind was from the south. Prior to 3:30 pm, the wind was from the SSE.