May 16 Fast Forming Severe Storm

This storm began forming near Story City in central Iowa about 6:50 pm CDT, Thursday, May 16, 2019. In just a half-hour it went severe-warned and was moving swiftly east. I gathered my staple spotting equipment and headed out. The above image looks west from Boyson Road in Cedar Rapids a short distance from home. The severe warned cell, with its most intense area now located near Marshalltown Iowa and about 70 miles distant, nearly covers the western horizon at 7:37 pm.

7:40 pm. At the intersection of Boyson Road and Council Street NE. The right edge of the storm cell is beginning to cover the setting sun.

7:43 pm. I drove northbound on Interstate 380 in order to capture a superior open area shot of the storm cell's impressive structure. This image is a two-stitch panorama.

Radar frame capture of the corresponding time to the image above it. The black arrow (right) shows my location and the white arrows show storm track.

With heavier activity to my south, I then reversed direction, despite waning light availability. This image of an approaching severe cell--a four second exposure at f/10, 320 ISO and 18mm focal length--was captured at 8:35 pm. My location was Herky Street at Penn Street, just west of I-380 and North Liberty, Iowa. I did not stay long here and headed home, which was a good choice as tremendous amounts of rain and hail would fall here.