Perseids Plus One

The early morning hours of Tuesday, August 13, 2019 for the annual Perseids Meteor Shower peak at my location on Brentwood Drive NE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa was overcast, thus preventing any viewing. The following morning did provide a decent show despite a setting moon, and the occasional passing of high altitude cirrus clouds. Medium-to-bright meteor frequency became quite active starting around 3:00 am CDT, and the above image is a combination of 3:15 and 3:18 am time captures. Image looks east. Each capture is a 15 second exposure at f/2.8, ISO 160, and 11mm focal length. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera with Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens. After about 3:30 am the meteor frequency suddenly went silent and increasing cloudiness set in, virtually ending the show.

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Storm? What Storm?

To many in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa area around 7:25 pm, Sunday, August 11, 2019 when sirens blared a warning, the thought was "Storm, what storm?" as conditions outdoors appeared sunny from the perspective of the indoors--especially toward the north. A small cell had formed nearby to the west around 7:00 pm and had approached almost undetected. Because of the surprise I didn't have much time to do much mobile-wise, so I chose to stay on my back deck to spot there. The above image looks southeast at 7:37 pm CDT at turbulent tornadic clouds from the storm. The cell was moving right-to-left in the image and was about five miles to my south.

Radarscope capture of the tornado-warned cell and my location at 7:38 pm.

Panorama of the departing storm cell structure looking southeast at 8:02 pm after tornado warning had been lifted.

Closeup of the updraft from the image above it also at 8:02 pm. As quickly as this cell formed, it fizzled out. A well-defined funnel cloud, nearly reaching the ground, was observed earlier south of Palo and southwest of Hiawatha. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.

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Two More July 20 Storm Pics

The above and below images are GoPro video frame captures. They show a severe-warned storm cell located about 50 miles to the southwest, and its enormous anvil cloud. Video was captured between 7:01 to 7:04 pm CDT, Saturday, July 20, 2019 while southbound on Interstate 380, at the North Liberty exit in Johnson County (above), and just north of the Interstate 80 interchange (below).

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