Classic Summer Evening Storm

The summer setup for a storm in eastern Iowa on Friday, July 13, 2018 was a classic one. At 4:30 pm CDT weather conditions in Cedar Rapids were: 93 degree F temperatures, 75 degree dew points, 56% humidity and winds out of the south at 9 mph. Despite a previous dinner engagement for my wife and me to attend at 6:00 pm (which prevented me from spotting out in the field), storm cells were popping up north, south, east and west of the city. One of the cells exhibiting a strong mushroom-like updraft was this one (above), shown at 5:00 pm, looking southeast. It was located about 15 miles distant over Lisbon, in SE Linn County. All images posted today were captured from our back deck.

The same storm cell five minutes later. All cluster of storms were moving ENE. By this time Cedar Rapids was included in a severe thunderstorm warning.

A zoomed in shot of the storm cell at 5:08 pm, showing some of its texture.

Radar frame capture for 5:21 pm, showing my position (target icon), surrounding storms and the severe thunderstorm warning boxes.

5:38 pm. Ominous stormy area in the northeast sky behind treetops in the eastern part of Bowman Woods Park. Minutes later as straight-line winds blew through, leaves from trees fluttered high above after being torn from branches, and some small branches fell to the ground. I estimate wind speeds here reached from 55-60 mph.  Getting to dinner was a wet one! Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.