Colorful Gaps In May 15 Storm

Gaps in severe weather clouds allowed brief and vivid color glimpses in Eastern Iowa on the evening of Monday, May 15, 2017. Above, a view looking northwest from Noelridge Park in Cedar Rapids at 8:05 pm CDT, shows the sun peaking out of clouds whose severe-warned center was located about 60 miles to the northeast (right), about 10 miles northwest of Dubuque.

A zoomed-in view of the same area less than five minutes later.

8:25 pm, looking northwest over Noelridge Christian Church in Cedar Rapids. The most intense part of the severe storm was now located just north of Dubuque, about 65 miles distant.

A vertically-oriented version of the same image.

A minute later at a nearby vantage point. Some of the storm's striated lower clouds (that extended well out of the image to the right ) can be seen at right. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.